Postcards From My Life

Dear Reader,

I use iTunes every now and then to rent a movie for my iTouch; usually when I’m traveling. Last night I rented a movie via my XBox 360 from Microsoft and previously, I’ve rented movies from Amazon’s Unbox from my Tivo. Here is a chart laying out the basics of each of the three options. Below it I’ll discuss my thoughts on them.

Ok, first my thoughts on each service:

XBox 3060

I love my XBox for gaming; I even use it for watching DVDs. However, I don’t see myself renting many movies from them. First, they are the most expensive option, per-movie for new releases. I bought 500 “points” from them for $6.95 and “3:10 to Yuma” was 480. Maybe it’s cheaper if I buy more points at a time but honestly, I hate the whole points system. Why should I buy up a bunch of points and let MS hold onto my money? Microsoft needs to grow up and let adults use currency for our transactions, this isn’t NeoPets. Finally, while rumors abound of being able to download movies to a portable player (Zune, which I don’t have and probably won’t be getting any time soon), Microsoft doesn’t yet have a strategy in place. You watch it on your XBox…period. Honestly, that’s probably fine for a lot of people, but not for me.

XBox 360 Summary

Reduce the price of movies, let me rent them using hard currency instead of your company scrip, and let me move them to my portable device.

iTunes

I am not an Apple fanboi. There are parts of Apple (like their horrid customer service after the sale) that I deplore and makes me wary of purchasing from them. However, I do believe they have got it right this time around. The Apple TV can be added to any entertainment syste for $329. There are no monthly fees for usage and you can download damn near anything to it. I don’t yet have one but I’m a big enough iTunes fan to see the potential here. I have rented movies from iTunes for my iTouch and can say that the experience is painless. I’ve probably bought 5 movies from them and rented 1. It’s always very easy and the price for rentals isn’t bad. The only negative I have is in the licensing but that really applies to everyone so I’ll save it for a special section below.

ITunes Summary

It’s the winner, hands down. They have cheap hardware, no monthly fees, reasonable prices and a portable device strategy. Really the only downside is the stupid licensing…which I discuss later.

Tivo/Unbox

I’ve had a Tivo since they first came out. I currently have 2 and love moving things between them. When Tivo announced their deal with Amazon unbox, I was excited. I’ve now rented 2 movies from them and overall, I am happy with the experience. The downside is unless you catch them on a special deal, you have to pay a monthly fee for your Tivo service. I waited till they put them on special then bought my HD with Lifetime service so I don’t have a monthly fee. (Given my history with Tivo devices, I do actually save money buying the lifetime.) I have 2 problems with Tivo/Unbox though.

1. I like the ability to move things to my iTouch. Tivo/Unbox won’t let you do that.
2. You currently can’t rent HD movies. That’s a huge negative in my book.

You can rent movies and download them to your laptop via Amazon Unbox. This may give some small comfort to travelers. I’ve not tested this though so I don’t know if you can watch the content untethered from the Net. (i.e. in an airplane)

Tivo/Unbox Summary

It’s not a reason to buy a Tivo but if you already have one and can live without HD, it’s a good system.

Wishlist

Ok, here are the things that none of them get right and I wish they would.

NetFlix/Microsoft

Rumor has it that Microsoft and NetFlix may be working on a deal. I don’t see why Microsoft would be interested in this deal as it would kill their rental revenue but if they did, and I could pay my monthly NetFlix fee and have my queue downloaded straight to my XBox, that would rock. They would have to work out the licensing issues as right now I can watch a movie an unlimited number of times and that’s an important feature. This union, if it happened in the right way, may make my XBox the most important piece of equipment in my entertainment system.

Microsoft/iTunes

I’m dreaming here but the best of all worlds would be for Microsoft to cut a deal with Apple and let me use iTunes on my XBox like I can on my PC. This would totally rock because I get Apple’s pricing, downloads to my iTouch AND my XBox too. There are just too many reasons why this won’t happen (the main one is you can’t fit Jobs’ and Gates’ ego in the same room.) but it would be awesome if it did.

Better Licensing Terms

Now that I can rent movies from iTunes, I won’t be buying anymore. Mainly because I can only play them on one of 5 iTunes devices listed on my account. The reason I LIKE DVDs is I can give it to my son, he can take it upstairs and watch it, I can take it over to the neighbors and we can watch it with friends, heck, I can even use Handbreak, rip it and stuff it on my iTouch. This “You have x days to watch it and it expires 24 hours after you press play” is bad. Get rid of it now and I’m much more interested in rentals and downloads.

Summary

Downloads and rentals will kill physical media in the next 2-3 years. Most of that is thanks to Apple and Amazon. Overall, I think this is a good thing. However, I’m one of those weird people who can live without the content produced by the major television and movie studios. There has not been a movie produced in the last ten years that was “must see” for me. So if the hardware/software industry is going to keep treating me like a criminal (with abominations like Vista) and the studios are going to keep trying harder and harder to make me pay for their content each and every time I watch it or for each devices I want to watch it on, I’ll just watch less and less of it. There’s enough good stuff being produced out there independently to keep me entertained. However, if you let me watch my content where ever and whenever I want, I’ll keep paying you.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
=C=

Dear Reader,

A while back a blogger named John wrote a snarky review of my review of Professional Search Engine Optimization with PHP. While his review was a bit on the “untrue” side and prompted me to write Just Say No to SEO, his blog was interesting enough to put in my feed reader and follow. Heck, from time to time, I even clicked through and read an entire entry and believe I even commented once.

Sadly, those days are now over. See John feels that just because it is possible for me to block ads from FireFox that I must be a criminal and stealing his content. This, by the way, is the same asinine logic that makes the NAB feel that if we don’t watch each and every commercial in a television show that we are stealing their content. (I’ve got news for you John, for 5 years now, I’ve blocked ads at my router! FireFox, IE, Opera, hell, even Lynx…I don’t read ads unless I want to.)

So yea, by all means please do continue blocking a good chunk of your audience. Maybe, like me they will realize that your content is well, just not that great and move on to things more important…like Lindsy or Paris or even Britteny’s latest escapades. Should you actually produce something compelling enough to warrant an extra 5 seconds of work, we (FireFox users) can always just switch FireFox’s useragent. (yeah, boy, you showed us…)

So thanks John, this is now twice you’ve inspired me to blog and I’m the better for it. Sorry I won’t be reading your blog anymore. Like NBC’s move away from iTunes, the only one you are hurting is yourself. If I can live without NBC’s content, I’m pretty sure I can live without yours.

Just so you know John, I’m not picking on you. I feel the same way about anyone who feels that the content they produce is so damed important that they get to dictate to me how, when or where I consume it. Drop me a line if you drop this idiocy, I’ll add you back into my reader.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
=C=

p.s. Just say not to crap like this. My current useragent is “o noes, I haz UR blog wif da fox.” when that gets blocked, I’ll get more creative. I encourage every FireFox user (you thievn’ bastards) to change the useragent string. Get creative, have fun with it.

Dear Reader,

There is a great editorial over on iLounge about NBC pulling out of iTunes.

The best line in the whole thing:

You’d have to be stupid, lazy, or really honest to pay 2 bucks for something you can get in higher quality, with no piracy restrictions, and earlier for free.

Go take a read. Feel free to contact NBC and let them know how you feel.

Until Next Time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
=C=

Dear Reader,

I’ve been working on a project for a while now and it’s finally ready for testing. Queuebuddy.com started life as a way to help me keep track of movies I want to see but don’t feel like paying to see in the theater. (If you are really curious, email me, I’ll give you what Wife 1.23 refers to as “The Hollywood Speech”) Anyhow, you can register, login and grab the bookmarklet. Then when you are surfing imdb.com you can click on the bookmarklet when you are on a page of a movie you want to see on DVD> When it comes out on DVD.

There’s no fee, there’s no commitment and other than an email when the DVD comes out, we won’t even bug you. So if your interested, drop by and try it out.

Two notes:

• Since it relies on a bookmarklet, it’s only really usable in FireFox. Apologies to all my Microsoft friends.
• I’m currently only tracking Region 1 release dates. Since the MPAA and it’s friends deem it necessary to screw over the rest of the world with this stupid region encoding scheme, I will too. (I did have high hopes that Austrailia was going to pass a law a few years ago that made region encoding illegal but I guess too many people decided they couldn’t live unless Hollywood craps in their living rooms because the law failed to pass.)

Oh yeah, as with every web 2.0 property, this is a BETA. There will be bugs and I’m a programmer, not a designer, so it’s pretty ugly right now.

One final note, it”s written using the newly released Zend Framework 1.0. I’m working on a tutorial for DevZone that shows some of the things I learned.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)

=C=

Dear Reader,

Back from the House of Mouse and a wonderful 4 days spent with my favorite traveling companions. (Oh yea, the family was along also)

What I did on my vacation (Disney, Cirque, Savannah Ghost Tour) is much less interesting than who I traveled with. (BTW, if any of you know someone who actually works at Cirque du Soleil and have the opportunity to watch the show from the booth like we did, I HIGHLY recommend it. Also, see if you can get the back-stage tour) But I digress…

This vacation, I traveled with Scott Sigler and the whole GFL. Scott, WTH? This is the first time since EarthCore that I’m actually having to wait for episodes! Get off your lazy ass and release more than one a week. (Side note: if you’ve not seen the Ionath Krakens’ Jerseys, Scott now has pictures of them and bitchen cool sports cards located here.)

It’s been a long time since I’ve had to resort to my “other podcasts” to stay entertained. Look I pony up the dough like a good junkie now gimmie my damn fix! (Second Side Note: If you’ve not already ordered your print copy of Ancestor then WAIT! Buy it April 1st and buy it by clicking on this link because I’ve gotta pay the bandwidth bills too!

Since Scott is too busy sipping Martinis and counting his royalty checks to feed his junkies, I had to resort to other podcasts to stay amused. (It was that or talk to the family…you do the math) One that I had forgotten about till my recent trip to London was EscapePod.

I first discovered EscapePod soon after it started and quite by accident. I was preparing for a cross-country drive so I was grabbing anything I could to fill-up the old iPod, when I came across this. The first EscapePod I remember listening to was Feng Burger. (It’s still one of my favorites)

EscapePod is a series of Sci-Fi and Fantasy short stories, written by excellent authors, some of which are names you would recognize. From the description that the editor gives at the beginning, it sounds like most of them are reprints (what’s the audio equivalent of a reprint?) from SF magazines and anthologies. None the less they are some of the most entertaining stories and short fiction around.

The editor (his name escapes me and he doesn’t list it on the *&^% web site) does a fantastic job of selecting stories. He does an intro and an outro to each story that gives you a little bit of what’s going on with the feed, listener feedback on stories, etc. Nothing too long and certainly nothing that distracts form the story.

If you have any sort of commute to work you want to subscribe to this podcast! (Monday – Sigler, Tuesday- EscapePod, Wed-Fri stay home and wait for Monday)

Oh, if you do subscribe to EscapePod, make sure you download “Merry Christmas From the Heartbreakers”. I’d list more of the really, really good episodes but there are way too many. Really the only thing I heard from Oct-2006 through Feb-2007 that I DIDN’T like was “The Boy Who Cried Dragon”.

That’s it for now. I’ve got another one brewing in my head but it’ll wait for tomorrow. Thaks to the both of you for stopping by. If you need me, I’ll be sitting in front of iTunes hitting the refresh button on Scott’s feed, jonesing for the next chapter. (Go away, don’t bother me!)

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)

=C=

Dear Reader,

While building a mash-up for an article I’m writing, I came across this little gem.

TV Host Bill Maher Suggests Dick Cheney’s Death Would Save Lives

Actually, the exact quote was:

“I have zero doubt that if Dick Cheney was not in power, people wouldn’t be dying needlessly tomorrow.” – Bill Maher.

I’m not sure how serious to take this as he was talking at the moment to the House’s only gay Pimp, Barney Frank. For the moment however, let’s assume that he actually meant it. (because it’s much easier to point and laugh at Bill if he actually was serious.)

Bill, baby, V.P. Cheney didn’t cause 9/11. He didn’t cause terrorists to blow up trains in Spain, the underground in London, the USS Cole, markets in Israeli towns, or any other number of targets. Or did I misunderstand you? When you said “people” do you mean people who blow themselves up for a cause? Or did you mean their innocent victims?

Bill, your an ass. Unfortunately, your an ass with a pulpit so I do the only thing I can do. I continue not watching your show (ok, that’s not really a sacrifice) and every now and then point out to HBO(?) that the reason I don’t watch your show is you just aren’t funny.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)

=C=

Dear Reader,

Scott Sigler’s latest comment here on Postcards reminded me that while traveling recently, I started listening to “Infection”. Ok Scott, sue me, I’m at least a year behind on my podcasts. But I hate this once a week crap so I wait till the entire book is available and then listen to it all at once. The downside is I’m never motivated to listen to Scott’s ramblings at the end, “Big Space”. (You get the joke kiddies, Big Space…BS…see, I knew you’d get it.) And I never get to comment on whatever Scott talks about before he dives into the story. So I totally missed it when [Avast ye, there be graphic words and images ahead] he caught flack for his character telling a female character “shut up or I’ll cut out your cunt and watch you bleed to death”.

Now, immediately previous to this, the character had just nailed a man to the wall with steak knives and beat him till he assumed room temperature; nobody had a problem with that. But threaten abuse against a woman and by-god your are going to lose an infinitesimal number of listeners. Anyhow, I wish I had been listening to it weekly when that happened so I could have commented on it in a relevant time frame.

So…

So what’s all this got to do with anything? Well other than trying to out curse Ed Finkler in a blog post (not really possible but everybody needs a goal) I really wanted to talk a bit about where fiction is headed. I’ve been a Steven King fan for a long…LONG time. From “Graveyard Shift” that I read in early high school, all the way up to “The Girl that loved Tom Gordon” , which was a huge disappointment, I read most everything he wrote. But honestly, sometimes (like the last title mentioned) Steve just kinda phoned it in.

A couple of years ago, I found myself about to embark on a cross-country drive. (why is irrelevant) I wanted something to listen to in the long stretch of highway so I went out searching for free books for my iPod. Among other goodies, I found this one called “EarthCore”. It sounded sufficiently Sci-Fi and gory so I downloaded. It only took a couple of episodes and I was an EarthCrack junkie. It was one of the best fiction books I had read/listened to.

Since then I don’t think there has been a time that my iPod hasn’t contained piece of a Scott Sigler novel. Right now I have 2, “Infection” and “The Rookie”, my long flight to Europe isn’t looking that bad. The thing that makes these books good is not the free it’s the talent.

Stephen King’s Got Your Back

I also have a Stephen King Audio Book, “The Cell” on my iPod. I paid considerably more for it and it’s been there since November and I’ve not bothered to listen to it. It’s not that I don’t think that King’s books are any good, it’s just that Scott’s are so much better. When I run out of new Scott Sigler material (and he blocks my emails because I’ve begged for more and he’s tired of it) then I’ll dust off “The Cell” and listen to it. Since it’s the unabridged version I’m guaranteed a long listen, even if it’s not full of “lot…and lots of f****** violence.

Finally, the point

The point of this post is not to gush like a fanboy over Scott. (I did that when he showed up at ZendCon and I’d had a couple of glasses of wine) My point is that so far book publishers have not suffered the same fate as music publishers have, and movie publishers will.

The music industry got complacent and content with the the idea that people would buy whatever they publish. The Internet busted this all up, not by letting people download music for free. Cal’s first law of content is “Free crap is only marginally better than being charged for crap…it’s still crap.” No, the real revolution was the ability for listeners to find music that was good but wouldn’t make it in the mainstream. (I’d throw out a cliche here like “The Long Tail” but really, we all know what I’m talking about) Good, free or otherwise, is still good.

Movies are heading there, it’ll just take a bit longer. Since the industry’s attitude towards users is the same – you are all dirty criminals and can’t be trusted with our precious, precious content – the outcome will be the same, plummeting sales, phony posturing about piracy and a lot of late night drinking trying to figure out where the hell things went wrong. (and again, see “Cal’s First Law” above)

It should go without saying but I’ll say it anyhow. I encourage everyone to consider this before buying an album or a movie ticket. Do you really like supporting industries that treat you like a criminal, even if you’ve not done anything? If we all just stop buying their products, maybe they will start listening.

The problem as I see it is that both industries value their content much higher than the average person does. What they don’t seem to understand is that they can’t sue consumers into valuing their content any higher. It’s only when we see value in their content that we will be willing to pay to consume it. I value Scott’s content, I’m willing to pay for it and I consume it like the junkie I am.

It’s artists like Scott (who, I was floored to find out, still works a day job. I wonder if any of the victims in “Infected” are named after his boss?) who give me hope for the future. If all music artists, movie producers and authors take the time to engage their audience like Scott does, I think there is hope. If they don’t, my personal opinion is that they will fall by the wayside. Either way, don’t worry Scott, Steve’s got your back.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
=C=

Dear Reader,

DISCLAIMER: I am posting this on my personal blog because it is my opinion. Nothing said here should be construed as endorsed by my employer. You got a problem with it, come to me.

Yes, there is high drama on the web again. This time thought it does not involved the ever so cute but ditzy Amanda Congdon. No, this time you’ve got “Geeks in a Flamewar”. Allow me to recreate for you, if I can, the events of this fracas.

First there was:
http://www.owasp.org/index.php/PHP_Top_5

This article was widely covered in the PHP community including myself. It was a bit shallow for a security paper and it certainly did not seem to live up to it’s claim of

This article is the underlying research behind the SANS Top 20 2005′s PHP section. The methodology used in the preparation of this article is to review all Bugtraq postings containing the word “PHP” and categorize each unique flaw. The author analyzed the most popular flaws / attacks, and researched prevention techniques, resulting in this article.

But it was an easy read so a lot of us liked it.

Next came:
http://blog.php-security.org/

This one is a bit more amusing to read but the author does make a point. ( A single point, but a point no one the less) After ranting about self-appointed teachers

However, as usual it is my duty to protect the PHP community from getting harmed by their self-proclaimed teachers.

The author takes apart one of the 5 examples in the original article. While I don’t recognize the author as anyone other than yet another self-appointed teacher, his sample code and his points about the original article are on the mark.

He also insinuates that he could do the same with the other 4 points. I wish he had but in a bit more professional manner.

Most Recently came:

http://www.greebo.net/?p=353

This is apparently the blog of the author of the original article. From the start, we’ve abandoned the concept of professionalism and the claws have come out. It’s an interesting read despite the fact that it’s devoid of anything that can be construed as a point; Unless you consider the rant itself a point. The author even calls for the death of PHP and implies that because if PHP6 doesn’t implement his security scheme, it must be hopelessly flawed.

But, wait. There’s More!
After you finish the article, there is desert in the form of the comments. Both parties are now participating. You don’t get to see intellectual discourse on this level unless you are a grade school teacher. With lines like this one, taken wholly out of context, it’s hard not to crack a smile.

“ps. My ego is the size of a small planet. I try to not show others that often, as it makes them jealous. Seriously, this is not about my ego.”

Um, if it’s not about your ego then why are you discussion it?

And just because I’m quoting one author doesn’t mean that the other author was any more articulate. No, both of these authors reached deep inside of them and tapped their inner child to help them with their arguments.

It’s sad because at the root of this, you have two people who obviously know something about PHP and care about it. Both, in their own way are trying to affect it for the better. Sadly, both are also trying to make a name for themselves by tearing down others.

My advice to each of you. (DISCLAIMER: I’m just a humble programmer and part-time blogger. I am no expert and no self-appointed teacher. My motivation for offering you this advice is not to sell books to google ads, it’s to make my life easier by not having to wade through this crap to get to some real advice on PHP Security.)

1: Be transparent in your motives. The original article does not disclose that Chris Shiflett is a member of the organization or at least a friend of the author. If it had, that would have made the numerous references to his book less of an issue. It’s ok to promote the work of your members as long as it’s good and people know that’s what you are doing.

2: Be professional. A serious rebuttal to the OWASP article, devoid of the rants and self-promotion and backed up by peer-review would have been an excellent read. The one that was posted was neither serious nor peer-reviewed.

3: It’s not always about you. The second and third articles (as well as the comments) are more about ego than about PHP. Let’s try having a discussion about PHP for once that actually centers around PHP.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
=C=

Dear reader,

I don’t often link to other blogs. Selfishly, I don’t want you leaving my page but in the grand scheme of things I figured if I found it, you have probably already found it too. With that in mind I want to point out 2 things.

First, if you are a programmer and you don’t read Joel On Software then shame on you. I don’t mean regularly, I mean daily! The same goes for managers of programmers. A daily dose of Joel will help life go a little smoother. Today Joel wrote something that just smacked me upside the head. He started off the article “Great Design” with the following:

You know those gorgeous old brownstones in New York City? With the elaborate carvings, gargoyles, and beautiful iron fences? Well, if you dig up the old architectural plans, the architect would often just write something like “beautiful fretwork” on the drawing, and leave it up to the artisan, the old craftsman from Italy to come up with something, fully expecting that it will be beautiful.

That’s not design. That’s decoration.

That borders on profound. It’s better advice than I’ve seen in a lot of books and a damn site better than any fortune cookie I’ve ever gotten. (And I am convinced that a lot of managers manage by fortune cookie…but that’s a theory for a different blog) Go read Joel. (Finish reading me first) Memorize Joel. Print that quote out and paste it on your wall. Staple it to the forehead of a recent “Graphics Design” graduate. (Go ahead…I’ll wait)

Second, I have very weird taste in music. My iPod contains everything from David Hamilton to Kiss. (with a very healthy dose of my favorite liberal wacko Jimmy Buffet…you are a musical genius Jimmy…keep your politics to yourself.) But I added a new artist last night that is just cool. “Panic At The Disco” is a hard driving rock, techno group. Now their web site is a study in horrible UI but their sound is downright addictive. After you get through trying to figure out their site, wander over here to listen to their music. If you don’t finish with a smile on your face, well, you probably don’t like “Alien Fashion Show” then either.

That’s it, just felt the need to share.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)

=C=

Dear Reader,

Anyone who knows me or has been around me for more than 5 minutes knows that I rage against the Hollywood machine and basically all large corporations that spew forth the content that most of us lap up like dogs. I hate Hollywood because

1) As a whole it is out of touch with mainstream America
2) It creates ‘stars’ that then like to use their ‘star power’ to push their own agendas whatever they may be.
3) For movies, the theater experience is now so bad than even a good movie is usually ruined by the ass-holes around me.
4) Their content is grossly overpriced and they are much more impressed with their skills than I am.

I feel much the same way about the music industry. By-in-large, they generate formulaic content that is so pre-processed that it might as well have been sung, played or performed totally by computers. They are impressed enough with the crap they produce to have a plethora of awards shows in which they slap each other on the back and congratulate each other for doing such a wonderful job. Well at least they think it is wonderful, sales of albums are down again and it’s not because of piracy, it’s because what they are putting out is crap.

But wait dear reader, there is hope. That hope is not found in Caans or Sundance, it’s found in places like deviantart.com. My daughter has an account there so I frequent it to see what she’s writing, drawing, excited about, etc. I love deviantart because it is a free and open market place. No one controls it, I am free to wander the content, looking for the pieces I like. There is no gate keeper to keep me from watching interesting, compelling and funny content.

I know there is hope because I ran across this today. It’s not the most compelling story line I’ve seen but it’s better than most of the shows on TV. It is however, well thought out, well put together and well produced. And even though thousands of people will see it just by virtue of it being on deviantart.com, it will not make the creator millions of dollars. It was produced out of love and a desire to create.

So take note Hollywood, your days are numbered. No longer do we have to settle for your over-priced over the air content or your DRM laden downloads. If you want my money in the future, come out with reasonable priced content that is interesting. Because if you don’t, someone else will.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
=C=

p.s. The main website is http://www.skary.net/ and worth a look!

Dear Reader,

The title says most everything I wanted to say, except this. I think the wrong people are directing movies. Let the guy that makes the trailers make the movies. The trailer for Syriana looked great. Even though I knew it wasn’t. There is an inverse relationship to the quality of a movie and the number of high-profile actors in it. That plus the fact that the star produced this cinematic crap-fest.

Save your money. Sit at home for 2 hours with the remote control and watch 2 minutes of random TV shows hoping that the plots will somehow come together. Then turn on the lights and walk out of the room disapointed because they didn’t.

Until next time, it was good to hear your voice today.
(l)(k)(bunny)
=C=

You can see it on every new show that have out this fall!

=C=

The Valley is now my home. That’s both good and bad. The bad being that I’m living by myself. (but not alone thanks to a loving wife and IM) The good is that there’s always something happening here.

I’m always on the lookout for new an interesting things to do. Since I love street fairs, it was with great pleasure that I discovered that The Solano Stroll was this weekend. Clearing the books for anything useful I may have had to do, I took off this morning for Berkley and all points North.

Pictures are available but suffice to say I had a wonderful time. The highlight of the day had to be California Repercussion. These guys were awesome. They played everything from “Tuxedo Junction” to “Walking on the Sun”. They alone were worth the price of admission. (Which, incidentally, was $0 but I paid $10 to park because I’m a sucker and like to park close by)

There were about 10 different bands there, everything from straight up Blues to something I like to call Salsa/Blues. It’s like if Los Lobos had John Lee Hooker as their front man. It was a very cool sound.

2 memorable moments during the day. In a “Only in California” moment, as California Repercussions were marching by I heard a woman comment “How very inter-generational”. It was all I could do not to laugh.

Mom DON’T READ THIS SECTION!
The other one is a bit more risqué and…well more confusing. As I was pushing my way through the crowd I saw a woman with a forest green T-Shirt on. Written in bold white letters across the front was:
“Health care is for pussies”

I’m still not sure whether she was making a “Real Men” type affirmation that she was tough enough not to need health care; or was she making some kind of Gynecological statement that as I guy I don’t get. Anyhow, I giggled when I saw it because I was pretty sure she didn’t mean cats.

That’s all for today.

Until next time, I miss you more than I can say.

(l) (k) (bunny)
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Dear Reader,

What is it about 5 chords strung together in an endless-loop guitar rift that speaks to the very soul of musicians? So it started last night at JJs when Alvin Draper hit the stage. I don’t want to give the impression that this was an orderly entrance or that things were organized. The rest of the musicians had completed their setup about 5 minutes before and were either at the bar talking to JoJo (/me waves at JoJo & Tracy) or outside grabbing that last smoke before the set.

Alvin finished his final setup, turned on his microphone and started picking. Just 5 chords strung together in the musical version of a doodle. Like farm hands hearing the far-off dinner bell, the players all perked up, finished their conversations, took that last drag and stomped the butt out; then slowly, each of wandered onto the stage.

Soon there was a drum thumping time as Pavlov called his dogs. Then the second guitar kicked in and filled in the melody line. The bass player eventually wandered onto the stage and filled in the missing pieces. Finally, the keyboardist jumped up from the side of the stage and sat down. With a fanfare of synthesized organ through Leslie speakers usually reserved for tent-revivals, he threw down and church was again in session.

Alvin and the boys did a wonderful job for the next hour and a half. Alvin himself made his guitar cry as he told us “I’ve Got An Angel”. He and the boys (listed on the program only as “and Friends”) tickled our funny-bones as they threw down “Twist and Shout” and brought the house down near the end of the first set with “Mustang Sally”.

All the while there was a steady stream of couples entering and leaving the small dance floor. “Mr. Strut” made an appearance. He’s an “oldish” gentleman who, for the life of me, reminded me of a caricature of an old man. He was quite entertaining with his unique take on interpretive dance that was somewhere between “The Robot” and “The Jerk”. Then there was a couple who made love on the floor like they were the only ones in the room. They were mesmerizing to watch. Their dance was mental, it was spiritual but to those of us watching, it was defiantly physical. (and quite entertaining in a “I need to go call my wife” kind of way)

All-in-all it was a great ending to a great week. If you haven’t made it by JJs, by all means do. If you are in the valley, there’s always something interesting going on. I’m usually there Sundays after 8:00. Drop by and give me a shout-out. (I’m the overweight white-guy with the silly grin on my face!)

Until next time, (l) (k) (bunny),
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Dear Reader,

In my never ending quest to find things to fill my time, I have stumbled across a gold mine. Well, it’s dark and kinda dank but its not really a cave, more of a dive. I speak of a place called JJ’s which is right down the street from where I live. Awsome little dive where the blues rock every night of the week. This little hole-in-the-wall bar is located in a generic strip-mall on Stephens Creek Blvd in San Jose. Sandwiched between a matress store and a sporting goods shop is a blues emporium that will surprise you.

I hit it Sunday night for a couple of hours and was blown away. When I got there 5 old white guys (and that’s important only because you don’t normally think of 5 old white guys when you think of blues.) were turning up. Since the show hadn’t actually, started, I hit the free Sunday BBQ and sat down to wait. Soon enough, they started picking. They had a tight sound. (well, ok, as tight of a sound as you can get playing blues) To my untrained ear, they sounded like they were a bunch of guys that got together every week and picked for a while. Imagine my surprise when I asked the Sound Engineer what band this was and he replied that they were just 5 guys that showed up with instruments. (Yes, Love, like Amy and the Total Strangers but with facial hair)

They spent an hour running through some of the classics. At one point the guy playing lead actually looked at the others and said “let’s play something in G”. And with the practiced ease of national acts like “Stewie and the Cow Tones” the launched into a song that I assume was actually in G. Of course, they played one of the few blues songs I recognize, “Sweet Home Chicago”. (I sang along but now, reading the words, I butchered it. No wonder people were snickering.)

Long about 9:00 PM, Alvin Draper hit the stage. Alvin looks a lot like Morgan Freeman but sounds nothing like him. He and his band (at least one of the pickers from the Jam Session) let lose for a set that was pretty damn good. For an old guy, his boney old fingers can really pick.

So for the price of a couple of drinks, I was fed, entertained and left with a warm feeling in my stomach. (Which was either the alcohol kicking in or the polish sausage, not sure which)

If you are ever in San Jose and looking for some place nice and quiet to just kick back and relax, JJ’s is probably not the place you want to go. but if you are looking for dark and dank with killer blues and decent drink prices then yea, JJs is the place you want to hang.

Until next time, It’s lonely exploring out here by myself,
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