Tuesday, June 24, 2008
FUNNY STUFF
My buddy Chuck Sigars posted this on his blog. Apparently somebody made this for the birthday of a friend as kind of an audio-video birthday card.
It's ab-so-freakin'-lutely hilarious, so I went to You Tube and found it and here it is...
------
This Saturday I will be playing at the Flagstaff Folk Festival at the Coconino Center for the Arts, 2300 N. Fort Valley Road. I'm on the Gallery Stage from 11:20 - 11:50. Go 'head. Blow the gas and get out of the heat! I am!
------
Tonight, as usual, I will be at the Open Mic at Grand Avenue Tavern, and you should too! 24th Dr. and Grand. Hope to see you!
TT
My buddy Chuck Sigars posted this on his blog. Apparently somebody made this for the birthday of a friend as kind of an audio-video birthday card.
It's ab-so-freakin'-lutely hilarious, so I went to You Tube and found it and here it is...
------
This Saturday I will be playing at the Flagstaff Folk Festival at the Coconino Center for the Arts, 2300 N. Fort Valley Road. I'm on the Gallery Stage from 11:20 - 11:50. Go 'head. Blow the gas and get out of the heat! I am!
------
Tonight, as usual, I will be at the Open Mic at Grand Avenue Tavern, and you should too! 24th Dr. and Grand. Hope to see you!
TT
Friday, June 13, 2008
EVERYBODY DO ME A FAVOR
Two, actually. And I realize that most of you are probably not going to know what I'm talking about, but...
IF YOU ARE ON MYSPACE:
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE: Do NOT send me any stupid mails with heads like "I JUST BOUGHT YOU!" or "How much are you worth?" or "YOU'RE MY PERSONAL SLAVE NOW!"
I don't know what these are, when I click them they don't go anywhere, I don't find them funny and I WANT THEM TO STOP.
Now, IF YOU YOU-TUBE:
PLEASE do not send me links via e-mail that say "(YOUR NAME) has sent you a Video!" I don't know why, but I can't make these things work. I get sent to a page where I have to sign in, and then it tells me that I've sent MYSELF a video, which I haven't, then it says, "HEY ASSHOLE! YOU CAN'T SEND YOURSELF A VIDEO!" Then there's no way to access the particular video you are sending me, and so I have to go to Youtube and scroll through all the person's videos to figure out which one he or she wanted me to look at.
If you want me to see a youtube video, SEND ME THE LINK IN A NORMAL EMAIL.
Quit complicating my life. I'm an old fart and these computer things are out to get me. No, I DON'T WANT TO LEARN HOW TO FIX IT.
------
Just added a July gig: Monday the 14th at Grand Avenue Tavern, I'm the opening act for a standup comedy show. More as we get closer.
TT
Two, actually. And I realize that most of you are probably not going to know what I'm talking about, but...
IF YOU ARE ON MYSPACE:
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE: Do NOT send me any stupid mails with heads like "I JUST BOUGHT YOU!" or "How much are you worth?" or "YOU'RE MY PERSONAL SLAVE NOW!"
I don't know what these are, when I click them they don't go anywhere, I don't find them funny and I WANT THEM TO STOP.
Now, IF YOU YOU-TUBE:
PLEASE do not send me links via e-mail that say "(YOUR NAME) has sent you a Video!" I don't know why, but I can't make these things work. I get sent to a page where I have to sign in, and then it tells me that I've sent MYSELF a video, which I haven't, then it says, "HEY ASSHOLE! YOU CAN'T SEND YOURSELF A VIDEO!" Then there's no way to access the particular video you are sending me, and so I have to go to Youtube and scroll through all the person's videos to figure out which one he or she wanted me to look at.
If you want me to see a youtube video, SEND ME THE LINK IN A NORMAL EMAIL.
Quit complicating my life. I'm an old fart and these computer things are out to get me. No, I DON'T WANT TO LEARN HOW TO FIX IT.
------
Just added a July gig: Monday the 14th at Grand Avenue Tavern, I'm the opening act for a standup comedy show. More as we get closer.
TT
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
I REALLY OUGHTA TAKE PICTURES OF THIS STUFF...
As some of you know, I have been trying with varying degrees of success to put up a garden in my back yard.
Understand, of course, that I know nothing much about gardening except that if you put seeds in the ground and water them stuff comes up.
This stuff is immediately eaten by stray cats who leave footprints all over your garden until you put up a deterrent. Orange peel proved to be a good deterrent until the peels pretty much just became mulch.
So, after planting summer crops a couple weeks ago, I got some radish sprouts, some other stuff, and waited patiently for the sprouts to get bigger.
Except they got eaten. So I laid peels again.
I have also put more seed in the ground over seeds I planted a few weeks ago that never came up. Beans, for example. How frickin' hard can it be to grow a goddamn bean? I am certain that those beans will sit in the soil for a while and someday, a year from now, they'll suddenly awaken and grow in a row I've since planted something else in. Which is why Janice refers to my patch on the side of the house as the "Mystery Garden."
I have stuff growing in pots, too. There's an Italian Eggplant (four plants, one actual fruit) growing in a window box in the back yard. I have basil growing in three locations on the property, thyme in two, carrots in a pot (this actually works remarkably well) and some extremely dead celantro which I have to replant.
Oh, and there's a cucumber plant growing in its own pot in the side yard that looks like it JUST MIGHT GIVE ME SOMETHING.
And then, there are the peppers and other mystery herbs.
Last summer I grew some tabasco peppers in a pot in the front yard. THOUSANDS of them. The thing was literally shitting peppers. So when it died in a frost I had plenty of seeds to re-seed with, and this year the pot looks like a forest.
In the back, my "Christmas Tree Lights" pepper plant is in its second year of production, which, if all other experiments with this plant are evidence, means I'll have to replant next year 'cause these things never last more than two years.
But wait -- I also have in the front yard a pot growing four manzano (or rocoto) pepper plants. These boogers grow straight up. I may seriously have to put in sticks and tie them off. I'm very excited about these plants 'cause they're Peruvian seeds and I had to literally send money to Peru to get some. The peppers themselves (if I get any) more closely resemble apples in shape than peppers, but boy, are they good and do they turn a burn on.
However, the mystery plants still invade. My Christmas tree light pepper bush is surrounded by chives. I planted the chives in the dirt in that box about FOUR YEARS AGO, and last summer they woke up. I'd long forgotten about them. Now it looks like my peppers are wearing a skirt.
Then there's the MYSTERY MINT, which has suddenly sprouted in the eggplant pot. It's not even very tasty mint. But there it is.
I tossed a variety of herb seeds in a pot in the front just to see what I'd get. (Remember, these were all herbs.) Now I have a nice basil output, a thyme that's trying, and seven healthy vinca plants! (Janice told me that since I didn't replace all the dirt, just pulling the dead vincas out of it was probably not the best idea. But it's sure gonna be an interesting looking pot.)
Then, there's the fact that not only do cats eat my sprouting veggies, they also kick up and relocate the rows I planted, so frequently, totally different vegetables wind up next to each other. Myyyyyyysteryyyyyyy...Gaaaaaaaaardennnnnnnnn....
My goal with all this is to one day produce enough stuff to create one home-grown salad. It's gonna be a while. I'll keep you posted.
(By the way, I also have a spinach plant growing in my actual garden. It's old. I waited too long to pick it. It's now 16 inches tall, flowering, and tastes awful. Looks nice, though. So I'm just gonna let it grow.)
TT
As some of you know, I have been trying with varying degrees of success to put up a garden in my back yard.
Understand, of course, that I know nothing much about gardening except that if you put seeds in the ground and water them stuff comes up.
This stuff is immediately eaten by stray cats who leave footprints all over your garden until you put up a deterrent. Orange peel proved to be a good deterrent until the peels pretty much just became mulch.
So, after planting summer crops a couple weeks ago, I got some radish sprouts, some other stuff, and waited patiently for the sprouts to get bigger.
Except they got eaten. So I laid peels again.
I have also put more seed in the ground over seeds I planted a few weeks ago that never came up. Beans, for example. How frickin' hard can it be to grow a goddamn bean? I am certain that those beans will sit in the soil for a while and someday, a year from now, they'll suddenly awaken and grow in a row I've since planted something else in. Which is why Janice refers to my patch on the side of the house as the "Mystery Garden."
I have stuff growing in pots, too. There's an Italian Eggplant (four plants, one actual fruit) growing in a window box in the back yard. I have basil growing in three locations on the property, thyme in two, carrots in a pot (this actually works remarkably well) and some extremely dead celantro which I have to replant.
Oh, and there's a cucumber plant growing in its own pot in the side yard that looks like it JUST MIGHT GIVE ME SOMETHING.
And then, there are the peppers and other mystery herbs.
Last summer I grew some tabasco peppers in a pot in the front yard. THOUSANDS of them. The thing was literally shitting peppers. So when it died in a frost I had plenty of seeds to re-seed with, and this year the pot looks like a forest.
In the back, my "Christmas Tree Lights" pepper plant is in its second year of production, which, if all other experiments with this plant are evidence, means I'll have to replant next year 'cause these things never last more than two years.
But wait -- I also have in the front yard a pot growing four manzano (or rocoto) pepper plants. These boogers grow straight up. I may seriously have to put in sticks and tie them off. I'm very excited about these plants 'cause they're Peruvian seeds and I had to literally send money to Peru to get some. The peppers themselves (if I get any) more closely resemble apples in shape than peppers, but boy, are they good and do they turn a burn on.
However, the mystery plants still invade. My Christmas tree light pepper bush is surrounded by chives. I planted the chives in the dirt in that box about FOUR YEARS AGO, and last summer they woke up. I'd long forgotten about them. Now it looks like my peppers are wearing a skirt.
Then there's the MYSTERY MINT, which has suddenly sprouted in the eggplant pot. It's not even very tasty mint. But there it is.
I tossed a variety of herb seeds in a pot in the front just to see what I'd get. (Remember, these were all herbs.) Now I have a nice basil output, a thyme that's trying, and seven healthy vinca plants! (Janice told me that since I didn't replace all the dirt, just pulling the dead vincas out of it was probably not the best idea. But it's sure gonna be an interesting looking pot.)
Then, there's the fact that not only do cats eat my sprouting veggies, they also kick up and relocate the rows I planted, so frequently, totally different vegetables wind up next to each other. Myyyyyyysteryyyyyyy...Gaaaaaaaaardennnnnnnnn....
My goal with all this is to one day produce enough stuff to create one home-grown salad. It's gonna be a while. I'll keep you posted.
(By the way, I also have a spinach plant growing in my actual garden. It's old. I waited too long to pick it. It's now 16 inches tall, flowering, and tastes awful. Looks nice, though. So I'm just gonna let it grow.)
TT
Monday, June 09, 2008
IT'S MONDAY! SO I'M WRITING SOMETHING!
Here's the coolest picture anybody's taken of me in a while:
It's a picture of me at dress rehearsal for the Romantasy Cabaret gig, which was last Saturday night and while the place was packed, in spite of my best efforts I didn't see anybody I know personally in the audience. You know, you REALLY oughta come see this thing. Next one's at the end of July.
------
Went to the doctor last week and somehow, without trying very hard, I've lost eight pounds. Must be from cutting out beef pretty much completely except for about once a week.
That's all for now...
TT
Here's the coolest picture anybody's taken of me in a while:
It's a picture of me at dress rehearsal for the Romantasy Cabaret gig, which was last Saturday night and while the place was packed, in spite of my best efforts I didn't see anybody I know personally in the audience. You know, you REALLY oughta come see this thing. Next one's at the end of July.
------
Went to the doctor last week and somehow, without trying very hard, I've lost eight pounds. Must be from cutting out beef pretty much completely except for about once a week.
That's all for now...
TT
Monday, June 02, 2008
BO DIDDLEY 1928-2008
This one hit me hard -- kinda like losing a favorite uncle.
I saw Bo Diddley in concert about seven times between 1987 and 1998. Pretty much every time he came to town, I was there.
You'd probably think, why seven times? Because his shows were amazing. That Bo Diddley beat, that "shave and haircut" groove, got your feet moving, got your ass up, and it was just a hell of a lot of fun.
And then there was Bo.
He talked to everybody. I know that I had conversations with him every time I saw him. They ranged from one sentence to several minutes. Back in 1991, I caught him at a bar called the Jar (it was where Bo played most of his Valley shows). Chess Records, where Bo had made most of his hits, had just put out a CD box set with a nice booklet and I wanted Bo to sign it.
When I got into the Jar, Bo was already there, chatting people up. I walked up, waited my turn for an audience and then presented the book and a pen to him. He took the booklet rather gingerly and said: "Do you mind if I look through this? I haven't seen it before."
He hadn't SEEN it before? "Gee, Bo, be my guest! Didn't Chess bother to SEND you a copy or two?"
"Man they don't send me nothin'. I don't own those songs, THEY do. And they do whatever they want to with it and don't send me shit."
Bo opened the book and for the next 10-15 minutes, he told me stories about every picture in it -- where it was taken, the vehicles in some of the photos ("damn, I miss that car") and a lot more. He made my day and I guess I made his.
A couple of years later I saw Bo at an outdoor show held on Central Avenue. He'd just been recuperating from a back injury, and had to play the entire show in a chair. He apologized for that, because a big part of a Bo Diddley show was to watch Bo dance while he played.
Like this:
Anyway, at that show, Bo was talking about his injury and at one point he said, "For a while there I thought you all were gonna lose ol' Bo Diddley."
Well, now we have. He had his share of health problems in the last year. A stroke took his voice a while ago, and this morning his heart gave out. It's just gonna be a sadder world without Bo Diddley in it.
One more story about the kind of guy Bo Diddley was: In 1989 or so I took my son Adam, who was about three, to see Bo with Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones. This was an outdoor show in a then empty industrial park with a stage set up, thousands of people sitting on the grass or standing on the pavement. Ronnie, Stone that he is, walked on stage from backstage. Bo Diddley, on the other hand, walked through the crowd to the stage. From the back. High-fiving, "how ya doin' man?" and all that.
What a guy.
TT
This one hit me hard -- kinda like losing a favorite uncle.
I saw Bo Diddley in concert about seven times between 1987 and 1998. Pretty much every time he came to town, I was there.
You'd probably think, why seven times? Because his shows were amazing. That Bo Diddley beat, that "shave and haircut" groove, got your feet moving, got your ass up, and it was just a hell of a lot of fun.
And then there was Bo.
He talked to everybody. I know that I had conversations with him every time I saw him. They ranged from one sentence to several minutes. Back in 1991, I caught him at a bar called the Jar (it was where Bo played most of his Valley shows). Chess Records, where Bo had made most of his hits, had just put out a CD box set with a nice booklet and I wanted Bo to sign it.
When I got into the Jar, Bo was already there, chatting people up. I walked up, waited my turn for an audience and then presented the book and a pen to him. He took the booklet rather gingerly and said: "Do you mind if I look through this? I haven't seen it before."
He hadn't SEEN it before? "Gee, Bo, be my guest! Didn't Chess bother to SEND you a copy or two?"
"Man they don't send me nothin'. I don't own those songs, THEY do. And they do whatever they want to with it and don't send me shit."
Bo opened the book and for the next 10-15 minutes, he told me stories about every picture in it -- where it was taken, the vehicles in some of the photos ("damn, I miss that car") and a lot more. He made my day and I guess I made his.
A couple of years later I saw Bo at an outdoor show held on Central Avenue. He'd just been recuperating from a back injury, and had to play the entire show in a chair. He apologized for that, because a big part of a Bo Diddley show was to watch Bo dance while he played.
Like this:
Anyway, at that show, Bo was talking about his injury and at one point he said, "For a while there I thought you all were gonna lose ol' Bo Diddley."
Well, now we have. He had his share of health problems in the last year. A stroke took his voice a while ago, and this morning his heart gave out. It's just gonna be a sadder world without Bo Diddley in it.
One more story about the kind of guy Bo Diddley was: In 1989 or so I took my son Adam, who was about three, to see Bo with Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones. This was an outdoor show in a then empty industrial park with a stage set up, thousands of people sitting on the grass or standing on the pavement. Ronnie, Stone that he is, walked on stage from backstage. Bo Diddley, on the other hand, walked through the crowd to the stage. From the back. High-fiving, "how ya doin' man?" and all that.
What a guy.
TT
