Son et Lumiere

Here we go ...

2009-01-19T11:20:00.005-05:00

Steelers are going to the superbowl.

Before Polamalu's pick 6 in yesterday's game ...

and after ...

Movies watched in 2008

2009-01-08T14:04:00.003-05:00

The list topped out at 186 movies viewed via the theater, cable or Netflix. The full list can be viewed on my IMDB page here.

The stand outs:

The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Burn After Reading
Michael Clayton
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
La Via En Rose
The Orphanage
The Darjeeling Limited
The Fall

Honorable mentions:

No Country for Old Men
Superbad
There Will be Blood
Charlie Wilson's War
Transiberian
Step Brothers
Into the Wild
The Foot Fist Way
Son of Rambow
Sunshine
Eagle vs. Shark
Next Door
After the Wedding

Favorite Documentaries:

In the Shadow of the Moon
Jimmy Carter - Man from the Plains
Encounters at the End of the World

New Years Eve

2009-01-07T15:14:00.006-05:00

Couldn't have asked for a better time.

Started the night off with dinner with friends downtown at the restaurant Six Penn. Spent a few hours there eating, relaxing, downing white russians and listening to stories about our friend's recent trip to Argentina.

After hanging at the restaurant and bar for close to 3 hours we walked over to the Cabaret at Theater Square for a Carnavale/Rio themed New Year's party. The place was packed with a couple hundred people and the vibe was great. The Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra was the main attraction of the night, playing two energetic sets of afrobeat, boogalo and reggae music.

I got to go backstage and goof off with the band between sets. (The fun you can have when you find a pair of glasses in the dressing room.)

Big, big thanks to Ray (Kokolo) and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust for hooking us all up on the guest list for the night. (which made the night all the more sweeter since tix for the event were over $60 per person)

Awesome night with awesome friends.

Nineless

2008-12-03T17:16:00.005-05:00

While cleaning today, I decided to dust off my laptop computer using the hose and brush attachement on my vacuum. As I was going over the keys, the number nine key/faceplate/cover thing came off and was sucked up into the hose. Wow, that sucked. (Literally)
Who does that happen to? I guess me. I just spent the last 20 minutes outside in the cold going through the dirt and dust of the vacuum bag searching for the key. Not that pleasant and probably not that healthy. I found the #9 faceplate shattered into a dozen pieces.

I am without a nine. (but how often do you use the #9 anyway?)
Twice in that last sentence to be exact.

:-/

Now I am on the internet half seriously looking to see if anyone sells individual replacement key faceplate covers.

Someone has to, the internet has everything.

Been Awhile ...

2008-11-26T12:49:00.011-05:00

Been laying low, gearing up for the holidays ... staying busy with:

* The Steelers Season ... and watching all NFL Football in general

* Reading - Been enjoying those 33 1/3 books. (a series of books written about important and/or seminal music albums)

Just finished:

Just started:

** Took my parents to see the musical Mamma Mia this month. I didn't know what to expect from a musical based on ABBA tunes but it was actually very good. My parents thoroughly enjoyed it. My father and I were two out of about a dozen other males there for the show. eh ... No lines for the bathroom.

** I've recently been asked to record piano for a local musician/friend for his two new albums. Boogaloo music. 18 tracks over two albums. All covers from the likes of Pete Rodriguez, Ray Barretto, Joey Pastrana. I have all of the songs at home and I'm trying to learn the music as we speak but it's been pretty tough. I don't have any background in Latin/salsa/meringue style piano playing but I'm doing my best to catch up and learn. We'll see how this project turns out over the next few months.

Ballet Maribor

2008-10-13T15:57:00.002-04:00

'M' suprised me by getting tickets to the 'Radio and Juliet' ballet this past Saturday. Part of Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, this was a modern take on Romeo and Juliet set to the music of Radiohead.

The choreography was amazing ... and hearing Radiohead tunes blasted at the Byham Theater was thilling.

here are some clips:

Atlanta Visit, Oct 3rd - 9th

2008-10-10T14:38:00.002-04:00

Just got back from Atlanta this week. Visiting with the 'Bowser-Kyles' ... cracking jokes with 'Buddy'. We did the usual. Hanging out in the Atlanta fall weather, a trip to Stone Mountain again, played some Wii, went to the movies, listened to music ... basically chilled.

'Buddy' showed me her 'no fear' bungee jumping skills.

Last year at this time I was down in the ATL hanging with the Dalai Lama ... this year, The Black Crowes. Funny how that goes.

Saw the Black Crowes perform with Phil Lesh and his band (former Grateful Dead Bassist) at the new Verizon Amphitheater in Alpharetta on Sunday Night. Pretty amazing show. Tons of 'Deadheads' in attendance. It was great to hear Phil Lesh play all Grateful Dead tunes. Chris Robinson even came out and sang along to one of Garcia's songs.

The Black Crowes' set wasn't a greatest hits collection as was their set I saw in August but rather contained lesser known tunes and long 'space' jams between/during songs. It was still a great show.

Another great trip to Atlanta.

Another Busy Weekend

2008-09-03T15:27:00.003-04:00

I couldn't possibly have done more things and slept less this last Labor Day weekend. My activities included, but were not limited to, the following:

Friday night, 'Mr. Jones' aka 'The Bassclown' was our guest DJ over at the club. He spun a great set, the place was packed and people were moving. All the usual suspects were out and about.

Family, friends ('M' and 'the Jones') and I spent Saturday afternoon at the La Casa Narcisi Winery up in Gibsonia PA attending their yearly wine festival. It was a beautiful afternoon to enjoy the bands, eat food, drink wine, watch the grape stomping, etc. Most importantly though was their 2008 Amateur Wine Maker's competition that my family and I entered our wine in. There were 25 competitors and our Chardonnay came in first place! Unbelievable! I mean our wine is good but I didn't think it was that good.

Saturday evening after the wine festival, 'M' and I met 'Too Much Pink' and her boyfriend over at Moondogs in Blawnox to catch the swing band The Metropolitans.

Sunday Afternoon, 'M' and I decided to go to the Pittsburgh Zoo. Bold choice for Labor Day activities since we knew it would be packed but 'M' had 6 free passes for the zoo that expired that weekend. We went (and made 4 other random people very happy with the free passes we handed out in the parking lot) and it was extremely packed. No problem though ... we did a speed run through the place concentrating on catching the new polar bear exhibit and newer baby elephants. I ran into some old friends, 'Alaska' and 'She1be, and took time to sit and experience some over priced Dippin Dots ice cream for the first time.

Sunday evening 'M', 'Mr. Jones', 'Clover', 'Schaf', 'Litl' and I were all invited to a surprise 50th birthday party for one of our close friends. The party was held at the Alto Lounge in Shadyside from 5pm to 9pm with open bar and free food plus 'Brotha Mike' providing the tunes. The party was fun and relaxing and the guest of honor was extremely surprised. I gave her a bottle of my ... ahem ... Award Winning Chardonnay Wine as a present. :)

After the party, we all convened over to 'Clover' and 'Schaf's' place where we were joined by 'Mrs Jones', 'JimmyAndrewForest' and a few others. 'M' and I hit a wall shortly after that and decided to head home while everyone else made plans to go out for the remainder of the night.

Peril in Pittsburgh

2008-08-20T15:17:00.004-04:00

IZZAT ARN MAN??!! GIT AHT! WAZ ARN MAN DOIN NEBBIN AROUN DAHN ATDA STILL MILL? CRIPES! WAIT! WHAT DA HELL IZAT THING? LOOKS LIKE ONE A DEM STILLERS CAUGHT FAHR, EN AT. IZAT FRANCO?! GIT DAHN ER - SOME FRUIT IN A TURLENECK IS PUNCHIN FRANCO!*

*Thank you NTMTO Board.

Recent Happenings ...

2008-08-20T14:14:00.006-04:00

Last week, I checked out the restaurant Seviche for the first time ... a Nuevo Latino tapas restaurant and bar located on Penn Avenue downtown near the Convention Center. I met my friend 'Em' there for some after work cocktails and we sampled some fresh seviche:

ASIAN TARTARE w/ Ahi Tuna
Seasoned with soy sauce, scallions, sesame oil and capers. Served on sushi rice and nori rolls with white truffle oil wasabi mayonnaise and Tobiko caviar

FIRE AND ICE w/ Hamachi (Yellow Tail Snapper)
Our traditional seviche recipe prepared in a spicier version with habanero peppers and red onion and topped with a cool homemade prickly pear granita.

AVOCADO AND CORN SEVICHE w/ Salmon
Marinated in fresh lime, jalapeno, cilantro, scallion, red onion, avocado, corn and red pepper

The seviche was excellent and the prices were not too outrageous. There are drink specials throughout the week and the rest of the menu looked rather tasty. I liked the atmosphere and the service was great ... I can see hanging out there again soon.

************************************************

Friday, 'Litl' and I succumbed to the peer pressure and went and saw The Dark Knight on IMAX ... cause ya know, 'everyone is doing it'. Pretty amazing film. We ended the night over at 'Z- Lounge' with 'Mrs. Jones', 'JimmyAndrewForest' and others to hear 'Bassclown' spin some records.

************************************************

On Sunday, 'Em' and I went to Highland Park to listen to some Jazz music. Reservoir Jazz is a summer series showcasing some of Pittsburgh's greatest Jazz talent every Sunday afternoon, free in the park. The weather was beautiful and the place was packed with families picnicking, BBQing, playing and hanging out. Very nice relaxing vibe. (and only about a mile from my house!)

************************************************

Last night, 'Em' and I went to Regent Square Theater to see Werner Herzog's latest documentary, 'Encounter At The End of the World'. The movie is a visually stunning exploration of the Antarctic community of McMurdo Station, headquarters to the National Science Foundation and home to eleven hundred people during the austral summer (Oct-Feb). Herzog, narrating the film himself in his typical surreal yet sincere fashion, examines human nature and Mother nature, juxtaposing breathtaking locations with the profound, surreal, and sometimes absurd experiences of the marine biologists, physicists, plumbers, and truck drivers who choose to form a society as far away from society as one can get. We both really enjoyed the film especially the questions it raisied about our (in)human nature (Herzog is consistently good at doing this, yo).

The Bowser-Kyles invade PGH.

2008-08-08T16:10:00.006-04:00

You may know them from the hit 'How I spent MLK Day' and the popular series 'Atlanta Visit Day 1 - 5' ... this time 'Beaner', 'Bowser' and 'Buddy' took time off their Western PA tour to come and visit me in PGH and boy did we have some good times.

'Buddy' (aka 'Jamhands') stopped by on Tuesday to wreak complete havok on my house. I introduced her to the magic of the polaroid camera and she told me that my house was 'pretty' but that it clearly 'did not have enough toys'. We then had a nice lunch that consited of sliced turkey, strawberries, carrots, cheezits and gummi bears.

Tuesday night, 'Bowser' took 'Buddy' to grandma's house while 'Beaner' (aka 'Gus Macker') and I went down to the Byham Theater to see The Black Crowes. It was an intimate yet lolud and rocking experience catching the band in this small 1300 seat theater. The band played for a good 2 hours, mixing it up between songs from their new album, older albums and even some rare b-side material. They also jammed out some songs into very psychedelic medleys ...

The setlist:

Movin' On Down The Line - (2008 Warpaint)
Goodbye Daughters Of The Revolution - (2008 Warpaint)
Sting Me - (1992 The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion)
Another Roadside Tragedy - (1997 Unreleased)
Nebakanezer - (1996 Three Snakes and One Charm)
There's Gold In Them Hills - (2008 Warpaint)
Poor Elijah - Tribute To Johnson (Medley) (1970 Eric Clapton Cover)
Driving Wheel - (2007 Brothers of a Feather)
Whoa Mule - (2008 Warpaint)
Girl From A Pawnshop - (1996 Three Snakes and One Charm)
My Morning Song - (1992 The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion)
Twice As Hard - (1990 -Shake Your Money Maker)
Oh Josephine - (2008 Warpaint)
Soul Singing - (2001 Lions)
Wounded Bird - (2008 Warpaint)
- encore -
Feathers - (1995 H.O.R.D.E. Tour Promo Disc)
Mean Town Blues (1969 Johnny Winter Cover)

Wednesday afternoon, 'Bowser' and our friend 'Zerbs' (aka 'Lehman') came back into to town to join 'Beaner' and me for an afternoon at the Mattress Factory, Carnegie Museum, and lunch and cocktails in Oakland.

The four of us then went to Soba Restaurant in Shadyside to partake in their Corn Festival Tasting Menu. (we were joined by 'Bassclown' and 'BJ' aka 'Hair Extensions'). This was another fantastic tasting menu just like the one I went to in June except this time the 'secret ingredient' was corn.

The chef started us off with a tasting of Coconut Milk and Ginger Soup

1st Course:

Corn Brulee w/ chili lime salad
Corn and Crab Fitter with soy dipping sauce
Corn and Littleneck Clams with chanterelle mushrooms and yunnan ham sauté

2nd Course:

Halibut Ceviche with corn, plum tomatoes, peaches, chili's, cilantro and crushed coriander oil

3rd Course:

Grilled Medium Rare Flank Steak with roasted corn, tomato, onion, thai chili's, basil, lime and soy sauce

4th Course:

Toasted Steamed Cornbread with cardamom honey peaches, whipped crème fraiche and salted caramel popcorn

We also had the wine pairings with dinner (a Chardonnay, a Riesling, a Cabernet and then an Ice Wine for dessert)

The tasting menu was very fulfilling ... I mean, starting off with a crab cake and creme brulee is pretty hearty ... and the ceviche was out of this world with the combination of halibut, chili's, tomatoes and the surprise taste of peaches. The portion of flank steak was very, very generous too. The corn was prevalent in every dish but it definitely wasn't the main star. Most of us felt that the cornbread topped with cracker jacks was a little lackluster of dessert after an extravagant meal like that but I enjoyed it since I never eat cornbread. Overall, I thought the meal was incredible and I can't wait until their next one. (October: Vegetarian Indian Tasting Menu)

We ended the night having cocktails in Shadyside ...

Everyone left yesterday afternoon, bringing an end to my midweek-mini-vacation.

Let's catch up ...

2008-08-08T15:56:00.003-04:00

and clear up any confusion. My latest MRI and the two doctor's appointments I had this week were all just to check up on my cervical spinal fusion from May and to see if that bone lesion in my upper left arm was anything.

Double good news:

The bone lesion is just a cyst growing in the hollow part of my arm. Many people have these and they usually go unnoticed. (Mine just happened to be spotted during one of MRIs). When I asked the Doctor why/how they happen and he said 'they just do'. I'll have to keep tabs on it now since I know it is there but I really shouldn't worry about it too much ... he said to have a yearly xray just to make sure it's not growing or affecting the bone around it. I can live with that.

Also, my spine is healing just fine ... so fine in fact that the doctor decided that I do no need to go to Physical Therapy. Bonus.

Will it ever end?

2008-07-23T12:04:00.004-04:00

13th hospital visit and 4th MRI of 2008

07/22/08

C'mon kids, laugh with me, not at me. ;)

Jazz is in the house

2008-07-19T09:12:00.007-04:00

Last night my friend Jwan brought his mixing skills to the club. He played an awesome set of house and techno music as usual. This time around, however, we tried something new. We had two guys play live trumpet and saxophone along with him, at times, to see how it sounded. Jwan would break his set down and play some minimal tracks that the guys could riff over. The result was really freeform and jazzy and the crowd loved it. When the horns were finished, Jwan would ramp up the music back into something more complex and full bodied. Below is about a minute of last night that I caught on my camera ...

*I realize the video is very dark but at least you can hear the horns to get an idea of what it was like.

** we usually have a live bongo player who comes every week and plays along with the DJ but this week he was a no show.

We're going to try it all again next week anyway ... trumpet, horns, DJ, etc.

Pool Party 08

2008-07-18T12:52:00.005-04:00

It's 90 degrees and humid again this week. Who wants to go swimming?

Wine Label Pics

2008-07-11T10:48:00.002-04:00

Better resolution pics of the actual labels:

My Wine

2008-07-10T09:43:00.005-04:00

My labels are finished for the 4 types of wine I made this year; Burgundy, Valdapena, Chardonnay and Cabernet. Last year's wine was named 'Son et Lumiere' (where ever did I get that from?) This year's wine is titled, 'Testa Della Zucci' which roughly translates to 'Head of Pumpkin (Gourd)'. My Italian Grandmother (Nonna) called me 'Punkinhead' while growing up. Yes, it was 'Punkin' and not 'Pumpkin' ... the pittsburgh/italian accent cut out the 'ump'. She also used to shorten and mash together words to make up new ones like 'immakillyou' when she felt like it ... 'immakillyou punkinhead' she used to say.

but anyway ...

In honor of her, I bring you 'Pumpkinhead Wine' courtesy of Casa di Carfagna.

Last night I got together with 'Clover', 'Schaf' and 'Litl' for a short wine tasting. We made it though a bottle each of the Burgundy, Cabernet and Chardonnay.

Chardonnay is still everyone's favorite. The others still taste like alcoholic grape juice. ;)

4th of July weekend pt. 2

2008-07-07T14:04:00.007-04:00

Other stuff that happened over the three day weekend:

I hung out and drank too much with 'Clover', 'Schaf', 'Litl', 'JimmyAndrewForest' and a bunch of others. Everyone ended up at 'The Castle' for afterhours but I wussed out and went home.

On a whim I went and saw 'Wall-E' with my friend 'Torque Smackey'. Clever film but not as good as 'The Incredibles'.

I spent a good amount of the weekend trying to load the music sequencer and recording software Pro Tools M-Powered onto my computer. A bitch of a time but I finally got it working properly.

And last but not least, I took advantage of my museum membership and went to the Carnegie Museum with 'Evil Genius' and 'Litl' for an afternoon. I finally checked out the new Dinosaur exhibit and the impressive Carnegie International 'Life on Mars' exhibit.

4th of July Weekend

2008-07-07T13:18:00.008-04:00

Very eventful but not in the usual way.

Every year my family and some close family friends make our own wine. We buy the juice of different grapes and then 'rack' the wine every 7 weeks to extract the impurities. We make all types of reds and white; (Cabernet, Valdepena, White Zinf, Chardonnay, Chianti, Burgundy, etc). We started this year's batch back in October of 2007 and this last Saturday, July the 5th, the wine was finally ready to bottle. We spent the entire day cleaning and bottling the wine; a production of about 963 bottles give or take a few.

I couldn't fit all of the cases in the pic ... but those shown are piled two high making it about 750 bottles of wine in this pic.

Anyway ... it took close to 9 hours for the nine of us involved to bottle everything. Of course, this was partly due to the fact that there were at least 30 other people in attendance to watch us work making it more of a fun gathering than actual labor. AND of course we were drinking the entire time; sampling the vino and doing shots of Pelinkovac. AND of course as with every Italian family event of mine, the food spread for the day was most impressive; hot sausage, meatballs, BBQ ribs, brochette, fried chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, sausage patties, kielbasa and sauerkraut, sushi, grape leaves, homemade pizza bread, cakes, brownies, tons of fruit ...

I was drunk, stuffed and tired by the end of the day but I still managed to meet up with my old high school friend 'Evil Genius' for dinner before heading home.

Weak Gardening

2008-06-30T13:22:00.004-04:00

Work around my house has come to a screeching halt due to my spinal surgery this summer.

In a half-hearted attempt to at least feel some acclomplishments and add some color to my back yard, I purchased a box of mixed flower seed that you just 'shake out' where you want the flowers to grow. The box lists some latin names for the 2 dozen or so types types of flowers that are supposed to be included in the seed but there are no reference pictures ... so I really don't know what's what. (plus, about only 4 types of flowers have actually bloomed from my efforts)

Below are pics of some of the results where I 'planted' near my retaining wall.

The orange flowers that are flourishing the most are really nice. I like how they are vine-like and have grown over the wall ... I only wish I knew what kind they were. Anybody?

Euro 2008

2008-06-26T21:14:00.006-04:00

Today was the last day of the Semi Finals. Spain beat down Russia today 3-0. Germany squeaked past Turkey yesterday 3-2 scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute. I worked only half days both days so I could be home to watch the games live at 14:45 Eastern Time. C'mon, You have to have your priorities. Plus I'm an Engineering Consultant for German company. I get bonus points for liking soccer.

The final is on Sunday and I just made plans to watch it with a friend visiting from Seattle. He called to see if I would be around while he was in town and got very excited when I mentioned wanting to watch the game since he's very much into it himself. Synchronicity indeed.

Awesome Dream ...

2008-06-26T20:57:00.005-04:00

I had a dream last night that I went to visit my orthopedic surgeon for a check up and he had bad news for me. Looking at my xray, he showed me that he missed a herniated disc and stated that I would have to be operated on again. He then went on to say, 'But this one is on me since it was my mistake. You won't have to pay a dime.' I remember feeling a little bit a dread but then my (bio)Dad showed up and we went to Kennywood. I told him about the 'mistake' and we both laughed. Funny how dreams work.

Incidentally, I did just get my bill for the surgery*. The total came in somewhere a little over $40K not counting all of the doctors visits, xrays and MRIs I took previously. Of course, I don't have to pay a dime since my health insurance rocks (even if they did desecrate our steel building and ruin our skyline).

*I'm guessing getting the bill is partly why I was dreaming about it all. That and the fact that last night I was feeling really 'achy' before going to bed.

I'm Free

2008-06-25T16:06:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was the last day of me wearing the soft collar around my neck. I am so relieved to be done with it. To celebrate, 'Litl' and I went to Kelly's Bar for a few pints of Franziskaner and a shot of Jameson (or as 'Meg F' refers to it now, 'my medicine'). At midnight, the Shadow Lounge's owner also turned dirty thirty so more shots of Jameson were poured to celebrate his birthday. We were in good company as usual; 'Schell', 'Torque Smackey', 'Jack Wilson', 'Taracalypse', 'Pipecock' and many more joined us.

It's good to be back out in the social scene.

BTW, the Kokolo show I was helping promote last week was phenomenal. Attendance exceeded everyone's expectations and the band played an energetic, close to 2 hour set. I know we were violating fire code capacity at the venue because at one point the front door to the place could barely open because of the standing room only crowd pushed up against it. The place was sweaty, jammed and jumping. The band made money and I made money and everyone was happy.

There was a little scare though ... the band called me from the road before the show as they were driving in from NYC. They called at 6pm to tell me they were still at least 2 hours away from Pgh and that they were in stand still traffic on the turnpike due to a major accident. Doors to the show were listed to open at 10pm and the band still needed to get there, unpack, sound check, get dinner and relax before going on. It ended up being pretty tight ... the band arrived around 9pm. Sound check went well and then they were off to a friend's house who had prepared dinner for the band. It was 10pm, people were already arriving and the band was just off to have supper. I was supposed to have a DJ occupy the time until the band went on but there was some miscommunication with the club and they had lent their turntables to be used by another DJ in another room for the night. I had to play a CD while people got restless waiting for the band to go on. Finally the band got back to the club around 11:30pm and after a quick meet and greet with some friends in a back room (and a quick 'break a leg' shot of Jameson by all of us) they took the stage.

Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival

2008-06-11T02:51:00.005-04:00

Dragon boat races are believed to have originated in China more than 2,500 years ago, contemporaneous with the Greeks beginning their games at Olympia. Beyond a sporting event, the races and water festivals serve as a veneration to the dragons, hoping for health through the dangerously warm and humid summer months.

Last night I ventured off to Soba Restaurant with 'Clover', 'Schaf' and 'C.A.' to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival with a special tasting menu inspired by the cuisines of south-central China.

1st Course:

Dim Sum

Scallop shu mai, spicy dipping sauce
Shrimp potsticker, citrus-soy sauce
Lobster bun, orange-scallion dipping sauce

2nd Course:

Little neck clam bowl, lo mein noodles, choy, chili and fermented black bean broth

3rd Course:

Flash cooked rare tuna, ginger, garlic, asparagus and scallion salad

4th Course:

Almond custard bao, szechwan-berry sauce, ginger poached apricot*

We also had wine pairings with each course; two Rieslings, a Pinot Noir and a Sherry for dessert.

Overall, the meal was quite good with the rare tuna being my favorite. The tuna was prepared perfectly; barely, barely seared with an oil and citrus sauce over it, sort fo like a seviche style. The 1st course 'appetizers' were all good but very small and the citrus sauce on them kind of over powered the flavor of the main ingredients. The clam bowl was nice and hearty, the most filling of the three dishes. I would have liked less noddles and more clams and choy though.

*Since I'm allergic to almonds, the restaurant let me switch to a Lemongrass creme brulee with coconut tuile and fresh tropical fruit salad as my 4th course. Excellent.

Getting back to normal

2008-06-10T11:02:00.005-04:00

So I've been going to work 3 days a week now. Driving myself. Running errands. Getting back to my normal life.

I stopped by the Shadow Lounge last night to drop off posters and flyers for the next show I'm promoting on June 20th. I ended up sitting in front of the lounge talking with 'Jmall$' for a while. It's good to start getting back out into the social, public atmospshere.

I then decided to go over to Kelly's Bar to see 'Meg F' but there was a sign on the door saying 'Closed for Private Party'. Figures ... I haven't been to Kelly's in well over a month and the night I decide to stop by, I'm not allowed in. I texted 'Meg F' only to find out that the AC was out and it was pretty miserable inside anyway.

I also stopped by to see a musician friend of mine to pick up some new music to work on. My friend is an internationally published artist on various record labels; Record Kicks, Freestyle Records, Vampisoul . He is leaving PGH tomorrow to go to NYC and then on to Europe to tour until September of this year. He has a new album he's been working on and he wanted to give it to me to listen to while he's gone and possibly add my musical touch to it. When he returns in the fall, he plans on recording and producing the album here in PGH and he has asked me to help out. Pretty freakin' cool. I had to pick up all of the individual music tracks last night for the 10 unfinished songs. Over the next few months I'll dissect the album, assemble and mix the songs, learn them inside and out to see what I can come up with. Hopefully, when he returns in September, I'll have come up with something he'll like and we can get moving on finishing the project.

The New Brace

2008-06-03T16:05:00.006-04:00

I had my first post surgery doctor's visit today. Everything is going well; my insides are fine and my outsides are fine. My spinal fusion is healing nicely and my incisions are looking healthy. I dig my throat scar. Today was the first day I got to see it since it was covered with surgically tape before. It's small and the doctors did a great job of keeping it compact and slim ... but it is still there. I'll have to come up with a great story to go along with it ... you know, like in the movie 'Jaws' when they all start comparing scars and stories. Anterior cervical spinal fusion sounds too wussy and technical ... back alley knife fight in the outskirts of Shanghai sounds much more interesting ... or something like that.

I get to start wearing this 'soft collar' instead of the hard plastic brace I was previously sporting. Damn, this new 'collar' is bulkier and more in my face than the hard brace ... it's like a wrapped a small pillow around my neck. What the heck? I'm a little disappointed about this. I thought I was going to get something smaller, more comfortable and easier to conceal.

Anyway ... I have to wear the collar for at least 3 more weeks (ugh) 24 hours a day (minus the showers) but I am allowed to drive now. Huh? ... I don't see how that is recommended since this collar is more obtrusive than the last one.

oh well ... I see the doctor again in 2 months and then I'll start physical therapy.

I'm still supposed to take it easy, no lifting more than 20 lbs, so my summer is going to be pretty laid back.

Below is a pic I took of my xray today. Nice shot of my hardware, huh?

Recovering

2008-05-29T23:51:00.006-04:00

I've left my house 3 times in the last 15 days.

Yup ... going a little stir crazy.

I've had a handfull of visitors, read one book, played a lot of piano, taken plenty of oxycontin, watched 8 good netflix films, watched too much bad tv and played a ton of xbox to help pass the time.

I also designed the flyer for the next show I'm promoting and arranged promotions in all of the local papers:

oh ... and I also did a little bit of work work.

I have an appointment with my doctor next week (5 days from now). Hopefully I will be told that I'm allowed to start driving again.

The Brace

2008-05-28T09:11:00.001-04:00

Visiting hours have now begun

2008-05-21T21:24:00.006-04:00

Today I had my first visitors over since my surgery last week. 'Clover', 'Schaf' and 'Litl' stopped by for a few hours. They brought me a case of Heineken, a beautiful bouquet of 'Get Well Soon' flowers and a 'Freedom is not Free' lap blanket from the Vets. Awesome! Thanks for thinking of me!

Post Surgery

2008-05-17T18:37:00.002-04:00

My anterior cervical spinal fusion surgery was on Wednesday. I passed with flying colors. The surgery was a success; the two herniated discs that were touching my spinal cord were removed and I no longer have pain in my left arm. I was out of the hospital and back home by Thursday evening, a day earlier than expected ... of course, I'm in a huge amount of pain, all over my body, but that is expected. I'm also a bit loopy as I write this since I'm on a pretty steady dose of Oxicotin.

There was a little problem during my 'coming to' after surgery though. As the doctors were removing the breathing tube from my lungs and bringing me off of the anesthetic, my lungs filled up with fluid. I was told that this doesn't happen too often but basically as I was waking I felt like I was drowning. Every time I took a breath my lungs would just fill up. I would choke the fluid out but then gasp for another breath and again, lungs full of water. It was pretty intense since I was just coming to and didn't have any idea what was happening. The doctors had to hold me down as I panicked ... I remember blood gushing from my nose from where the breathing tube was pulled out ... I was injected with something to calm me down as the doctors just kept shouting at me to cough up the fluid or swallow it or spit it out ... they also shoved a suction hose down my throat to help remove the fluid. This went on for about 10 to 15 minutes; me just coughing and coughing ... like I was just dunked in a pool and choking on water. It took most for the day before my lungs were finally cleared. I had to wear an oxygen mask for close to 24 hours.

Anyway, now I am at home, 3 days since my surgery ... bruised, swollen and sore all over. I have to wear neck brace for 6 to 8 weeks to protect the spinal fusion and I am not allowed to drive for at least 3 weeks. Not much is going to be happening on this end for a while but that's cool with me. I'm tired and beat up and I need some rest.

Lobotomy Scars or Alien Abduction markings?

"The Force is strong in this one ..."

Detroit DJs

2008-05-12T18:16:00.005-04:00

I also went and saw Rick Wilhite perform at the AVA Lounge this weekend. Iwas joined by 'Mr. Jones', 'C.A.' and countless other friends.

Rick Wilhite is a veteran in the Detroit electronic music scene. His collaboration with the group 3 Chairs (with Kenny Dixon Jr aka Moodyman, Theo Parrish & Malik Pittman) along with his stunning, but too rare, releases makes him one of the most sought after Detroit DJs.
Rick, along with 3 Chairs, has played at countless venues around the world, mostly at the most prestigious clubs and festivals. Rick also owns and operatea the legendary Vibes New And Rare Music record store in Detroit. Additionally, Wilhite has worked alongside many electronic music pioneers, such as Juan Atkins and Derrick May. Rick Wilhite’s sets are simply unforgettable; his skills paired with his amazing sense of music are a journey into the deep sounds of Detroit house.

The place was packed and there was a great vibe with people dancing and getting into the groove ...

... dispite the fact that 'Brotha Mike' fell asleep during Rick's set.

2 days and counting ...

2008-05-12T17:30:00.002-04:00

... until my surgery. The idea of it all is finally just setting in. I really haven't had time to think about it over the last few weeks because I've been so busy.

All last week I hosted two coworkers of mine from Germany here in Pgh. We had to attend a Steel Makers Technology Conference that my company was a part of. Every waking minute was spent with them either eating, drinking, working at the Convention Center, driving them around, shopping, site seeing, etc. It was nice having them here because it kept my mind off of what was happening to me this week but it sure was exhausting.

I also had a friend from college stay with me over this last weekend who was in town on business. We got to go out to eat with friends and do some catching up.

I really haven't had any time to myself in the last few weeks. Probably a good thing.

Now I'm sitting here thinking about what I have to pack for my stay in the hospital. Thinking about what I may need at my house during my 3 week, no driving, recovery time. Of course, I know I'll have friends and family that will be able to take care of me and go out and get things I may need ... I'm just thinking too much trying to prepare myself. I'm also going a hundred different directions trying to prepare my company for a temporary hiatus; making sure I can leave the office unmanned for a few days or weeks, etc.

I've also been very busy playing and recording new music with friend; something that is very new to me. The playing of music is not new ... but the recording for a professional album is. My friend, who is currently signed to a UK record label, is working on a few new albums and he needs keyboard/piano on a few songs. He has enlisted me to drop some keyboard riffs on a few of his songs. Pretty amazing stuff and very interesting on how we are recording between his home studio and at my house through my laptop ... but that will be saved for another post all together.

Van Halen, Pittsburgh (Finally)

2008-05-01T14:42:00.004-04:00

The curtain rose as the band jumped right into 'Pretty Woman' while Dave screamed to the crowd 'Better late than never. Right, you motherfxckers?!?' alluding to the fact that the show was postponed since March. From that point on I had chills for most of the night; It brought back so many memories hearing and watching those guys. Dave was super cheesy but I got used to it ... I started to see some of his 80's antics, that I remembered and loved, still creeping out from behind his shaved chest, short hair and marching band costumes that he's into today. Eddie and Alex were spot on ... no complaints there. It was great to see them so happy, laughing and smiling and getting along. Dave yelled at Eddie once for jumping into a song too early saying, 'Damn, are you in a hurry tonight?' but they all just had a chuckle. Dave forgot lyrics but Eddie didn't mind ... and there were some feedback issues that Dave kept complaining about, getting testy with the sound guys, 'They paid for a show, not for feedback ... fxckin' fix it.' Yeah, Diamond Dave was dropping F bombs the whole night; it kind of felt like the aging rockstar was trying to still seem so cool complete with his continuous sexually promiscuous jabbering during and between songs all night long. But the vibe on stage seemed very light, super fun and super tight; it genuinely looked like they were having fun performing together ... and that's all I could ask for.

Overall I loved it. I had seats in the upper section, center stage, and the crowd around me was a 'sit down' crowd but I didn't mind. I was able to fully watch everything on stage with no distractions.

Setlist:

01. You Really Got Me (from Van Halen, 1978)

02. I'm the One (from Van Halen, 1978)

03. Runnin' With the Devil (from Van Halen, 1978)

04. Romeo Delight (from Women and Children First, 1980)

05. Somebody Get Me a Doctor (from Van Halen II, 1979) w/ a bit of The Who "Magic Bus' Jam

06. Beautiful Girls (from Van Halen II, 1979)

07. Dance the Night Away (from Van Halen II, 1979)

08. Atomic Punk (from Van Halen, 1978)

09. Everybody Wants Some (from Women and Children First, 1980) w/ a bit of Eric Clapton "Crossroads" Jam

10. So This Is Love? (from Fair Warning, 1981)

11. Mean Street (from Fair Warning, 1981)

12. Pretty Woman (from Diver Down, 1982)

13. Alex Van Halen Drum Solo

14. Unchained (from Fair Warning, 1981)

15. I'll Wait (from 1984, 1984)

16. And the Cradle Will Rock (from Women and Children First, 1980)

17. Hot for Teacher (from 1984, 1984)

18. Little Dreamer (from Van Halen, 1978)

19. Little Guitars (from Diver Down, 1982)

20. Jamie's Cryin' (from Van Halen, 1978)

21. Ice Cream Man (from Van Halen, 1978) w/ acoustic Diamond Dave Intro

22. Panama (from 1984, 1984)

23. Eddie Van Halen Guitar Solo (incl. "Women in Love" intro, "Cathedral", "Eruption")

24. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love (from Van Halen, 1978) w/ a bit of Deep Purple "Smoke on the Water" Jam
Encore
25. 1984 (from 1984, 1984)

26. Jump (from 1984, 1984)

The difference a year makes ...

2008-04-19T20:01:00.002-04:00

My backyard spring of 2007

My backyard today

Aren't there cartoons on to keep you busy?

2008-04-19T09:30:00.008-04:00

Spring is here, the windows are open and my 13 year old neighbor has a new hobby ... 'skateboarding' at 8:30am on a Saturday morning ... and by 'skateboarding' I mean attempting numerous failed ollies then kicking his board around the street in frustration.

I usually don't sleep in too late but being woken up by this racket isn't the way to start off the weekend. I could have used another hour. And now that I am awake I am reminded of how much tequila (and wine and Jameson) I drank at the club where I promote and at 'MJ's' birthday party over at the 'Firehouse' last night ...

Tequila

It makes me happy

Con Tequila it feels fine

Con Tequila when the doors are opened

And con Tequila when they're calling time

Con Tequila, Con Tequila, Con Tequila,

Con Tequila when they're calling time.

Ode to Jose the curse of Cuervo

So hard to say no though it gives one the fever

(Con Tequila) Oh con Tequila

That's the curse of Sierra sunrise and Margarita

They'll break your heart in the desert heat

(Con Tequila) Oh con tequila

(Con Tequila) They make me feel ...

They'll tell you you're sober

(And tell you you're thirsty)

Over...

(They'll tell you you're fine)

That you're sober

(Pretends to be friendly)

Over...

Then the curse of Tequila

It makes me happy

Con Tequila it feels fine

Con Tequila when the doors are opened

And con Tequila when they're calling time

That's the curse of Tequila

It makes me happy

Con Tequila it feels fine

Con Tequila when the doors are opened

And con Tequila when they're calling time

That's the curse of Tequila

If there's a lot on your mind it's there to help you forget

To relax and rewind and leave behind the regret

First sip makes you well before you know it's time

And you're saying to hell with the salt, lemon and lime

Salt, lemon and lime, time

Tequila

It makes me happy

Con Tequila it feels fine

Con Tequila when the doors are opened

And con Tequila when they're calling time

That's the curse of Tequila

Yeah, I just posted a song about tequila.

I used to play this song all of the time when I DJed back in the late 90's.

The Roots

2008-04-18T00:02:00.010-04:00

I just got in from seeing The Roots live, a free show that was a part of Carnegie Mellon University's Spring Carnival. I was practically the oldest one there but it didn't matter. This is the second time I've seen The Roots here in Pgh and the experience was just about the same as the last; THEY KILLED IT! rocking a 2 hour show that spanned Hip Hop, Jazz Fusion, Heavy Metal and even some Bob Dylan.

I don't own a single Roots album, yet I'll always go see them live because of the kind of show they put on. You can't top the energy, talent and skill these guys have. They are not just a hip hop band. Heck, they even have a tuba player in the line up this time.

Tonight, along with their usual set of Roots songs, they played their medley of old hip hop songs that I've heard them do before. But this time it started off with Iron Butterfly (In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida) that went into Incredible Bongo Band (Apache), then there was Talib Kwali (Get By) into Biz Markie (You got what I need) into Old Dirty Bastard (Shimmy Shimmy Ya) into Tribe Called Quest (Award Tour), some Snoop Dogg (Who Am I, What's my name) into Mims (This is Why I'm Hot), Afrika Bambaataa (Planet Rock) into Salt and Peppa (Push It) plus many more that I can't name but surely recognized.

The Roots also completely surprised and amazed me with a their own version of the Mars Volta 'Con Safro' which included them shouting Jame's Brown-like phrases back and forth like 'Get on up', 'Get in to it', 'Soul Power', etc.

Of course, their own songs were awesome too ... but what was most interesting was their 'break' between sets when Captain Kirk the guitarist, Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson the tuba player and ?uestlove, the drummer, performed an epic 10+ minute version of Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' that started off with the National Anthem and included some riffs from Led Zeppelin's 'Dazed and Confused', The Gap Band's 'You Dropped a Bomb on Me' and Jimi Hendrix's 'Machine Gun'.

Here it is performed at Bonnaroo in three parts:
Part 1 (Gap Band riff towards the end)
Part 2 (?uestlove drum solo with crazy effects)
Part 3 (Captain Kirk guitar solo with 'Machine Gun')

The Roots came back on and did a few more tunes, finishing with, of course, 'The Seed' but what made my night, and what threw the crowd into a frenzy was their short cover of Curtis Mayfield's 'Move on Up' at the end. Whooo!

A great night for a free concert (free parking too), beautiful weather and a decent crowd.

Note: BOOOO! to my friends 'The Jones'' and 'Clover' who bailed out on going with me at the last minute.

Last night was a movie night for me ...

2008-04-16T09:27:00.006-04:00

but not in the sense that I watched movies. Well, I did actually start watching Sweeny Todd before I left the house but anyway ...

Last night around 9pm, as I was heading out for my usual Tuesday night rounds (bar crawling) in East Liberty, I ran into some filming of the new Julianne Moore thriller 'Shelter' outside of the East Liberty Presbyterian Church. The whole street, and the front of the church, was lit up like it was daylight. There were a bunch of huge spotlights perched on top of the surrounding buildings lighting the area. To give an idea, this church is pretty big, taking up a whole block. I checked it out for a bit since there was no security blocking the area. The place was buzzing with crew doing various things but nothing exciting really happened. I assumed it was mostly second unit filming since no actors were present while I was there. After thinking about it for awhile, I also thought that maybe they were filming in the church and were using the spotlights to simulate daylight through the windows. Bah ... anyway ...

After that, I proceeded across the street to my hangout to meet a friend of mine who I haven't seen in awhile for a drink. I told her about the filming going on outside and she starts telling me that she is actually involved in another movie being filmed right now called 'She's Out of My League'. Weird coincidence. I had heard about this movie being filmed; it's been in the news and I know they did some filming with the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team down at the arena. Anyway, my friend ended up inviting me to a cast and crew party for the film next Wednesday down in the Strip District. Nice ... except after IMDB-ing the movie I noticed that I do not recognize any of the 'stars' in the film. Oh well ... free party.

I drove me friend home and then went back to the bar (it was only 10:45pm) only to run into another friend who just got done working on the film 'The Road' starring Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron. We sat at the bar for a good time and chatted about it all. He mentioned he'll be a part of the crew for a new 3-d horror film 'My Bloody Valentine' that starts filming in May. This is getting good.

Very interesting how Pittsburgh has been all a buzz these last 6 months with all of the movies being filmed here ... celebrity sitings at local spots such as Whole Foods and dive bars.

In fact, I ran into another friend about a month ago while I was out shopping for shoes. I knew this woman was a local designer who owned her own boutique but I was confused when I saw her at the store shuffling through 4 or 5 boxes of shoes, clipboard in hand, looking like she was restocking and not shopping. After we said hello, I almost made the mistake of asking her if she was working there (you never know) but luckily she noticed my confusion and told me she was shopping for the production of Kevin Smith's new movie 'Zac and Miri make a Porno'.

It's awesome to see that many of my friends are getting involved in this movie action; local talent being employed to work on these big Hollywood films. Great opportunities for them and our city.

Straight and to the point ...

2008-04-11T12:13:00.003-04:00

Found this unique advertisement crammed through the handle of my screen door when I got home from work yesterday. Awesome.

Recent Parties of Mine Pt. 2

2008-04-05T23:28:00.006-04:00

Last night was the fundraiser dance party for the non profit group Just Harvest that I helped coordinate. Just Harvest is a lcoal grass roots group that works to influence public policy and to educate, empower, and mobilize the citizens of the community toward the elimination of hunger and poverty. The evening was a success, the place was crowded, people were shakin' it and a good amount of money, and more importantly awareness, was raised for the organization.

Here are some pics:

All pics were taken by Brea Jay who donated her time and camera skills to the cause. The rest of the 197 pics she took that night can be seen in her album over at Picasa. I also need to thank the DJs 'Steve', 'Buscrates' and 'SMI' for donating their time and crates of records and also the Shadow Lounge and all of their staff for their donation of the venue and flyers.

Recent Parties of Mine Pt. 1

2008-04-05T23:02:00.006-04:00

First, there was Anthony J's going away party held at Alto Lounge on Friday, March 28th. Anthony's a cool friend and fellow DJ in the club scene here in PGH. I first met Anthony when I snuck him into my then club night over at Club Havana back when he was still only 20 years old. My friends Jwan and Tom Cox told me about this new young kid they met hanging around the 720 Record Store who was really knowledgable about techno and house music. They wanted to bring him by the club but knew he wasn't 21. I told them to bring him by anyway (our bouncer would just have to look the other way). Eventually, Anthony became weekly fixture at the club (even celebrating his 21st birthday there) and he went on to spin for me on numerous occasions. Anyway, Anthony recently joined the Navy and asked if I could coordinate a last minute going away party for him before he was shipped off to boot camp March 30th. I moved the schedule around so that he and some of his (our) closest DJ friends could all have anight to themselves at the club I promote for now, Alto Lounge. The night was packed. All kinds of people came out of the woodwork to bid good wishes to Anthony. It was a great evening.

Here are a few pics:

Anthony playing to the crowd

Standing room only on the dance floor

View from behind the decks

Someone brought a trumpet

The rest fo the pics can be seen in my flickr album.

Dinner with Spanky Wilson

2008-03-28T16:14:00.004-04:00

Update: I now have reservations for four on April 18th for the Spanky Wilson Dinner Show. 'Clover' and 'Uncle Cracker' are going to join me and whoever I decide to take.

Spanky is doing two shows, 7pm and 9pm. We're having dinner at 8pm and then we'll stick around for the 2nd performance while enjoying some adult beverages.

Sounds like a solid evening to me.

My head is going to explode ...

2008-03-28T15:52:00.008-04:00

I skipped going out last night to see Del La Soul in concert over at Margarita Mama's (actually not bad place for a show - just a bad place any other time). I've actually seen them three times before and have met Plug One, Plug Two and Mace on two different occasions so I wasn't in a hurry to go.

I stayed in though because I'm knee deep in trying to hook up, figure out and learn how to run the new M-Audio Axiom 61 Midi Controller and M-Audio Fast Track Pro USB Interface I recently purchased.

I was on the phone for close to an hour with customer support last night (read: my friend 'DJ Society' down in Atlanta*)

Anyway, I've been producing music via Reason 3.0 on my laptop and through some local studios for a few years now. It's about time I got some better equipment at my house. At the very least it's been fun to have a playable keyboard in the house again, I miss just playing the piano ... and with the laptop I can call up 1,000s of sounds; anything from a Grand Piano, a Wurlitzer or Hammond Organ to some Strings, Woodwinds or crazy synths.

*'Buddy': I'm sorry I called your dad right in the middle of story time.

Promoting and stuff.

2008-03-27T00:05:00.003-04:00

Everything is coming together for the last of my parties I'm throwing

before I go under the knife.

Everything is ready for my fundraiser next week:

But first I got this:

Dinner with Spanky Wilson

2008-03-26T23:16:00.005-04:00

Today, I made reservations for dinner at the Terrace Room in the Omni William Penn Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. Reservations for two. A four course meal will be served and Spanky Wilson will be the dinner entertainment.

THE Spanky Wilson?

Spanky Wilson is a world renowned Funk and Soul vocalist. She was born in Philly and actually lived in Pittsburgh for awhile. She's toured everywhere and has recorded with everyone. Marvin Gaye, Sammy Davis Jr., Lalo Schifrin and most recently the Quantic Soul Orchestra.

Here she is performing with the QS Orchestra:

I don't know who she will be performing with at the hotel. In fact, I have no idea what to expect at this 'dinner show'. I've never been to something like this. There are no tickets. All you have to do is make reservations, pay the $27.50 per plate and get entertained by Spanky Wilson. Do I dress up? If it were up to me, I'd rather do away with the whole meal thing but I guess I'll do whatever it takes to see Ms. Wilson.

And just for kicks ... Here is her doing her version of Cream's 'Sunshine of you Love' that she recorded back in 1970. This has always been my favorite cover of this song.

Them Bones Pt. 4

2008-03-20T14:39:00.003-04:00

I talked with my surgeon last night and then spoke with the surgeons assistant today.

I picked Wednesday, May 14th as my surgery date.

Them Meds Pt. 2

2008-03-20T14:11:00.003-04:00

So this Neurontin medication I'm taking until surgery has me feeling pretty good; taking away most of the pain I was feeling from the two herniated discs. However, it also has me feeling pretty loopy from time to time ... and not in a good way. The feelings come and go. One minute I can be fine, fully aware, awake ... the next minute I'll forget how to spell my name and have trouble forming complete sentences. It's really weird.

Today I locked myself out of my office. Locked my car keys, house keys and office keys all in the office that I rent out for my company. In the 8 years I've been a tenant in this building, I have never locked myself out of my office. (I'm starting to realize I get so absent minded when this drug kicks in.) I had to go get the building manager to help me out and while we were talking in the elevator on the way back to my office, he even asked me if I was alright. He probably thought I was drunk or stoned. I explained briefly my situation and said I was on medication that makes me a little loppy and has me 'doing stuff that I never do before like locking myself out of my office.' (I actually said 'that I never do before'.) I tried to correct myself but the building manager just looked at me in silence.

And the other day I found a melted ice cream sandwich laying out on my kitchen counter (with one bite taken out of it). After seeing it, I smacked my lips and I was like, 'you know, I do taste chocolate ... hhmm ... wonder when I did that?'

Star Trek Demotivational Posters

2008-03-19T13:26:00.004-04:00

You can find 4 more pages of them here.

Them Meds pt. 1

2008-03-15T11:20:00.005-04:00

I forgot! The docs also got me on new medication. I'm taking Neurontin to help dull the nerve pain produce by the crimped nerves in my neck. Basically, I endure piercing pain underneath my shoulder blade, down the outside of my left arm (tricep) and into my elbow all day, every time I move my neck.

Here is an excerpt from the definition of Neurontin:
Neurontin affects chemicals and nerves in the body that are involved in the cause of seizures and some types of pain. The exact way that it works is unknown.

Ha ha, that's comforting.
"Just take it! we don't know why it does what it does. JUST TAKE IT!"

I take the pill twice a day and the docs said that it may take a week before it takes affect. Already I am feeling very loopy and tired from the drug. This is okay for right now, I had the best night of sleep last night that I've had in a long while, but I will need to drive my car again soon ... and drink alcohol again someday ... which neither are recommended while on this drug.

The docs also gave me Flexeril for when I am hurting really bad. The Vicodins were not doing it for me, they would only dull the pain for an hour and then make me very jittery, keeping me from falling asleep at night. They say Flexeril will knock me out.

That's what I want to hear.

Them Bones pt. 3 (It just keeps getting better)

2008-03-15T10:49:00.006-04:00

I saw the spinal surgeon yesterday (Friday). After having 4 more xrays done of my neck and after reviewing my Spinal MRI, the surgeon believes that surgery is my only option. They want to do an Anterior Cervical Spinal Fusion to alleviate the spinal cord compression and nerve damage I am experiencing. Basically, they will make an incision in the front of my neck, go in and take out the two herniated discs and then fuse the 3 Cervical Bones (c5-c6-c7) together using my own bone grafted from my pelvis. A metal brace will be implemented to keep the bone fusion in place and protected.

We're looking at a 2 1/2 hour surgery, 1/2 hour to fall asleep, 1/2 hour to wake up, close to 4 hours in OR and 2 hours in recovery, 3 days in the hospital, 3 weeks wearing a hard shell neck brace, 5 more weeks wearing a soft shell neck brace and about 3 months until full recovery.

Basically this is the same surgery I had back in 1989 for Scoliosis, fusing 4 Lumbar Bones together, with addition of metal rods, except that that surgery was 12 hours long and I didn't wake up for two days after it and the recovery time was 3 months on my back.

This time around they told me I will be on my feet the same day. I'll also have a private room and will be up and around (not bed ridden) for my entire stay in the hospital. They said bring slippers and 'casual' wear. ha ha

yay! ... more metal in me. I'm not entirely pleased with this diagnosis but I realize that I was born with a bad back and that this may be the only option right now (the best option, anyway). My left hand falling asleep every ten minutes is not a good sign. The doctors say my spinal cord is very healthy but if it keeps getting compressed (the reason my hand keeps falling asleep) I can do permanent damage eventually. If I get the surgery right now, there is a great chance that the damaged nerves will heal themselves.

I was told that there is an 80% to 90% chance that this surgery will alleviate all of my pain. A good chance that 10% of the pain will remain. I can live with that (hopefully). Of course there are risks dealing with spinal surgery, nothing I didn't already go through with my last surgery; the chance of damaging the spinal cord (1 in 1000), infection, etc. The only new things dealing with the cervical section rather than the lumbar section is possible damage to vocal cords and esophagus.

The doctors wanted to operate as soon as March 31st, a little over two weeks from now. I have to call them back next week with my decision. I know I am getting the surgery done, I just don't know if the 31st will be the date. I have to consider the recovery time and all; having to miss work, other responsibilities in my life, who will be able to be around to help me during recovery (help around the house, not being able to drive, etc).

We'll see ... i have some thinking to do and decisions to make.

35th birthday, came and went

2008-03-13T12:47:00.004-04:00

A friend out in LA called the other night to remind me, 'Hey! You're halfway to 70!'
Thanks for the warm wishes.

Tuesday night I celebrated turning 35 with a standing room only crowd at Kelly's Bar and Lounge for Funk and Soul night in East Liberty. It was also my friend J Malls' birthday too so we destroyed ourselves. Actually, I only drank 1 1/2 beers but lost count of all of the shots I was buying for everyone (and had bought for me). Jameson and Red Bull/Tequila. As a surprise birthday present, Kelly's (specifically Meg F.) threw away my tab at the end of the night. Completely awesome and beyond generous.

Yeah, it's my birthday today ...

2008-03-11T19:58:00.004-04:00

and tossed into my inbox with all of the other birthday e-mail wishes from family and friends was this little note from TicketMaster:

Van Halen - Pittsburgh - 03/21/08 - POSTPONED UNTIL A LATER DATE

Thanks Eddie ... and thank you Ticketmaster ... not only did you rape me with convenience charges and processing fees for the tickets, you also now ruined my birthday.

EMG Test

2008-03-10T15:32:00.002-04:00

Today I had my first ever EMG Nerve Conductive Test. The doctors tested my left shoulder, arm and hand to see if I am experiencing any nerve damage. The test was actually kind of fun. They first wire your fingers up with electrodes and then they take this metal wand that they stick into parts of your hand and arm which sends small jolts into you that make your muscles jump involuntarily. Cool. They also stick a small electrode needle into various muscles to record nerve patterns. This wasn't as cool. I'll get the results back when I see my Spinal Surgeon on Friday.

Off to a good start

2008-03-10T13:10:00.002-04:00

The show I was promoting last friday was cancelled because the band couldn't make it to Pittsburgh due to bad weather and poor driving conditions. Oh well. I still went out and had a blast. My friends 'Clover', 'Uncle Cracker' and 'the Jones' took my out for a birthday dinner at a local Thai Restaurant that night. After that we just bar hopped until we couldn't drink anymore. I then spent all of Saturday recovering. Fun times.

Ron Mueck

2008-03-04T12:38:00.006-05:00

Last Friday I checked out the work of hyperrealist sculptor Ron Mueck over at the Andy Warhol Museum. It was both fascinating and creepy.

Here are pics of some of his works that are exhibited here in pgh.

Side Note: I still think it's awesome that the Warhol has Happy Hour on Fridays so you can indulge in an adult beverage during your visit to the museum.

Still running with the Devil

2008-03-04T12:31:00.003-05:00

Okay internets ... settle down. Stop the rumors.

According to the Van Halen website, only a few recent tour dates have been postponed while Eddie VH is undergoing 'a battery of comprehensive medical tests to determine a defined diagnosis and recommended medical procedures.'

Still, not exactly the iron-clad reassurance that I was looking for.
Hopefully they can make it until March 21st when I'm supposed to see them.

in other news ...

2008-03-03T17:29:00.004-05:00

... somewhere out in Beaver County there is in fact a 40 year old woman named Jamie who is actually crying.

Report: Rest of Van Halen tour scrapped

I should have kept my mouth shut last year.

Them Bones Part 2

2008-03-03T13:20:00.005-05:00

Just so we're all on the same page ...

I first went to the doctor's office over two weeks ago because of some shoulder, neck and arm pain I was experiencing. My Primary Care Physician prescribed me to get an MRI of my shoulder and also referred me to see a Sports Medicine Therapist/Doctor.

The Sports Med. Doctor, while looking at the shoulder MRI, found an incidental bone lesion that worried her and immediately referred me to see a Bone/Tumor Specialist. In the meantime, she also prescribed me to get an MRI of my spine to continue to look into the cause of my pain.

So now the Bone Specialist, while looking into my bone lesion, also took a look at my spine MRI and pointed out to me that I have two herniated discs in my neck that worried him and immediately referred me to a Spinal Surgeon who I am now scheduled to see in two weeks.

Got that?

All of my doctor's visits have been through the same hospital so the sharing of my files/xrays/MRIs has been at every doctor's fingertips. This is a definitely a convenience but it has also resulted in each doctor finding something that 'worried' them that they were not directly looking for in the first place.

It's like the Sports Med Doc said, "I know you came in for this but hey, we found this" and the The Lesion Doc said, "I know you came to see me for this but hey, look at this." At this rate, I'm afraid the Spinal Surgeon is going to take one look at the herniated discs in my neck and then tell me something like my hip needs replaced or that I have diabetes ... or something else irrelevant to the situation. I mean, c'mon, what's next!?

Anyway, to recap, the image of the shoulder MRI, in which the Bone Lesion was found in the first place, doesn't show the entire lesion in my arm. The Bone Specialist needs me to get another MRI of my arm so he can get a better diagnosis of this lesion but he feels that this can wait until the herniated discs are taken care of. (the exact opposite of what my Sports Medicine doctor thought). He also believes that the lesion is just a cyst that has formed inside my arm bone where the bone marrow should be. Probably a result of a bruise that occurred when I hurt my shoulder/arm during the prolonged landscaping of my backyard last summer. The lesion is not showing up on regular xrays and it is not effecting the bone itself so he feels that there is no urgency with this. I also don't have any pain associated with the part of my arm where the bone lesion has occurred. Incidentally, he's also pretty confident that the pressure of the herniated discs on my spinal cord is causing most of my shoulder and arm pain and also why my left hand sometimes falls asleep (but we'll let the Spinal Doctor figure that out).

So we are now looking at the following in this order (I think ...):

Nerve Conductive Test on my left arm next week.
Spinal Surgeon visit the week after. (May result in therapy, injections or spinal surgery ... oooh! doctor's choice!)
MRI of my arm for the Bone Specialist follow up visit.
Then maybe we'll get back to that Sports Med Doc's follow up visit for the shoulder cartilage tear ...

Them bones ...

2008-02-27T15:04:00.008-05:00

I visited with my UPMC Sports Medicine Therapist this week and got my MRI results back for my shoulder. I have a tear in the cartilage between the head of the arm bone and the shoulder blade. Not that big of a deal. I sort of expected this from all of the digging and lifting I did last year (landscaping) and this is what is mostly causing me pain. I could possibly use surgery but they want to look at other things first. I have to get another MRI of my cervical spine done tomorrow to hopefully shed some light on the other pain I am experiencing in my neck, left arm and shoulder blade area. Again, not that big of a deal, I've had a spinal MRI done in the past with the dye injection and all and I know this needs looked at. I'm also getting an EMG Nerve Conduction Test done in March to figure out why my left arm and sometimes hand keeps falling asleep. Okay ... this I've never had done before but I'll go along with it.

... but the kicker is that the Shoulder MRI picked up something they were not looking for ... an Incidental Bone Lesion was found in my left upper arm bone and now the doctors are more concerned with this and want this prioritized.

I basically went in for shoulder pain and I came out with a possible bone tumor! Wait what? Am I in the right place?

I had blood work done right away yesterday to look for any abnormalities caused by this Bone Lesion and the doctor called me last night to tell me that my blood work came back normal. That is a relief.

I'm seeing an orthopedic bone specialist first thing Monday morning to get a better diagnosis of this Lesion thing. Worse case is that they want to do a biopsy after my visit on Monday and then we'll go from there. Best case is that the Bone Lesion is only a bruise. It's all a little bit unsettling but I don't have any finite results yet so I'm trying not to let it bother me too much.

Score!

2008-02-23T11:16:00.003-05:00

Nice. Just got me an Eat n Park gift card given to me by my elderly neighbor for shoveling her steps and driveway and cleaning her car off all winter. Now I just have to find me an Eat n Park since I haven't been to one since highschool.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

2008-02-15T11:00:00.007-05:00

I had my very first MRI done yesterday afternoon. Seems I hurt my left shoulder last summer working on the landscaping in my back yard. Probably a result from the hundreds of pounds of dirt and rocks I shoveled and moved during the process. Anyway ... the more I exercise now, the worse my shoulder is getting. Time to finally get it checked out.

It was a long, tiresome day. Before the visit, I spent over an hour and half sitting in the waiting room in my backless gown, watching Days of Our Lives and Judge Judy with a bunch of elderly, sick people. Sort of depressing. The MRI itself wasn't too bad (not claustraphobic). It was very painful because of the way they had to have me lay in the machine with a cast contraption around my shoulder. Actually, I experienced a horrible new pain that I have never felt before because they had me lay in a way that I would never lay on my own ... and then, as proceedure, I had to hold still in that position, motionless, for 25 minutes ... ugh. Not fun. But I did my best to ignore it and I did almost fall asleep.

Oh, and to make the appointment even more special, there was some sort of field trip of med students coming through during my visit and they used me as the 'example' for the class. Four young, pre-med females all standing there watching me wince my way through the MRI while my butt is hanging out of my gown.

Awesome.

Next step is for me to meet up with some UPMC Sports Medicine people so they can have a further look at what might be wrong with my shoulder. That isn't until a few weeks from now. Until then, the docs got me on Vicoden, when needed, to ease the pain.

Planning Ahead and Getting Things in Order

2008-02-07T14:17:00.001-05:00

I went out to the Shadow Lounge last night to support my friend's new Open Stage / Acoustic Music night called Netrock.

I got to hear some pretty amazing local artists last night, including Autumn Ayers and Paul Tabachneck. The crowd was pretty good for a wednesday night. I'm hoping to see more heads show up as this night builds.

While I was at the S'Lounge I was able to sit down with the owner and go over some of the upcoming events that I am promoting. We sat down with our calendars and figured out what's happening for the next couple of months.

First up @ the S'Lounge, Friday March 7th, I will be promoting/hosting the next Official Unblurred Gallery Crawl After Party featuring the music of the afro-electronique band Mifune. Mifune always draws a great crowd ... this coupled with the fact that the last Gallery Crawl After Party I helped throw drew in a packed house ... I'm hoping that this event will be off the hook.

Second up @ the S'Lounge, Friday, April 4th, I will be throwing another After Party for the Gallery Crawl but at the same time I will be teaming up with the people over at Justharvest.org, a local nonprofit anti-hunger / economic justice organization, to help them raise some money (and awarerness) for their group. All proceeds from the door will be donated to them. We'll also have voter registration available all night long. As for the entertainment, it's a ways off but we're thinking Spoken Word performances followed by the usual Northern Funk and Soul and Old School Hip Hop DJs.

The rest of my January Atlanta trip

2008-01-24T12:06:00.000-05:00

I spent the rest of my time in Atlanta visiting with the 'Bowser-Kyles'.

'Beaner' and 'Buddy' took my to the impressive Georgia Aquairium.

'Bowser' took me to an incredible International Farmers Market.

The extended weekend was fun and relaxing; watching the rare occurance of snowfall in ATL, staying in to cook food and drink wine, getting the fireplace roaring, playing Wii and Guitar Hero, catching some football playoffs, going out for brunch, catching up with close friends and the best part, playing with and getting to know 2 1/2 year old 'buddy' a whole lot better.

I also got to catch up with my friend 'Blacktain America' who just moved to the ATL from the PIT. It was his birthday Sunday night when I spoke to him and he was heading out to a club to hear legendary house dj Kai Alce perform. I'm sure it would have been a great time but I opted to stay in and relax.

How I spent MLK day.

2008-01-23T13:06:00.000-05:00

I just got back yesterday from another quick visit to Atlanta to see 'Beaner', 'Bowser' and 'Buddy'(formerly known as 'Jamhands'). The trip was a spur of the moment decision, with me buying the plane ticket Thursday afternoon and flying down on Friday. Frequent flyer miles - gotta love 'em.

The whole thing started last Monday when 'Mr. Kyle' e-mailed me about him thinking about going to see DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist in concert on MLK day. I simply replied, 'what if I flew down to ATL and went to the show with you?' ... and then the rest fell into place.

Visiting the 'Bowser-Kyles' is always a treat (I'll get into more of that later) but this trip was topped off with the chance to go and see DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist's all new, all 45rpm record DJ performance.

Back in 1999, the two collaborated on a live mix album called Brainfreeze, which was then followed in 2001 by Product Placement. Both albums featured them only using 45 rpm records (7 inches). Now they are touring with their most recent collaboration, entitled The Hard Sell:

This was the opening video that they showed at the concert to start things off. AS you can see, the film explained, in a great parody style of old grade school instructional filmstrips, the history of the 45 RPM single, the technical difficulty of mixing 45s (smaller surface area, they spin faster), and exactly how they were going to pull off this feat: using eight turntables going into four mixers, with effects processors and guitar foot pedals, allowing them to loop passages and sustain tones.

I own a DVD of their Product Placement tour which shows tons of concert footage so I sort of knew what to expect ... but seeing one of these legendary '45 only' shows live is something else entirely.

Unlike its two predecessors, The Hard Sell didn't strictly rely on only funk and soul records. This new set was extremely varied, going from kitschy (a robotic 4 on the floor "Rock Around The Clock" or a doo-wop "Eye Of The Tiger") to romantic (The Flamingos' "I Only Have Eyes For You" overdubbed with audio samples from the movie Casablanca) to Afro Latin / Brazilian Carnival Music. They even threw in some trashy electro, 80's metal and some more modern Rock and Roll ala the Foo Fighters and Metallica. Of course they still played a lot of funk and soul but it was scattered about in between the more eclectic segments. At one point, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist started recreating early 90's rap songs (songs from De La Soul's '3 ft High and Rising', Digable Planets, the Pharcyde) using only the original records and samples the songs were created from. It was incredible ... mostly a seamless performance, there were a few missed cues resulting in the old 'shoes in the dryer' sound, but the glitches made you remember that it was all live. They also just started this tour so I'm sure they are still learning what works and what doesn't.

But for close to two hours, Shadow and Chemist never stopped moving. When they weren't flipping through boxes to find the next 45, they were cueing one up, or looping another, or fiddling with the mixer. They even ended the show with a little performance using portable turntables hung over their shoulders so they could move around the stage.

Here are some videos that better explains what we experienced:

From the ATL show:

Steel Drum interpretation of The Doors

'Psychedelic' part where they stopped using the 45 adapters and let the records spin off center

The wide array of source music made it feel less focused than the all funk and soul sounds of Brainfreeze and Product Placement. This worked against them too at some points with a few segments feeling too long and showy and not that interesting. The crowd would seem to lose interest and start talking. (they didn't call it The Hard Sell for nothing i guess). I assume this song selection was an intentional move away from what's expected of them at this point though ... expanding what the audience has come to expect from an all 7" show. I really enjoyed this more eclectic mix and had a huge grin on my face when they played the Gilligan's Island theme set to the tune of "Stairway To Heaven". Ha.

Oh and Kid Koala opened up for them. Yeah, could you pack any more turntablist talent into one room for one night? I've seen Kid Koala about 4 times now but this was the best I've ever heard him play; more rock and roll, blues and reggae ... and he of course did his signature psychedelic juggling of double copies of Katherine Hepburn singing 'Moon River'.

Memory Foam Mattress

2008-01-15T11:45:00.000-05:00

I recently purchased a Queen Size Memory Foam 10" Mattress for myself this Christmas. Not one of the really expensive ones but a cheaper knock off brand from overstock.com. I had previously been sleeping on an old mattress that I bought at least 8 or 9 years ago. Wow. The difference in comfort is amazing and I am sleeping better than ever now that I switched.

What is even more amazing is how they shipped the darn thing. It was shipped rolled up and vacuum sealed so that it was only about 1/3 the size of the full mattress. Fed Ex basically just dropped it off on my front porch so it was just sitting there in it's plastic lined, vacuum pouch when I got home from work. After opening the Mattress shipment it needed to sit for a full 24 hours to fully expand to it's original size. It reminded me of those little toys you used to get when you where a kid where you placed them in water and they grew to 10 times their original size.

Anyway ... I couldn't be more satisfied with this purchase. The feel of the memory foam vs. a spring mattress is definitely unique but I don't think I'll ever want to go back to sleeping on a regular mattress again.

HD or Blu Ray?

2008-01-07T19:03:00.000-05:00

Blu Ray has just won quite a victory in the High Definition format wars the other day with Warner Brothers Studios committing to producing its newest line of high-definition DVDs in the Blu-ray format.

The company said on Friday that it would abandon the competing HD-DVD format in May and distribute all film and television discs in standard DVD or Blu-ray.

Dammit.

The war is far from over but it's not looking good for HD DVD anymore.

I have already bought a Toshiba HD DVD player and my HD film library consists of a few films (Planet Earth Series, Casablanca, The Shining, 2001 Space Odyssey) ... I'd hate these items to be worthless someday.

but then again ... if Blu Ray wins I'll just have to go out and get a Playstation 3.

Oh darn. :)

Movies I watched in 2006 ...

2008-01-07T18:38:00.000-05:00

While we are at it ... here is my list from 2006.

2006 watched films

Some of my favorites:

The Devil and Daniel Johnston - Great documentary about a manic depressive musical genius.
Dogtown and Z-Boys - Flawless documentary film by Stacy Peralta about the 1970's Zephyr Skating Team. Nice narration by Sean Penn too. Oh ... and an incredible soundtrack.
Elizabethtown - Cameron Crowe does such a great job of translating all the eccentricities of a family to the screen.
Junebug - Great original character with great character development. No cliches here. Amy Adams shines.
The Last Laugh - a 1925 silent film with superb filming techniques such as long shots and difficult crane maneuvers.
Alice - a Jan Svankmajer film telling the story of Alice in Wonderland using tons of bizarre and surreal stop motion animation mixed with live action.
Nightwatch - A Russian Fantasy/Thriller part Science Fiction tale about vampires and the fight between good and evil with tons of superb special effects. Plus the most creative use of subtitling ever scene.
Roll Bounce - 1970s roller-skating coming-of-age comedy. Enough said.
Three Extremes - 3 stories by Japans top Horror/Thriller directors including Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Gozu) and Chan Wook Park (Oldboy, Lady Vengeance)
The Squid and the Whale - Written and Directed by Noah Baumbach, who was co writer of Kicking and Screaming (1995) and The Life Aquatic, the film is semi autobiographical about his dealings with his parents divorce when he was younger.

Movies I watched last year ...

2008-01-03T13:21:00.000-05:00

The people over at The Internet Movie Data Base website have set up a nifty little system where you can store and rate all of the movies you have ever watched. You can then further store your list into any subcategories you want such as years watched, genres, want to buy, etc.

I've taken advantage of this system over the years to list the movies I've watched ... categorizing the films by the year I viewed them.

Now that we are into 2008 I can take a tally and it looks like I watched about 187 movies in the 2007. The full list can be viewed here.

Movies that topped my 'watched in 2007' list:

2001: Space Odyssey - Of course, last year wasn't the first year I saw this film ... it probably shows up on my list every year. It's on here because I bought the HD DVD version of the film at the end of the year. The ultimate Light and Sound show.

Angel-A - Just when Luc Besson said he may never direct again, he comes up with this beautiful film (6 years since his last directorial effort). The cinematography is brilliant and the acting is captivating.

Everything is Illuminated - Liev Shreiber's Screenplay Writing and Directorial debut is refreshingly original and surreal. I have never read the book the movie is based on but the film just shines with it's imagery and the Ukrainian broken English spoken though out the film is priceless.

Idiocracy - This is definitely not that great of a film technically speaking, and it barely makes my top viewings of 2007, but the subject and content is hilarious and hit's home in so many ironic places. This plus the fact that the movie is so damn quotable. Idiocracy is Mike Judge's (creator of Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill and the movie Office Space) look into the state of America 500 years into the future where everything in life has been dumbed down because of the laziness of our people.

Curse of the Golden Flower - This was the last film in Yimou Zhang's trilogy (the other two being Hero, and House of Flying Daggers) and was hated by critics. This film was my favorite in the trilogy. Taking place during China's Tang Dynasty, the movie focuses less on dazzling wire-fu fights of the previous films and more on the grand cinematography of epic war battles. Critics called the fight choreography unimaginative and the color palette too bright but this is what drew me in. I thought the film was beautifully shot and the vibrant colors breathtaking.

Playtime - 1967 French Jacques Tati film. Another one I have seen before 2007 and a film worthy of repeat viewings year after year. I reviewed the film here when describing 5 of my favorite films of all time.

The Prestige - I just like the way Christopher Nolan (and his brother Jonathan) tell a story ... and where else do you get to see David Bowie acting as Dr. Nikola Tesla?

The Shining - I bought this one on HD DVD last year also. The pale color palette of the film never looked so detailed before ... and the brilliant score has never sounded more haunting ... worthy of repeat viewings, blah, blah, blah.

Honorable Mentions:

Volver - I have a thing for Pedro Almodóvar movies.
Shortbus - Softcore where you actually care about the characters.
El Topo - The genius (or madness) of Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Diggers - Written by Ken Marino from the sketch comedy show The State
Children of Men - Reminded me of greats like Blade Runner and Brazil.
This is England - Growing up in England in the 80's. Enough said.
Tom Petty, Running Down a Dream - Clocking in at 4 hours long and I never got up once.

What did you get for Christmas?

2007-12-26T10:43:00.000-05:00

What did I get? I got to learn the ins and outs of my furnace since it decided to stop working on Christmas Eve morning.

Yup ... busted furnace ... thank you Santa/baby Jesus.

Seems that the motor that drives the fan needed to blow the carbon dioxide out of the furnace stopped working. I have a high efficiency furnace so 90% of the heat is removed from the gas burners and the left over Carbon Dioxide is blown out of the house via PVC Piping (since it is too cold to rise on it's own via a flue duct) ... and as a fail safe for the furnace, if the blower doesn't turn on to remove the CO2, then the furnace doesn't light or else I would have a house full of a deadly gas.

I'm now on day 3 without heat. The thermostat is reading 50 degrees. Like I said, the furnace stopped working on Christmas Eve morning. I have a home warranty with a company that is very efficient, they had a local heating company ready to come out to my house within a few hours that same day ... but since it was Christmas Eve, I told them to wait until the morning of the 26th ... figured no one wants to be on call, working on a furnace, the night before Christmas. I wasn't going to be around my house most of Christmas Eve and Day anyway.

Now, today, the furnace people have been here and the part has been ordered. It could arrive later today or it could take as long as Friday before they get the furnace back up and running. It's pretty cold in the house but it's not unbearable ... I'm sure catching a cold is inevitable, though.

Chihuly Nights

2007-12-19T12:42:00.000-05:00

Last night, I went and saw the Dale Chihuly Glass Exhibit at Phipps Conservatory again. This time I took my parents as part of their Christmas gift. The exhibit was supposed to end in November but they extended it's stay into the new year. It's a wonderful exhibit and I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't go one more time before it's gone. A few of my photos can be found here.

Netflix Grrrr.

2007-12-17T12:52:00.000-05:00

I wrote a letter to Netflix last week complaining that they just seem to not have enough 'new release' movies in circulation. I told them that it was ridiculous that the first 18 movies in my queue were not available for rental because of 'long waits' but were indeed released ... I wrote that I have been a customer of theirs for close to 7 years and complained (maybe threatened) that I could easily go to a local Blockbuster to get these movies if I really wanted to.

For example, 'Transformers', which came out on DVD in October still has a 'very long wait' on my queue. Now I'm not 'dieing' to see this film ... it's just the principle that's frustrating ... that it's been over 2 1/2 months since it's release and they do not have a copy they can send to me ... also, 'Pirates of the Carribean 3' is on my list and I see ads for it's DVD release on TV every freakin' day but I already assume that I'll have to wait until next year to get it from Netflix.

I mentioned that even though I have some 375 movies in my queu, I was getting sick of watching 'older' movies while waiting an average of 2 months for the new releases to become available. Don't get me wrong, I like me my classics, foreign films, cult favorites and indie flicks, all which are usually in high supply from Netflix ... it's just that sometimes I want to veg out to the latest action flick or stupid comedy i.e. 'Die Hard 4', 'Knocked Up', 'Superbad', etc.

Anyway, since writing to Netflix last Tuesday, newer released movies have been freeing up on my queue. Including 'Transformers', 'Live Free and Die Hard', etc.

Maybe Netflix's customer service actually responded to my complaint. We'll see what happens.

We're Baaaaaack!

2007-12-16T22:40:00.000-05:00

and I heard you missed us!

Great debut night to 'Brotha Mike's' and my new weekly DJ night last Friday. Hopefully this is a start to another exciting and long lived weekly party. It was great seeing so many people come out to support ... some people I haven't seen in many months. Shake it!

Friday Dance Party

2007-12-10T20:35:00.000-05:00

The afterparty we threw the other night went extremely well. My buddy and I started promoting around 7pm during the gallery crawl on Penn Avenue (which the afteparty was 'officially' for). We introduced ourselves to all of the gallery owners and invited them down to the party - many of them actually showed up. Around midnight The Shadow Lounge was filled to capacity ... at least 120 paying customers were through the door. Everyone was dancing to the eclectic mix of Funk, Northern Soul, Retro, R&B and Boogaloo sounds provided by the Djs ... and over $600 was collected at the door for our 'special cause'. It was a blast.

The rest of the photos can be viewed here. The party was such a success that the owner of the venue wants to discuss having it happen once a month.

I'm down with that.

oh yeah ...

2007-12-03T12:57:00.001-05:00

and Van Halen (the reunited Roth era Van Halen) just announced that they are extending their tour into next year ... and Pittsburgh was added to their list of cities they will be stopping in. Actually, I don't know how Pittsburgh was not on their list from the beginning ... I mean, seriously ... what city is not more Van Halen than PGH? C'mon.

Anyway, I am super psyched about this. I have total faith in these guys that the show will be one of the best rock shows I have ever experienced. In fact, after seeing them I'm confident that I'm going to have to start using a scale of 1 to Van Halen to describe anything that is near awesome.

I just hope they can keep it together long enough and avoid the inevitable band meltdown until they make it here.

Speaking of promoting ...

2007-12-03T12:38:00.001-05:00

I also spent the weekend hanging out at the ALTO Lounge in Shadyside ... doing, ah, research ...

Starting Friday December 14th, 'Brother Mike' and I will be resuming our duties as hosts for the only 'House and Techno' music DJ night in the Eastside. We'll be residing over a weekly dance party at this place - every Friday night - offering up soulful house music and funky techno in a loungy, chill out atmosphere.

3 Big DJs from 3 Big Parties

2007-12-03T12:16:00.000-05:00

Just when I thought I was out of the 'promoting' game ... this happens:
A buddy of mine and I threw this little party together in less than 24 hours. It will be the official afterparty for the Unblurred First Friday event taking place on Penn Ave. this Friday (even got it cleared with the Penn Ave Arts Initiative). Nice to know that the connections are still there after being out of the club promoting scene for close to a year. Got the venue free of charge, convinced all of the DJs to play for free, got the flyer design donated and even managed to offer up a pretty nice drink special on top of it all. The money collected from the $5 'suggested donation' cover charge will all go to a local benefit that I can't reveil at this time.

Films of the future

2007-11-28T11:11:00.000-05:00

Ugh ... five (5) days of eating Turkey leftovers, a couple of dinners with friends (some visiting from out of town), one (1) or two (2) hangovers plus three (3) 70 mile round trip drives to and from Beaver County (Quiptown Beatdown) and Pittsburgh (Eastside) which included two (2) family dinners and two (2) days of picking up 'new to me' furniture from my grandmothers house ... this is how I spent the T-Day extended holiday weekend.

But before all of that ... I recently went and saw Beowulf IMAX 3-D. Yup, the hype got me. I usually don't go to the movies. Well ... I venture out occasionally for classic films, re releases, indie or foreign flicks but I rarely go see the latest studio film while it is still in the 'cinaplex'. I just don't like seeing films at these big stadium seating, Dolby-loud-as-hell, usually attached to some mall-type-theaters which are typically crawling with distracting teens who will watch anything and eventually get on my nerves (I was there once). Don't get me wrong, I love film ... I just like to watch film in a controlled environment, like my living room, where I can control the viewing setting and experience the film in it's fullest.

And again, normally, Beowulf would be the last type of film that I would go see on the big screen. I'd get to it on my Netflix queue ... someday ... but a friend of mine and I agreed that we wanted to experience all the hype regarding the IMAX 3-D ... and man, we were not disappointed. The phenomenal 3-D effects were absolutely incredible and put a smile on my face for almost the entire length of the movie ... but it was not the only thing that got us. Surprisingly, the acting, animation and over the top action sequences were all top notch. As for the motion capture work, it was really good. The characters looked extremely real sometimes, and other times they looked hilariously fake, but in the end the filmmakers have come a long way since the 'dead eyes' animation of the Polar Express days.

Of course, at the beginning, there were plenty of gasps and giggles from the audience, mostly coming from the younger crowd in the theater ... mostly due to a few campy 3-D effects (spears and swords thrust out into the audience) and the half Danish and half 'old English-ness' of the dialogue and story, but, after a short while, I think everyone began to calm down and take notice that the film was actually pretty good.

Overall the film was one hell of an experience. It has the thrills for both the action/fantasy fan and the cinemaphile trying to follow the modern progressions in film making. (Is this the future of cinema?) The depth of field that the 3-D gave, drawing the audience 'into' the film itself, was breathtaking at times. On a beastly IMAX screen it feels like you are in the same room as these people on screen. (I caught myself ducking and blinking a few times thinking I was about to get hit by something coming out of the screen) ... but I have to say that the film was also good because of the great direction of Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump) and solid script adapation from Roger Avery, Hollywood’s go to man for pulpy comic-book stories (Pulp Fiction, True Romance, Killing Zoe) and Neil Gaimen, our modern representative of fantasy intellectualism (Sandman comics, Mirromask, Stardust). In the end, my friend and I agreed that the film would play okay in 2-D, but we would strongly suggest seeing it in it's big 3-D format if you can.

Light Up Night

2007-11-19T23:28:00.000-05:00

I headed downtown last Friday to attend a 'Green Drinks' happy hour at the Bossa Nova club. I was supposed to meet up with my friend and 'business partner' whom I work with in this Environmental Production Company but he was a no show. Not all was lost though since 'Clover', ' Uncle Cracker' and 'the Jones'' joined me down there. (It was definitely more fun this way anyway). 'The Anderson's' and our friend 'Gibb' joined us too. We spent way too much money on drinks and food ... but what the heck ... it was light up night downtown and the city was buzzing with people and we hardly ever party downtown. We even headed over to the Cigar Bar and the Market Square Ale House before the night was over.

Along the way I ran into 3 old friends in each of the 3 bars we went to. Friends I haven't seen in months and years; guys from the old days of DJing. (This is the one good thing I can say I got from working and DJing in a popular nightclub here in the city ... I met and got to know hundreds of people over the years.) The one friend was now married, one friend was supposed to move back home to Turkey but decided not to and the other guy was still doing his own thing, not DJing but still an architect here in the city. It was surreal ... like who was I going to run into around the next corner?

A great night with close friends and good night of catching up.

The Polyphonic Spree

2007-11-16T14:00:00.000-05:00

I went and saw the Polyphonic Spree last night. The show, albeit brief, was pretty awesome. The Poly. Spree are an energetic band to say the least ... with 23 members including a 10 piece choir, a pair of keyboardists, as well as a percussionist, drummer, bassist, guitarist, flautist, trumpeter, trombonist, violinist/violist, harpist, French horn player, and an electronic effects person.

My only complaints about the show were that 1) it was an all ages show so if you wanted to drink you had to stay in a roped off section out in main the lobby of the venue and 2) since it was all ages, the show had to end at 11pm because of some all ages curfew law.

I can deal with #1. I don't have to drink while watching the band.

and #2 wouldn't bother me so much either ... if only the two opening bands, who I didn't watch, didn't play so long leaving the Poly Spree only an hour to perform before the magic hour of 11pm was upon us.

Seriously, The Poly. Spree didn't go on stage until close to 10pm leaving them 1 hour to perform. They ran through 4 or 5 songs (it's sometimes hard to tell because they play medleys of some songs together) and then they said goodbye and left the stage. They came back onstage for a brief encore that consisted of 1 medley and 1 song ... and that was it ... they were off the stage, house lights came on and it was only 10:58pm.

a one hour concert?!?!

oh wait ... there is a number 3.

3) There was a $5.40 ticketmaster charge on top of the ticket price. The show cost $15 and then Ticketmaster charges 1/3 of that price on top for services. A third of the ticket price in fees!?! I'd definitely rather give it to the artists!

Anyway ... the show was still good even though it was short. They started out big, doing the whole cutting out the heart from the red curtain thing ... and they had these cannons that shot confetti into the audience during the first song ... the energy from the band and the crowd was intense ... too bad it all couldn't have kept going on into the night ... here is set list from what I can remember:

Running Away

Hanging Around / Get Up and Go

Live or Let Die

It's the Sun

Encore:
Light and Day / Ride Captain Ride + one other song

... and I was definitely disappointed that they didn't play their cover of Lithium by Nirvana.

Film, friends and beers.

2007-11-14T14:57:00.000-05:00

Finally made it to one of the films during the 3 Rivers Film Festival last night. My friend '$hell' suggested that we see the movie 'Irina Palm'. Crazy movie about a grandmother working in a porn shop in order to raise money for her ailing grandson. (and by working I mean working) Dark and funny. '$hell' had free passes to the theater so it made it all the better. She and I also grabbed a Hoegardden over at D's before the flick. (best place in town for hot dogs)

A few other friends joined us for the movie. It was a nice night to be out in Regent Square (a residential area town about 5 miles from my house) ... nice to be in an area that has a movie theater and pub that you can walk between. It reminded me of what it was like to live near shops/restaurants/entertainment venues that you can walk to (especially since 3 of our other friends who joined us all live withing a few blocks of the theater and they all either walked or biked over). I miss that about living in Morningside - there is really no where I can walk to to get a bite to eat, grab a coffee or see a movie. I have to drive to everything.

Anyway, my friend 'Soy Sos' was at the film with us last night and after the movie he and I got to talk some more about me remixing a song of his band's latest album, Telomere. We've been talking about it since the Art's Festival this summer. He actually sent over the entire album to me this morning so I could listen to the songs and pick which one I want to work on. Cool deal ... I just need to get off my butt and try to be creative.

I also stopped in at Kelly's for one last drink after the movie last night. Sat with my friends 'Meg F.', 'Selecta' and 'SMI' to do some much needed catching up regarding the DJ music scene in Pittsburgh. I've been out of the loop it seems.

Uh Oh ...

2007-11-12T11:13:00.000-05:00

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

2007-11-04T10:02:00.000-05:00

I set aside the rest of my Saturday afternoon to watch the premiere of the new 2007 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers "Running Down a Dream" documentary on the Sundance Channel.

Covering nearly 40 years of his musical history, the film has Petty navigating every pop sea change that came along in his life ... following him from his days as a hippie kid (in his first band, Mudcrutch) to his period passing as a "new wave" star in the late '70s, to his canny transformation into an MTV video star, then networking himself with the grand likes of George Harrison and Bob Dylan and, finally, to his current role as elder statesman.

The film is 4 hours long (yeah ... that's a lot of Petty) but the length is bearable, feeling like there is not a wasted minute as all of the tension, history and inspiration of the band's life unfolds.

... and they had it all ... typical Rock and Roll BS; corporate chicanery, legal showdowns and a long string of musical mutinies, plus personal stuff ranging from divorce and child abuse to drug addiction and even arson.

A very decent documentary even if you are not a fan.

Cleaning out the attic

2007-11-04T09:06:00.001-05:00

My friend Jwan invited me to the Pitt Football game on Saturday afternoon. Awesome invite but I declined because I needed to use the day off to get some things done around the house.

My main objective was to get up into the attic crawl space since I haven't been up there in over a year. The last time I was up there was during the inspection when I was buying the house and I remembered that we saw some boxes up there during this time, something the previous owner was storing up there ... I was hoping that they were still there. But I was basically also just getting up there to do an inspection of the insulation and ceiling of the roof.

Why has it taken me over a year to get up there? ... well ... because it isn't an easy process. I had to take everything out of the closet. Then I had to unscrew the hanging clothes rod and remove the shelves ... then I had to get a ladder and lift and squeeze myself up through the terribly small 16" x 16" hole pictured below. It's your typical attic crawl space entrance, I guess.

... it's just I would rather have one of those nifty pull handles where a set of stairs neatly unfolds when you open the door.

Anyway ... I made it up into the attic. Nothing special to see. I walked around, carefully balancing on the beams between the sections of insulation, checking things out - everything seemed to be in a suitable, okay condition.

... but I was excited to see over in the corner a small pile of various sized boxes, about 10 in total ... the items I saw when I was up there during the inspection last year.

It took me some time to move all the items to the attic hole (door?) and down into the house. It was a tedious and dirty process since the boxes were covered in dust and practically falling apart from age when picked up and moved. And it would have been a lot easier if I had someone there to hand everything to instead of me going up and down the step ladder, squeezing myself and the various sized boxes through the small hole over and over again.

Finally, after getting everything down, I was able to dig into the boxes. Here is what I found; mostly x-mas decorations, which is a little disappointing, but still a neat find none the less:

A couple of boxes of old Christmas lights. I dig the primary colors but I'm afraid to actually use them since they are so old. (crusty wiring and two prong plug)

A box of 'Glita-lites' ...

'they glitter like jewels!' ... now these are pretty cool ... but they come in a string of 6. That's awesome if you only want to light about about two feet of something.

There was also a box of extra Glita-lights called 'Lighted Ice' ...

A box full of cardboard paper Christmas houses

Another box full of die cast Christmas figurines; Santa, Figure Skaters, People riding Toboggans ... and a couple of Double Decker buses.

Plus these two old cool, plastic 'matchbox' type cars were in the box.

There were also two old Samsonite suitcases sitting up in the attic ... the date on the boxes they were in said "shipped on 4/11/1953". Pretty neat.

now this was the coolest find ... because, you know, what could be in a suitcase stored away in the dark corner of my attic? Clothes? Money? Scandal? okay ... I was letting my imagination get away ...

But I got nothing ...

just a business card for a hotel in Ohio. Maybe there is a tale to be told there.

Oh well ... it was a fun afternoon cleaning out the attic.

Back in Pgh ... what to do?

2007-11-03T21:11:00.000-04:00

Not much has happened since my return from Atlanta. Mostly because, upon my return, I caught a nasty cold and missed out on all the Halloween festivities.

I did meet up with my father and friends to start this year's batch of our homemade wine. We started the process last Saturday ... it took us roughly two hours to get the 210 gallons of different grape juice ready for 'fermenting' ... we will work with it every 7 weeks until next July when we finally bottle ... with an end production of roughly 850 bottles of wine. I'm sure I'll have more to talk about it as the process goes on.

I also finally made it out on Tuesday night to catch up with my friend Ray Lugo, front man to the internationally known afrobeat band Kokolo. It's always a trip to hang out with Ray ... talking about everything ... mainly music and touring the world.

and last night, I had dinner with 'Mr. and Mrs. Jones' to do .. what else? to keep up with them, of course. After dinner we made a quick stop at a local art gallery for the official release party of the new Pittsburgh Bike map produced by the folks over at Bike Pittsburgh. We then made an even quicker stop at the Brillobox for one more beer before calling it a night.

Atlanta Visit - Day Five

2007-10-28T20:05:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, Oct. 23rd

I flew home.

That's it.

Watch this instead.

Tell me this doesn't freak you out? Someone synched up their own music to an old Santana performance. It's pretty funny.

Atlanta Visit - Day Four

2007-10-25T12:53:00.000-04:00

Monday Oct. 22nd

We started the day off early (9am) by going to Emory University so 'Mama Jamhands' could get some work done. I occupied my time by going to the Michael C. Carlos Museum located on Emory Campus.

The Museum is housed in a distinguished building by renowned architect Michael Graves. The Carlos maintains the largest collection of ancient art in the Southeast with objects from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Near East, and the ancient Americas. The Museum is also home to collections of nineteenth- and twentieth-century sub-Saharan African art and European and American works on paper from the Renaissance to the present day. It was pretty impressive for a museum on a college campus.

Also present at the Museum, in correlation with the Dalai Lama's visit, was the Buddha in Paradise Exhibit: A Celebration in Himalayan Art. The exhibition was a display of sixteen Tibetan thangka paintings inspired by the theme of the Buddhist pure lands, or Sangyey Dakzhing, all created between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries. This was very nice to see up close but my visit to this exhibit was cut short due to the arrival of a class field trip full of loud junior highschoolers.

After the museum, we went out for lunch and then picked up the MARTA and headed to Centennial Olympic Park in Downtown Atlanta for another lecture by the Dalai Lama. On our walk from the rail station to the park we were able to check out Philips Arena, the Georgia Dome and the CNN Center.

The Dalai Lama's lecture was entitled Educating the Heart and Mind: A Path to Universal Responsibility. He began the lecture talking about his recent installation as a Presidential Distinguished Professor at Emory University*. He seemed to relish the honor, repeatedly referring to himself as professor and laughing, "As a professor of this university, I think you should listen to me!" He then joked that he's a "lazy person" who won't assign much homework. "I will most likely be a hopeless professor!"

Later, in his address to a crowd that had to reach to more than 10,000 people, the Dalai Lama called the U.S. the world's "greatest, most powerful" democracy and said it should send more members of the Peace Corps, instead of soldiers, to other countries to spread democracy peacefully. "The concept of war is outdated," he said. "Through war, through violence, you cannot achieve what you want."

You can view the entire lecture here. His Holiness begins speaking at about the :47 mark after yet another long list of introductions from Emory Faculty and Atlanta Government Officials.

At the :51 minute mark he gets a few more laughs by correcting one of his introductions saying, "while you introduce me, in the subject of which I study, you also mentioned 'medicine' ... that I don't know. I know how to take medicine but the technical and philosophy side, I do not know!"

A picture gallery of the event can be viewed here.

His lecture was preceded by two musical performances, a Tibetan Music Group and a Jazz Trio.

*Earlier in the day, the Dalai Lama was installed as Presidential Distinguished Professor at Emory University in a vibrant ceremony including music, readings, and academic ceremonial traditions. Following the formal installation, His Holiness delivered his inaugural lecture as Presidential Distinguished Professor entitled "Reality as Interdependence," based on Je Tsongkhapa's rten-'brel bstod-pa, "In Praise of Relativity." I was not able to attend this ceremony since it was limited to Emory Students, Faculty and Staff only. The ceremony and lecture can be viewed in it's entirety here.

Atlanta Visit - Day Three - Part Three

2007-10-24T23:01:00.000-04:00

Sunday, Oct. 21st

Evening:

Enough seriousness for the day. Time for some football!

Unfortunately the Steelers lost to the Broncos.

... and even when we made 'Jamhands' wear the good-luck-Rolling Rock-case-of-beer helmet ...

Atlanta Visit - Day Three - Part Two

2007-10-24T21:31:00.002-04:00

Sunday Oct. 21st
Afternoon:

Sunday afternoon we attended the First Emory Summit on Religion, Conflict, and Peace building.

This 3,000 person event featured on-stage, His Holiness the Dalai Lama—in conversation with religious leaders from Hindu, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities, including Rabbi David Rosen, Sister Joan Chittister, Professor Rajmohan Gandhi (the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi), and Professor Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im.

The Dalai Lama seemed, as might have been expected, to not talk too much about peace building through religion and conflict but rather through brain development, warm heartedness, peace of mind and parental/friend affection. He was his usual joyful self ... full of humor and innocence. it was such a great experience to hear him speak.

Each of the religious leaders also spoke on how the religions of the world could work together to reduce violent conflict and build peaceful, pluralistic societies.

The whole event was incredible and deeply moving, hearing each of these religious 'icons' speak. I especially enjoyed the speeches given by Rabbi David Rosen and Sister Joan Chittister, the latter getting the most reaction and applause from the crowd.

The summit concluded with a short ceremony of the concencration of the Sand Mandala for Peace and Compassion that the Drepung Monks had been working on all week.

The entire summit can be viewed in Realplayer by clicking here (it is very well worth it if you have 2 1/2 hours to spare)

The first 1/2 hour is mostly introductions from Emory Faculty. At the :41 minute mark you can view Rajmohan Gandhi giving the Dalai Lama the Peace Pilgrim award from the Gandhi Foundation. The Dalai Lama's lecture begins at about the :47 minute mark. His description of affection from animals by mimicking their actions is worth viewing.

Rabbi David Rosen can be viewed at the 1:07 mark.

and Sister Joan Chittister can be viewed at the 1:27 mark.

Atlanta Visit - Day Three - Part One

2007-10-24T16:39:00.000-04:00

Sunday Oct. 21st

Morning and Afternoon:

'Jamhands' showed me around.

We compared the shine of the balloon to the shine of my head.

She showed me her jedi-mind-levitation-trick.

and then we had some time on the swings.

Atlanta Visit - Day Two - Part Two

2007-10-24T15:26:00.001-04:00

Saturday Oct. 20th
Evening:

In the evening we attended our first event on Emory University Campus, Mystical Arts of Tibet: Sacred Music and Sacred Dance for World Healing performances. The show was about two hours long and consisted of Drepung Loseling Monks chanting (multiphonic), dancing and playing various instruments. The performance is endorsed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (and produced by Richard Gere ... no, seriously) as a means of promoting world peace and healing through sacred performing art

On a side note: I wasn't at the venue more than 10 minutes before I already ran into someone from Pittsburgh.

As we were approaching the venue, looking around for a line, etc., a woman standing by herself smiled and offered info that the doors to the place had just opened and that they were letting people in. She mentioned that she was waiting for her niece to return from taking her camera to the car since they were not allowing any photography within the place. We talked for a bit then said goodbye and as we turned to walk away I saw a familiar face walking towards me, pointing and saying, "That is my Aunt you are talking to! How do you know her?!" Here it was a friend from Pittsburgh, wondering how it was that we were talking to her Aunt out of the blue like that ... my friend and I had known that each of us would be down in ATL for the events but made no prior contact to meet up or anything. Great synchronicity that we would run into each other that way.

Here is what we saw:

First Performance (1 Hour):

1) Nyen-sen: Invocation of the Forces of Goodness

In a tapestry of instrumental and vocal sounds, the monks invoke creative awareness within themselves and the audience. They enhance the spirit of goodness in the environment as a prelude to the performance of Sacred Music Sacred Dance.

2) Man-del: Purifying the Universe

As they sing in the multiphonic style typical of Drepung Loseling's dominant role at the annual Monlam Chenmo Festival, the monks create a world as seen through the eyes of inner perfection. This is sent forth as an offering for world healing and is symbolized by the raising of a silver base on which mounds of rice are poured in a geometric pattern.

3) Sha-nak Gar-cham: Dance of the Black Hat Masters

This ancient dance for the elimination of negative energies and hindrances is in the style known as drak-po, or "wrathful." The implements held by the dancers symbolize the transcendence of false ego-identification on the outer (the environment), inner (the emotions), and the secret (thesubtle body-mind link) levels. Their movements symbolize the joy and freedom of seeing reality in its nakedness.

4) Tak-tsey Tong-ya: Intense Encounters of the Third Degree

A demonstration of the tradition of Tibetan monastic inquiry. Two monks engage one another in a process leading to the deeper levels and implications of spiritual experience, thus enhancing the mind of enlightenment.

5) Seng-geh Gar-cham: The Snow Lion Dance

In Tibet the snow lion symbolized the fearless and elegant quality of the enlightened mind. When a healthy and harmonious environment is established by the creative activities of human beings, such as through the performance of sacred purification and healing music, all living beings, here represented by the snow lion, rejoice.

Second Performance (40 minutes)
1) Dur-dak Gar-cham: Dance of the Skeleton Lords

To remind the world of the ephemeral nature of all things, and of the liberating and balancing impact of an awareness of this reality, two monks appear as the forces of goodness manifest as Cemetery Lords. These are Dharmapala, or "Protectors of Truth," with the message to point the mind toward authentic being.

2) Ten-trul Yul-tru: Purifying the Environment and Its Inhabitants

Chanting in the multiphonic tradition, the monks hold up a mirror and draw into it the reflection of the world and its living beings. They then purify these through sound and meditation, as symbolized by the act of pouring waters from a sacred wisdom vase over the mirror. Traditionally this piece was performed whenever an environmental, social or individual healing was required.

3) Kha-dro Ten-shug Gar-cham: Dance of the Celestial Travelers

Five dancers, symbolizing the five elements and five wisdoms, together with three musicians, invoke the sounds and movements of the Celestial Travelers, the mystical beings from another world whose blessings strengthen the forces of life and light. These beings visit our world in times of stress and danger, bringing with them the creative energy that inspires harmony and peace.

4) Sang-tsol Zhi-jo: Incense Offering & Auspicious Song for World Peace

The monks send forth the smoke of incense, which the wind carries into the ten directions as a subliminal force invoking peace, harmony and the ways of creative living.

Atlanta Visit - Day Two - Part One

2007-10-24T13:25:00.001-04:00

Saturday Oct. 20th was a full day for me.
Afternoon:

We spent the afternoon checking out Stone Mountain Park, which is a 3,200 acre park surrounding a giant 1,700 foot tall Granite Rock that has the largest bass-relief carving in the world.

Three figures of the Confederate States of America are carved there: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis ...

... welcome to the South

We checked out many of the attractions at the park including the train ride around the 5 mile circumference of the granite rock and the recreated, surreal 1870's southern town complete with glass blowing, candle making, blacksmithing and your occasional park-worker dressed up like a knee slapping hillbilly, etc. ...

... Yee Haw.

Upon further investigating of the history of Stone Mountain, we found some rather interesting (disturbing) text suggesting the original use of the large granite rock. Yikes.

Atlanta Visit - Part One

2007-10-24T12:49:00.001-04:00

I recently spent 5 days down in Atlanta, GA visiting close friends and attending various events surrounding the induction of the Dalai Lama as a honorary professor at Emory University. (we'll get to H.H. in later posts)

I arrived Friday evening, Oct 19th and spent the rest of the day catching up with the 'Bowser-Kyles' whom I was visiting and staying with. It was great to be spending some quality time with close friends who I rarely get to see. I was also reintroduced to their daughter (referred to here as 'Jamhands') since the previous time I met her she was only 8 months old and probably doesn't remember much. 'Jamhands', now 26 months, has developed into a very funny and unique person and it was a pleasure to get to spend so much time with her.

To Clarify, jam hands is like jazz hands but instead refers to the fact that every time she throws her hands in the air, and reaches out and touches you, her hands feel like they are covered in jam ... and it may just be the obligatory baby slobber, the half eaten mushy pretzel stick dipped in peanut butter that she is usually carrying around or even the frozen strawberries she would snack on, etc. etc. ... it all had the same result: jamhands.

Example 1.: Eating raspberry covered french toast barehanded results in some serious jamhands.

Deer do like bread

2007-10-16T10:44:00.000-04:00

This is what happened when I put stale bread out for the birds this morning ...

It attracted not one ...

not two ...

but four deer came and ate ...

then left.

Tacos, Meetings and Fear and Loathing at the Flea Market.

2007-10-15T20:06:00.000-04:00

Friday night was 'Build your own Taco' Buffet night at my house ... beef AND chicken (yeah, you know it). 'Clover', 'Uncle Cracker' and 'JimmyAndrewForest' were in attendance. We drank plenty of wine (5 bottles) and watched the movie, 'Blades of Glory' (which I felt was one of Will Farrell's funnier movies). 'Uncle Cracker' fell asleep (no surprise) but not before launching a glass of wine over my coffee table and across the floor. Still though, no major accidents on my couch (knock on wood).

Saturday, I nursed a hangover all day. I also had to go to a work meeting with the environmental production company I am a part of. We met in the back room of the Coffee Tree in Shadyside to discuss some Restorative Events ... ah ... events. Nice meeting place but when we got there the back room was filled with people chilling and/or studying. Seems the coffee place failed to remember that we reserved the back room the day before. After much explaining and negotiating we were able to get management to kick out all of the people (I know ... nice move on our part). I didn't care either way. I was pretty much useless at the meeting anyway (aforementioned hangover).

Sunday morning, around 8:30am, I set out a plate of old bread in my backyard for the birds. By 9am, the bread had attracted a very large doe to my backyard (I didn't even know deer liked bread). This was perfect because I was hosting breakfast at my house for 5 friends that I invited to go with me to the local flea market. They arrived at 9am, finally getting a chance to see a deer that I am always talking about. After a breakfast of eggs, sausage, potatoes and coffee, we headed to the flea market. It was a beautiful day but the market was slow. No cool finds for me this time.

Time to learn your Zip Codes

2007-10-11T20:01:00.000-04:00

So ... I was listening to our News - Jazz - NPR Radio Station here in PGH tonight. They were having their pledge drive so I decided to renew my membership with them over the internet (while a nice Tito Puente track played in the background).

After the song was over, the DJ was giving the usual 'shout outs' to the pledges ... mine was the only one they received during the song so he thanked me, pronouncing my last name correctly (which is surprising) and he went on to say that 'Jason is from Pittsburgh, from the 15206 area code. I believe that is the Robinson Township area ... yeah ... Crafton ... that 15206 area out West is a big area ... he's somewhere out there.'

He couldn't be more wrong. I live on the East Side of PGH. 15206 is in the Eastside. I wanted him to know that. Upsetting! I wanted him to shout 'Morningside Represent!'

The DJ barely finished his sentence before my phone was already ringing. Actually, two different friends who were listening to the broadcast heard my name and my location mix up and decided to call me and have a laugh.

Why I was late for work today ...

2007-10-11T10:56:00.001-04:00

I knew the deer liked the myrtle I planted in my backyard but now it appears the turkeys like it too.

I spent about 1/2 hour this morning watching two turkeys acting all confused in my backyard. It appears one turkey made it over into my neighbor's yard, which is completely fenced in, and then couldn't find it's way back out.

My neighbor and I sat on our respective back porches, drank coffee, and watched the two confused turkeys try to figure out the whole scenario.

We finally made a big enough commotion to give the 'caged' turkey a scare to get it airborn and up over the fence. I wish I had tried to get a picture of the turkey while it was in the air ... not everyday you see a bird that big taking flight ... plus their wingspan is pretty impressive.

Visiting Pittsburgh

2007-10-08T14:11:00.001-04:00

Hello, my name is Jason and I will be serving as your tour guide for the weekend ...

As I mentioned before, I had friends visiting with me from out of town from last Thursday through today, Monday ... I made sure that there was never a dull moment while they were here.

Our activities included, but were not limited to:

... a few dinners and many martinis at Soba, Thai Gourmet and The Red Room

... shopping at the Grove City Outlet Malls

... a nice stroll through the Carnegie Museum of Art - One friend visiting is currently working on his Masters in Art History (with a focus on American Modernist Stuart Davis) at VCU so we went to the museum to see pghs collection. (nice that we have one Davis painting in the collection.)

... an afternoon visit up to Mt. Washington for the greatest view.

... some time at Phipps Conservatory - Glass artist Dale Chihuly is currently on display there. I encourage anyone to see his work before the show is over.

... lunch at Primanti Bros.- the out-of-towners were intrigued to try our city's famous sandwiches

... and some local beer, perogies and prayer at the Church Brew Works

ATF 2007

2007-10-08T13:38:00.000-04:00

So the Alt. Transportation Festival went well on Friday. I ended up working at the Southside Works site from 9am to 8pm. 11+ hours in the heat and sun setting up and tearing down tables and chairs, greeting and helping out programmers, sound equipment people and entertainers, helping with the parking of the display bus and cars, setting up bins and collecting recyclables and just some general goofing off with my fellow ATF staff.

Here are some pics I took during the day at our site.
... and a small video provided by the Post Gazette.

The attendance at our site was a little slow during the day but it picked up nicely once the 9 to 5 workday finished. The other two sites of the ATF did really well though and i think everyone was pleased with the information and entertainment that was provided.

I was exhausted, sweaty and very dirty by the end of the day but I decided to stop at a new art gallery since it was First Fridays over in the Eastside and a friend had some new art she was showing. I figured if I went home first, I'd end up collapsing and not making it back out since I was so tired ... plus I needed to unwind with some free alcoholic beverages. I ended the night over at the Sprout Fund for their open house party which was still pretty crowded at 11pm (it started at 5pm). Sprout funded a good portion of the ATF with a nice sized grant so it was cool to see everyone and celebrate a successful event. More free beer, lots of friends and 'J Mall$' DJing some funk & soul tunes ... a pretty good ending to a very long but fun day.

Still very busy ..

2007-10-02T12:55:00.000-04:00

Tonight and tomorrow should be my final meetings regarding the programming and scheduling of the Alt. Trans Festival happening this Friday. I have not been too involved with the event planning this time around (my biggest contribution was setting up and coordinating people to do Chair Massages at each of the sites during the all day event). Too bad too since they are paying $35/ hr to the people involved in helping with the coordination and execution of this event.

Tonight is also the first planning meeting for the next step in the 48 Film Project. Another short film must be made, this time competing on a National Level. Hopefully I can contribute some more original music to the project.

I also have a few friends arriving from out of town this Thursday to stay with me through the weekend so we can attend our Alma Mater's homecoming. I'm not too big on celebrating the place it took me 5 years to graduate from due to failing grades ... I go up there for an excuse to hit the Outlet Malls.

I also have been working on a new song:
Untitled #10 (incomplete lo res version)
Contains elements of:
Led Zeppelin - When the Levee Breaks (for the drums - sped up and rearranged)
The Shadows - Scotch on the Rocks (for the bass line - also slightly rearranged)
and some song by the Syd Dale Orchestra (for the horns)

'Uncle Cracker' turns 30

2007-10-02T11:51:00.000-04:00

We celebrated 'Uncle Cracker' finally turning 30 the other day at Thai Gourmet in Bloomfield(although his birthday isn't until this weekend ... but he'll be away in Philly and Atlantic City partying it up big time).

Big ups to 'Clover' for coordinating the celebration, having a plethora of appetizers arriving at the table as we sat down and also having the staff bring out an ice-cream cake and party hats she dropped off earlier in the day.

You would think the theme of his party was the Pittsburgh Steelers judging from all of the Steeler memorabilia he received as gifts ... but the 'My Little Pony' place settings indicated otherwise.

After dinner, we drank some over priced drinks at the Red Room ...

then retreated back to 'Clover' and 'Cracker's' house where our friend 'JimmyAndrewForest' pronounced 'Uncle Cracker' the winner of the evening.

Thanks to 'Mrs. Jones' for the photos.

Filler

2007-10-01T12:59:00.001-04:00

I have a few things to write about ('Uncle Cracker's' My Little Pony Birthday Party, visits from 'Vince Deadly' and '1/2 Jewish Princess Aprilla' and the last Pirate game I went to) but I don't feel like it right now ... I'm busy and I must gather my thoughts ...

so in the meantime, for some filler, I give you an Eddie Izzard skit (played out by Legos):
(NSFW due to language)