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well, it was pouring down rain outside... 2.22.07
but's it's frikken beautiful right now...
only the second commercial endorsement made by l'Marquis hisowndamnedself:
L. J. D.'s 16th Street Designs.
Late arriving news from ElDee herself:
shop the easy way here: 16th St Designs @ Etsy
( & btw, the only other commercial endorsement? looky here)
pouring down rain outside...
a late arriving slow moving storm working its way down the coast, good thing that the fellows visiting got an entire
week of good weather during their visit here. This large system is supposed to get through here today, some clearing tomorrow and than a weekend of occasional showers is forecast, which won't be so bad. Actually appears that all of next week will include a threat of rainy-ness hereabouts, perhaps it means that the winter storms have finally arrived. Ahhh, springtime...
 Strolled thru the neighborhood the other morning, camera in pocket, in order to try and capture a few snapshots of evidence that spring has sprung hereabouts. There'll be
a few of those shots appended alongside this post, we'll see
if yourstruly can come up with enough text to manage the four or five shots that I'm intending to include alongside.
The goddess must've been feeling generous over the last weekend and had
the local movie house (Albany Theatre on Solano) book a German film I have been hearing naught but good & positive things about, The Lives of Others, and I'd have been a fool not to go and see it whilst so closeby. Very fine, a tale well told that will ensnare you as it unfolds. The story takes place in the last years of the G.D.R. and centers upon an operative of the Stasi who's assignment to spy upon a playwright is the catalyst of the film's story. You'll not have difficulty finding laudatory reviews of this marvelous film, I only hope that it might be available for you to see it and judge for yourself. Myself's not familiar with many actors working in German film these days, but the cast is uniformly excellent, particularly the fellow in the role of the aforementioned Stasi operative, alongside the woman in the role of the playwright's paramour. Certainly is one of the more interesting group of films to have been nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category of recent years: Water from Canada; After the Wedding, Denmark; Days of Glory, Algeria; Pan’s Labyrinth, Mexico; The Lives of Others, Germany. Those of ye uncomfortable with subtititles, well, shite, ye don't know what you're missing.
 Whilst yourstruly was hosting his visitors last week, we all enjoyed one evening in front of the tube watching DVD of Home and Away, 1989 documentary on Leo Kottke that included some damned marvelous concert performances alongside an assortment of the verbal rambles that L.K. has a reputation for. Recommend it to anyone who loves guitar, even if you're not a Kottke fan, pretty sure you'll enjoy this film, be sure to check out the extras on the DVD. Here be a few L.K. related linky bits: early performances, c. 1968; the "unofficial" Kottke site; 1999 Kottke interview; for fans & guitarists in the S.F. Bay area, coming in July, Leo Kottke guitar clinic/master class; in concert;
this last one, the Leo Kottke & Procol Harum connection (whoodathunkit?).
 Let's see now, what else did ourowndamnedself have in mind to share? Oh yah, yesterday was Food Section day in most newspapers around the country, the Chronicle had a hunger-inducing article on making yummy meat sauces and just by co-inkydinkyness, the NYT had a story on a similiar subject, Cracking the Spaghetti Code. Yum! Rainy day outside, maybe this calls for a trip to Monterey Market where perhaps they'll have a big bag of tomatoes in the bargain bin and I can cook up a mess of marinara. Yum! Howzabout a bunch of guitar related linky bits?
Sure, I can hear you say, why not. First up, Guitar Jam, be sure to check out their daily picks, too. Next one has very likely been posted in many places elsewhere, but wotdahey, eh? 20 Greatest Guitar Solos Ever, With Videos; some links on this next site might have gone the way of the Dodo, but "isn't that the way they say it goes"- Acoustic Friends of Folk of the Wood; more handyhandy linky bits for stringed instrument fans, The Lute Hole where yourstruly found link to Guitar Man Acoustic Guitar Tips; and the d'monkey knows there be legions of Little Feat fans out dere.  Alright, time to wrap this thing up and get out and see whether or not I'm gonna score that bag of cheapass tomatoes or not. Some of ye, those regulars who still stop in here oncet in a while to see how the ol' apefella's doing, might have noticed a decided lack of political commentary hereabouts. Fucking shite just breaks my heart, guys getting blown to pieces in a fucking stupid useless "war", the moron behind it all still doing his grinning & shucking and shrugging it off, goddammitall, I know the fucker never watches the NewsHour, specially those moments at the end of the show dedicated to uniformed personnel who've made the ultimate sacrifice, and for what Binky, I ask ye, For What!? Sickens me, it really does, so I suppose that's why ye see so little mention of it around here these days, but I'm aware, katz und kitteez, I am still aware, and weary of the heartache.
Send ye off with one last linky bit, recently discovered by yourstruly, Things Magazine.
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engulfed by a flood of memories... 2.14.07
and none of them, by the way, having anything to do with St. V's day. Ourowndamnedself's playing host for a couple of fellas from the San Marcos, Tx environs, both involved in the fine and arcane art of custom bookbindery, and as l'Marquis takes his responsibility for the health & welfare of his visitors very seriously, yourstruly has been shepherding the boys hither and yon 'round Berkeley mostly. C.J. & Gary have a great story about someone losing their keys at what might have been an unusually inopportune moment and Me? Man Oh Man, talk about treading upon ground where many ghosts and powerful memories have lain in wait for my discovery, in the background of this event is the almost incredible coincidence of meeting a new friend who turns out to work alongside two other longtime friends; well, one actually a supervisor & co-worker of mine at the ol' fishwrap some years ago, so a casual friendship but a friendship nevertheless; the other someone I initially met way back in the days of working upon the lovely campus of the University of California. The book fair that C.J. & Gary are in town for is being held at Cal, and then we
spent a goodly part of the other morning in the neighborhood where mineownself invested many years of his life working at Palmer's Video and living on Martin Luther King Jr. (old Grove St.) near downtown Berkeley.
No wonder I'm hitting the sauce so hard...
 That morning just mentioned started out with all of us out early seeking breakfast, and I was a little surprised that some of the places I'd have sworn might have opened by
7 weren't so as we were all headed towards campus anyway, we parked the bluesubaru, walked to the Med and happily discovered they
served brekkie that early, and it was a pretty good one, from what I could tell (early brekkie a meal I rarely indulge). Anyway, it had been years, many of them, since I'd last stopped into the Caffe Mediterraneum, where oncet upon a time a young and innocent lad enjoyed his first caffe latte.
A few years after that, when he was a married man, he purchased that there carafe in the picture from the fine folks at the Med, having become somewhat of a regular by that time. Many, many memories were
vying for my attention during that hour or so we sat there together at breakfast. Then came the deluge, every walk through whichever part of the campus we visited, there alongside the pathways where we walked, legions of memories, all saluting and
noisily gestulating in their efforts to get my attention. Spooky shite, Binky, and youstruly's deeply thankful that the majority of those many thousands of memories are good ones. Methinks the vigor of these many recollections was accentuated by having recently spent some significant amount of time away, engrossed with family, where even older memories took precedence in the alloted sections of grey matter.  As far as the three of us getting along here amidst the spartan accomodations at chez d'monquis these days, although I've never experienced it,
it might be like being dorm mates at a really crappy state college. We are enjoying plenty of stimulating conversation alongside appreciation of good beers & the ever present threat of being assaulted by the pause that refresheth. I'd hoped that opportunity would have allowed Phillipe to join us for an evening of musical revelry, but los tejanos are on an early plane back home on Friday morning and that kind of thing will happen another time. Turns out Senor Gary can play la guitarra tambien, baby, you better believe it, and as for being the one relegated to sleeping upon a mat on the floor, you'd think the guy was Japanese. okay
one last thing, a wee nugget of chewy linky goodness, from local Craig's List musical instrument category, so who knows how much longer this link will remain reliable,
fabuloso 60's guitar collection
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a bit soggy around the edges this friday... 2.9.07
the rain on wednesday mostly light showers, a couple of northern pacific weather systems lining up to bring us some much needed moisture, certainly put a bit more snow up onto those upper elevations and make all those snowbunnies happy. Heavier rains began yesterday, wouldn't have wanted to be in last evening's rush hour traffic, thankful that yourstruly was here safe and warm and dry.
Ho-kay, first up today, from the esteemed other Juan from around these parts (S.F. in this case);
via his Information Junk AKA (oncet upon a time) footprints, Anthony Bourdain weighs in on the foodnetwork hosts (ourowndamnedself is a big fan of mr bourdain and wish we could watch his current adventures on the travel channel); and then, from the online Scientific American (and an excellent question it is, too) Would You Seek Help if it Meant You'd Never Fly on the Shuttle?, and yea, I know how silly/wacked up/purely nutzo that entire business seems, but damn, lighten up on that girl, who knows what kind of goddamned awful pressures (macho bullshite NASA astronaut culture, overacheiving girlchildhood stuff, three kids and all the crapola & heartache that can be) she has put herself through her entire life. Thank the goddess my weakest moments went unnoticed by the constabulary, else there'd be some fucked up looking mug shot of me out there. There was small tribute made to actor Peter Boyle hereabouts in December when he departed this vale of tears,
and I ran across something by Rick Perlstein at "In These Times" about Mr. Boyle worth sharing, Who’s Afraid of Peter Boyle?. Just a couple of things to leave you with then it's time to expend mine energies elsewhere. Caught sight of Steve Martin on the Ellen show playing banjo in quintet headed up by Tony Trischka and playing a tune composed by Mr. Martin, their all too brief performance promoting new album, Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular. Lastly, some modern literary heavyweights have graced the table on the charlie rose show of late, Martin Amis, Norman Mailer, and Tom Stoppard (!!!), all recently interviewed. The "new" C. Rose website has them available (for now), check 'em out, Binky, and let's get edified.
alright, hasta la vista babee, and we leave ye with a line from Stoppard,
one he says (in the interview mentioned previously) he excised from his play,
and attributes to Alexander Herzen, writing about Bakunin:
he incubated the germ of a colossal activity for which there is no demand.
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some good news to share... 2.6.07
in a roundabout fashion, learned of R. Thompson's new album "Sweet Warrior" (wee bit more about that here if you scroll down the 'news' page a bit) along with the opportunity to check out track from the album due in May, dad's gonna kill me via the excellent donkey o.d.. Whooo Hooo!
Who'd a ever thunk that being a professional wookie could be a career choice.
well, well well, now I know, all my life long I've been a slave to my insula.
I know I'm forgetting something I wanted to mention here bigtime, alas & alack,
perhaps on the next post
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I for one am grateful... 2.4.07
to have shared the planet with Molly Ivins.
I think (and hope) that she likely died happily, having accomodated herself in some way to the knowledge that this country is just chock full of ignorant dumbasses. C.J., longtime tejano,
pays his respects; from Salon, J. Conason pays tribute and there's a lot more yourstruly could point ye too, no doubt you're canny enough to mine some nuggets of linky goodness yourowndarnedself. One thing tho', and maybe even avail on yootoob in something other than real, M. Ivins on BookNotes last year (about 20 mins into the program). World's a lesser place without you, Molly...
Not sure, but methinks our pal Skib is unhappy about music that means very much to some of us being used for crassly commercial endeavours and informs us of yet another band I know nuttin' about, adding more weight to the despair I feel over my inablity to keep up.
When, last night, I was idly visiting a variety of sites and bloggos favoritos, seeking out some interviews with the aforementioned Ms. Ivins, and while not finding one w/Molly, did discover many other interesting ones to enjoy at the Cal Haas G.S.J. site, nicely updated with a fresh look.
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 hot times in the city...
2.1.07
let's all imagine,
a life in the city where G. Newsome is the mayor,
in the state where Ahhnoldt governs...
quelle excitement!
what greivous wrong did i commit in a previous life
to be here & now in the era of g. w. bush.
Wow, fourteen pounds!
Reminds me of the turkey we had for thanksgiving.
one wee nugget of linky goodness for you,
Evertything They Could Steal.
oncet upon a time,
l'Marquis had experience w/ being led around by his dic- ahhh, manhood,
s'like managing a very frisky puppy at the end of a leash, so it isn't that he's
altogether unsympathetic to the mayor, but he really ought to have known better,
eh Binky?
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~
january of 2007 was entirely too damn cold for most of us;
let us all imagine the auspicious beginnings springtime may herald...
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