Kill the humans!

This picture is really just to prove that if Kimm and I are found dead in our house.....it was the cat.
Here she is being instructed on how to do it by the plasticized mama rat we put out every Halloween.



If any of you have met my cat you know I'm not kidding.

The Minutemen

This last week I bought a CD I hadn't had for awhile. The Minutemen-Double Nickles on the Dime. It's one of my all time favorites.
It reminds me of Kris. When we were in highschool Kris and I would hang out in this little studio where our taxi driver friend Chris lived. Jesse, Mike R., Clay and Bob were also there. Other stranglers like Robin, Chris A.and Mike S. with his brother were often in and out of there as well. We would listen to the Minutemen, Black Flag, Fear, the Avengers, the Vandels, TSOL, the Germs...etc...
Sometimes we would put Chris's matresses up against the walls and make our own little mosh pit.
It was from here that I started playing in bands with those boys. Kris was always the singer.
We had lots of good names: the Tombstones, Total ASSets, Bucket of Death, Catholic Fags in Trouble, and my favorite...Jesse Christ and the Apostlettes. I still have a cassette that I put together of all the music I taped. Because of course it ALWAYS had to be taped. We'd all listen back to it in Chris's little studio.
These are such great memories for me. Sitting around a dirty little table choking on cigarette smoke in a room with no windows, Punk Rock blasting on the little portable sterio, empty cans of cheap beer everywhere, all planning our escape's from Redding.
Chris eventually joined the Army, Jesse, Mike R. and Bob moved to SF. Clay --I don't really know. I think he stayed around up there. Eventually he died in a car accident on his way back to Redding from a visit to SF. Kris and I ended up going to BYU.
Now Kris is gone too.
It's funny how listening to music can remind you of so much and make you so sad and so happy at the same time.

Day of the Dead

The Hollywood Mansion Tour

On this Day of the Dead I'm honoring my beautiful friend Tedd. He left us back in Feb. of this year. I thought a lot about putting this video on here. Granted it is on You Tube and anyone can see it at any time. Tedd is special beyond words to me and I want to share him with anyone who will listen. (He's wearing the green and white baseball cap in the video.)
I still think of him everyday. I don't know when that will end. But I do love to hear his voice and laughter in my head.
Here he is back in the summer of 05. He was the make-up and hairstylist for Colt Studio's--(hot boy porn).
I tried to link this up with my post of Tedd I put up after he left us. but I couldn't for some reason. You can see my original post on 3/24/06 called 'Tedd ruins our lives lately'.
This video shows how Tedd was ALWAYS...Fun, Witty, Charming, Brilliant, Adorable, irreverent, Wonderful!

Enjoy! And Eternal Cheers for Tedd!!!

Last Halloween in the Castro

Here's a picture taken at a bar we went to after the shots rang out at the Castro. The scariest thing about gun shots in a group of people is the stampede that accompanies said shots.

When our group of 8 left the Castro party area I heard the gun shots. I looked back and then looked at Kimm who was standing in front of me. "Those were gun shots" I told her. Then I looked back again to see a wall of people running towards us. "RUN"!!! I was the last in the group and everyone in front of me got to the bar straight away. I was beginning to get pushed from behind so with my adrenaline push I made it to the side and ran into a parking lot which I recognized as a spot where I dragged Kimm on one of our first dates just so I could puke up all the vodka in my system and start again. She always remembers our first dates as being like that. We're at a bar and I say "Come outside with me for a second". If I say that to any of you while at a bar---Stay inside the bar.

Good news--we didn't get shot or trampled in the stampede.

Bad news--This will be our last year at the Castro Halloween extravaganza. Too many CRAZY MUTHAFUCKAS!!

Did any of you guess my costume from the non-revealing picture?

I was Steve Irwin--crocodile Hunter. I had a cardboard stingray hanging from a piece of rope from a hole in my shirt at heart level. Yes it was tasteless but this is Halloween--and I wasn't the only Croc. Hunter either.

Happy Halloween!

Here's a picture from last year's Halloween excursion to the Castro. We're going again this year with some friends that we go with every year -including this adorable vampress in this here picture.
Keep your fingers crossed that all ends well. It's always a little bit of an adventure going to the Castro on Halloween.
I'll post my costume tomorrow.
I'm going as someone who recently died...Who do you think it is???

XENA!

Xena & Gabrielle - Kisses - #622

I am just as happy as a pig in shit with this YouTube thing. Now I'm wallowing in my Xena obsession. Yes I am one of 'those' who would love Xena to throw me like a rag doll.
This is just one of their hot kisses. How lucky is that Gabrielle?

Sandy West R.I.P.

The Runaways - Wild Thng
Here's Sandy West, drummer for the Runaways singing 'Wild Thing'. She died of lung cancer on Saturday Oct. 21st. She wasn't even 50.
Sandy was such a powerful drummer. She totally opened the door for girls like me. Thank god for the Runaways!

This video really rocks. Remember these girls were all teenagers back then.
Amazing!

Because she hates painters

Darby Crash Interview
When I was in high school back in the early 80's, this movie was the soundtrack to my life. The Decline of Western Civilization. My friends and I listened to this record so many times that we had all the lines memorized and would recite them to each other.
often.
We didn't have a lot to do in Redding.
Back then it was fun to say what you hated. Sometimes I miss that.
Here's Darby Crash singer from the Germs and his friend Michelle spliced in with an interview of Nicole- the Germs manager.
And of course I love this because I'm a painter.

Stone Fox ---- Cinderella
A while back I posted about this great band from SF called Stone Fox. Here they is........
I miss seeing them. They were so fuckin great!
I love You Tube.

The Fake Banana

I've been staring at our Moosa tree (Fake Banana). It's looking so good right now. It's not easy to tell in this picture which I just took. The best thing about this picture is the icy glare of the wrot iron pink flamingo to the right of the tree. And the Canna bloom inbetween the two of them.
I have a "little Florida" in my back yard.
We've been juggling 3 different job's this week.
We're tired.
More will be written soon.

We're recooperating

Yes, it's days later. In fact tomorrow is Kimm's birthday. But we aren't starting again. It's too much. I just started to drink alcohol again so...ya know....
We'll wait until Saturday when our friend M. is having a BBQ at her place in SF.
It rained today for the first time this fall. It makes us sad. We hate the rain and clouds. I walked the dogs around the neighborhood this morning and tried to find things I liked about the rain. .... .......... ............
Not a lot except that it made the wild fennel growing on the side of the road smell like maple syrup. And that smell hung around in the air today forever. That was cool.
This is another picture from my birthday last weekend.
I'm hoping to handle this winter better than the last two, or six...
When you own your own home and you have to worry about water "issues" it makes the rain seem like an ever reoccuring SATANIC CURSE!!!
We have to enjoy these last days of our indian summer before they are gone for good!

Birthday Party # 40

I know this picture isn't great but it wasn't a night for holding the camera steady.
At this point I was lucky enough to be putting my arms in front of me before I fell.
It was a great party! We kept it goin' until the sun was rising.
I was more sick on sunday then I've been since I was in my 20's and just beginning to know my limits with alcohol and such things...But the liver damage was worth it!
Highlights: All three Babiarz sisters! My Mom coming down from Redding just for the party. Police action with k-9's and megaphones down the street (not at our house by some miracle)! Naked hot tubbing. And Whip-it's!
I love my crazy friends and family. They be knowin how to celebrate!

Now for the downward spiral?

Here's a picture of the back of my dad's gravestone. This type of stone that includes the names of the deceased's children is very popular for Utah Mormons

I hope no one thinks this is in poor taste. My dad would be laughing.

I'm just posting this because as a new 40 year old. Looking at my name on this gravestone reminds me that life is short.

I've decided I need to accept my old age and live it up everyday despite the spreadin' hips, wrinkles and age spots. My god look at this one. She's 53. (And by the way I used to have that same bass--why did I ever get rid of that)! Or this hot one. She just turned 48 a few days ago!

I'm sure this will be an ongoing process for me.

This stone is also proof that I am a Kim and not a Kimberly.

The last night of my 30's

It's here. I've barely had time to begin processing it. I'll be 40 tomorrow.
When I was young like I was in this picture... I used to think that if you made it to your 40's you had lived most of your life. If you suddenly got terminally ill, it was o.k...YOU WERE
40 for god's sake!!! You were old. Washed up. Old enough to be sick and DIE.
I'm on the eve and I can't believe it. I only ever pictured myself living until I was 33. Nothing after that.
I'm dreading tomorrow...
This picture by the way is from Left...Julie T., Jesse W., Kris B., Me and Mike S. On the day of Jesse W's graduation from the San Francisco Art Instutite circa 1988...I was 21..

La Turley

"I haven't laughed that much since the Clinton Administration"...S.T.R.

Love Fest

So here we are at Lovefest 06.
Kimm and I were invited on the Anon Salon bus with our friend Robyn Hood. She made us some nice girly drinks. It was fun. Met up with many friends. Good times-good times.
It's been a busy week. I had my old college (BYU) friend Shelley and her family visit for a few days. She brought lots of great music with her. For her 40th birthday she made several CD's of music. One might call them "Music from the soundtrack of Shelley's life". She made me copies of the CD's for my upcoming 40th birthday and they are SO awesome! Thanks Shelley!!! They'll be playing at my shindig next weekend.
Another great CD Shelley brought and I copied..the Akron Family. I LOVE them! Amazing vocals.
Having problems posting You Tube videos to my blog...Jesse, Cassie any suggestions as to why???

End of an ERA

This may be kind of a hard picture to figure out. It's me ..maybe in 98'?, turned so my back is towards you. Cassie is in the foreground ready to pull the rest of my pants down. I think Jamie or Ilhan took this picture and later when I brought a copy of it into the practice spot, Tedd wrote "Choad Flosser" on it in black sharpie and it was tacked to the wall of the Practice spot at 143 Turk st. room 22.

143 Turk or Francisco Studios in SF. Between Taylor and Mason. Some of us practed there for 10 years or more.

Mike (currently drummer for my band Mutton) was in a band called Ear Plug Boy". He was the first one to wrangle the spot and make it available for his band, my band Yusakuta and a band called Zen Guerrilla back in 1995/96.

10 years later I still practiced there. My band morphed from Yusakuta to Mighty Tight to Hoegarden to Hazy to Mutton all in one practice spot.

Today I moved all my stuff out. As Mutton (a three piece), we didn't want to pay the rent anymore. Mike and I figure we can build a studio in his basement at his home and hopefully practice more often.

I'll miss that place. I had a lot of good memories there...

Tedd's dead now, Cassie's moved far away. I spent a lot of time in that small room with the flickering fluorescent light and asbestos celling. Walls filled with Lunachick and CCR posters, clocks with Celtic men snapping whips at wolves, vomit bags, dental dams, photo's of bandmembers, stickers of bands long since departed. In the corner are racks of musical equipment seldom or over-used, amps with blown speakers. Broken strings litter the dirty carpet along with ends of joints, cigarettes, picks, pieces of duct tape.

We'd shared the space this last year with a band called Send for Help. They are taking over the lease from us. I snuck a swig off of their bottle of Whiskey before I walked out for the last time.

Here's to the Tenderloin.

Birthday Camping Trip

We went camping last weekend for the birthday celebration of my pal Chris. He plays guitar in my band Mutton.
Chris usually has legendary birthdays and this one was no exception.
Here he is (the one in the middle) after laughing so hard that he sent Whiskey shooting out his nose.
We camped at Big Basin campground. Outside of Boulder Creek in the Santa Cruz mountains.
This party had it all; insane drunken behavior, visit's by the campground cops, tipping chairs full of people, candles burning in trees, "left overs" from Burning Man, Irish and Spanish exclamations and many more things I either can't mention or remember. It was definitely good times for all. Even L. who I found sleeping under a tree the next morning curled up in fetal position.
Can't wait for my birthday celebration in a couple of weeks with this bunch.

Here's my 40th Post

I'm a little obsessed with numbers recently.

Here's me at 20. It was 1986'. I think I'm wearing a pinky ring! I'm really trying to pull off that androgynous thing.

I pulled this one out to compare to 'me' 20 years later.

I think my brother still has that guitar. I think I might still have that sweater... Favorite music to listen to back then was Throwing Muses, The Runaways, Cocteau Twins, Black Flag, The Smiths and the Stooges. And lots of David Bowie, Bob Marley and Led Zepplin.

They never found that armed guy they were looking for in my neighborhood..But I'm not worried because with the current dog we're sitting that makes 5 dogs that live here with me. I'm hoping that keeps armed men and Former home dwelling, singer, junky, murderer parolees away.

Art and Soul / Richard and Jimi

Yesterday I spent some time at this festival. While there I spotted many a sexy Oaklander donning his or her favorite summer t-shirt. Three T-shirt themes stand out...They numbered the most of what I saw..Here they are in order of shear numbers...
1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Richard Pryor
3. Taxidermy
I'm not sure what to think of the later.
Comments??
We also saw Rickie Lee Jones who still has a sweet piercing voice.
Chuckies in Love!!!

Tower of Power

Today while I was outside in the driveway talking to Kimm this guy walks by. He says "Hey did you know that Rick Stevens used to live there?" "You know, the singer from Tower of Power?" "I've lived in this neighborhood since 1964 and he used to have the guys over and practice there all the time."
I'm like..."Cool". I didn't really know whether or not to believe him since it looked like maybe he'd just smoked a tower of crack.
But what if it's true? My house is less than 1000 square feet and the thought of a large horn section in the living room is hard to imagine.
Rick Stevens was one of the first singers for the band and sang the song "Your still a young man" which has always been one of my favorites of theirs.
He was arrested in 1976 for the murder of two people. He's currently housed in the California Prison System.

OPD

Tonite when Kimm and I were coming home around 8:30 PM from meeting with a client we see this OPD car blocking the street we usually turn on to go home. We thought we'd turn onto the next street but it also was blocked off by the OPD. We went down one more street and were finally able to get up to our road. We back tracked and saw that the last block of our street was blocked off with like 20 cop cars and dozens of cops crouched behind them.
They told us to leave.
We have this police scanner that we've never used and we found all the AA batteries in the house to make it work (10).
Nothing came in on any channel. What the hell, it has 40 channels!
Our neightborhood has a Yahoo group where you can post or find out about crimes in the area. It's really a great idea. I know where any problem houses are. I know what cars to be on the look out for. And usually I can find out what's going on when something like this happens.
This time I was the first one to post. Since then I've seen two other posts similar to mine but one of them added that the police told him to stay inside because they were looking for someone who is armed.
I guess that answers my question. But why aren't they telling us ALL to stay inside? And have they caught him?
More on this later when I find out what the hell happened!

Jasper

Here's Jasper.
Isn't he cute?
This morning I awoke to him puking on my arm.

We walked the dogs in the neighborhood tonite because my allergies have been too horrible to take them to the park.

We walked him, Monroe, Gabe and Mills thru the neighborhood. Smiling at all the neighbors. Talking to the kids riding bikes. Marveling at the different plants in peoples yards. Glancing furtively into their windows. While the sun set over the bay. Then as we looked down an embankment off the side of our road we saw a GIANT safe. With it's door clearly pried open by a crowbar. Obviously stolen, ransacked and dumped.
And no, there was no money inside.

Cockroaches

Listening to the blues

Cockroaches--Not good. In Hawaii there are lots of big ass cockroaches. As I sat on a couch in the living room of our rented house last week one such animal tried to kill me. It was night. Kimm, Claudette (mom), Emily (graduating sister) and myself sit down in living room to relax after a physically exhausting day spent shopping. Out of the corner of my eye I spy a small cat--oh no that's a COCKROACH! I jump up like a little princess bitch onto the couch. Kimm smacks Emily on her fresh sunburn. "GET IT!" Emily the family Buddhist cries, "NO I can't kill it!" She promptly grabs a flip flop off the floor and aggressively runs toward the cockroach. She smacks it! It runs under the couch where I'm swooning. Claudette begins to laugh hysterically. I shriek "AGGGGHHHHH get it you guys!!! Kimm pulls back the couch with one hand. Emily smacks the beast again and it heads towards the stairs. She jumps from one stair to the next like a small frog beating the roach as she goes. It continues to run like hell. Kimm runs down the stairs like a bear on speed "EMILY----OUTTA THE WAY!!" She grabs Emily by the shoulder and yanks her back as she barrels down the stairway. Emily yells out in pain...HHEEEEYYYY! As Kimm slams herself down at the bottom of the stairs she lets out a primal scream and stomps on the vile monster! DEAD MOTHAFUCKA!!

This happens in some fashion over and over nearly every night.

Otherwise the vacation was sweett.

ALOHA

Here's the house we stayed in. It's in a little town called Kane'ohe on the island of Oahu. It was great aside from someone stealing my sisters dress from our room and cockroach incidents. We snorkeled, ATE, smoked, DRANK, celebrated and generally had a wonderful time.
While there my allergies acted up and now I have a fun sinus infection. Nothing worse than getting sick on vacation. Luckily I only felt really bad thru one dinner. I'm much more sick now since I've been home--could it be because vacations over??

Hawaii vacation awaits...

Headin' off for Honolulu Hawaii tomorrow. For eight days! Going to see this one graduate from University of Hawaii. Traveling with the family. Including grandparents! Should be exciting and slow moving which is fine for Kimm and I right now. We finished two jobs this week and are straight exhausted! Well maybe not straight...
Hope to snorkel a lot. Drink, eat and smoke a lot! Maybe get lucky this time and see a turtle!
This is our first vacation in about a year and a half. Hawaii is beautiful and I love the food--except the spam.

Butthole Birthdays

Here's the lovely Butthole Surfers. It's J's birthday today and we share a deep love for this band.
Happy Birthday J!
Hope you like this picture.
See you on thursday at the Nostalgic's!

By the way --your little naked man was a hit at our party!

Animal Collecting

Here's my kitty Yuki. As you can see she has two different colored eyes and she's all white. She's also all bitch. My neighbor tells me white cats are the worst. I don't know if anyone else knows this cat fact. She's been a MAD bitch from the day she crawled out from under a car to beg us to take her home. We were living in this bad neighborhood. We stayed in a horrible apt. Underneith us was an equally horrible natural gas leak coming from the rotting water heater.It was raining that night. We were walking our doberman Isabelle so she could poop. Yuki crawled out from under this car parked on the side of the road. She had a grey patch on her head from oil pan. She ran up to Isabelle my dog and said. "Hey, take me the fuck home. I love dogs." She was desperate and we could see it. She was a teenage cat. Not fully grown.
We took her home and she's been our's ever since.
Days later we found out that she had previously belonged to our crack smoking neighbors who had kept her in a bathroom for the first 8 months of her life. On the same night we found her they had decided to get rid of her. S'pose the glamour worn off. They threw her outside in the rain to fend for herself. I guess that seemed reasonable to them in their cracked out state to throw a kitten out into a storm who had only known cold dirty tile her whole short life.
I really hate people most of the time.
Just today I went to buy dog food and saw rows upon rows of sweet kitties up for adoption. I wanted to take all of them. Even if they turned out to be mean and sadistic like my cat.
I can't look at animals up for adoption. It's too upsetting.
I could go on and on about this but I'll stop now.
My proof that I am NOT an animal collector.

No Underware!!!

Isn't this picture fantastic!!!! This adorable little man pranced naked around our Anniversary party nearly the entire time. I just love when parents will let their kids run around naked. I'm MORE than sure my mom never let me do that. In my Mormon family it was against the law to be seen in your underware-religious or otherwise.

Balloons

Let me say there is nothing better than watching a baby play with a fake boob balloon. The wonder in their eyes when they finally grab ahold of it. To the look of horror after they lock on to the fake nipple and taste that squeaky rubber.
It can't be beat!

10th Anniversary Party

Here's our beautiful neighbor dancing the 'candle dance' at our 10th anniversary party last Sunday. Too bad we didn't get our friends naked son in this shot. He was standing on top of the hot tub dancing along with her.
From what I could tell it was fun for all. It was for Kimm and I anyway. Lots of drinking and delicious food courtsey of Janel our good friend who quickly grabbed the bbq utensils away from me and took over cooking. Jenel I thank you endlessly!
About 40 people in total. Including my Mom Claudette and her husband Dave. Our good friend Mark and his hot boyfriend Paul from the Sierra foothills, My cousin Meg who left for Africa the day after the party. Our SF friends, Our East Bay friends, neighbor friends...Good Times..Good Times. This anniversary party was long over due.
We worked feverishly up to the last minute before the party fixing doors, landscaping, shoving things in closets. Then yesterday we crashed like zombies when everyone left. After planning this party for the last couple of months, now that it's over I feel like someone's moved out.

Painting + 100 degree temps = EEWWWWW

We just finished painting the exterior of this house last week during the start of our heat wave here in CA. This is a 'before' picture by the way. I can't find any of the 'after' pictures to show the true superiority of our work. It's been HOT. But I s'pose everyone is feelin it these days if you live out here in the west. Now we are painting the interior of another house and the heat is worse inside! Especially if you are down on your knees painting behind the toilet. Sometimes I can't believe the little girl in me who at 4 threw away all the silverware in the house when dinner was done because it was 'dirty' can crouch behind a toilet for 1/2 an hour with sweat dripping from her nose as she carefully paints a line.
Now THAT was a run on sentence!

So TIRED..I miss Weed.

Here's a very bad picture of the very beautiful Mt Shasta. It's taken from my uncle Jamie's side yard. He's got a big spread out in Weed (yes Weed). It is absolutely gorgeous. Lots of acres with horses and flowers. And they look out on Mt. Shasta. Not bad. This is what I'd normally be doing in July. Sitting with Kimm on my uncle's swing with under the deck with somewhere near 10 dogs milling around (4 of them ours). The tempatures rising into the 100's. Sipping on a beer. Looking at Mt. Shasta. Watching the space ships fly in and out of the secret portal in the mountain. Good Times.

Unfortunately, Kimm and I are working our asses off to get our house ready for our big 10th anniversary party next weekend. We're going to have close to 50 people over here and we still don't have a working front door. That's just one of our GIANT problems we have to deal with before the party.

And summer is slowly slipping away...

Shorty

Kids really like me for some reason. I think it's because I tend to ignore them.
Such was the case with "Shorty". I never did ask him his real name. He told me his friends called him "Shorty" or "Killa" as nicknames. I chose to call him Shorty. It seemed more fitting for an 8 year old.
He was at the property Kimm and I are currently painting. He came with his dad who was doing landscaping work in the back yard.
I was painting the front deck in the direct sun so I was a little crazy from the heat and not in much of a mood to chit chat. Shorty started asking me questions. "How much do you make for painting?" "Where do you live?"
Then he asks me my favorite question and one I will remember forever..
"Do you have any famous rappers in your family?"
!!!!??????? I put down my brush and looked at him for the first time.
No, do you?
"Yeah. Do you know who Too Short is?"
YES!
"He's my uncle."
WOW! That's some uncle you got there kid.
Too Short is the most famous of rappers to come from Oakland. East Oakland in fact-where Shorty and I live. He's widely known for being the first west coast rap star. He's recorded over 30 albums with songs like "fuck face" and "pimp the ho". It doesn't get more gold teeth than Too Short and that's saying a lot.
Shorty told me that back in the day his famous uncle used to "put food on his mama's table". But now that Too Short is too famous his "mama has to put food on her own table". I guess sometimes success can ruin a good thing.

Woody

So I watched the KQED American Masters doc on Woody Guthrie. It was so depressing. He died at 55 of Huntington's disease. I woke up in the middle of the night and grieved for him.
I'm so weird.
Rock and Roll wouldn't have been the same without him.
Hail Woody!

Devendra Banhart

I really haven't been interested in anyone musically for awhile.
Except for this guy Devendra Banhart. I was given a copy of his CD Cripple Crow and I LOVE every song on it.
He's just all over the place on this CD. Plus he looks all Charles Manson so it's intriguing. He just doesn't sound like anyone else and I find that SO REFRESHING....
Plus I'm a sucker for that lo-fi sound.
Highly Recommended..

Jan, Joe and Zoe

Here we go again... More of our friends leaving the Bay Area to live out of state in large suburban areas dominated by cheaper housing and better schools.
I don't ask why anymore...
If I was a parent I'd do the same thing.
Jan, Joe and Zoe of all the BBQ's, bio-diesel, Punk Rock Music mix CD's, adoptees, wine and whine and flag girls.

They hailed from our neighborhood one street down. They understood.

They left on Monday July 3rd to live in Portland, Oregon. Summer time BBQ's will never evah be the same.

They will be missed..

Cassie

Here she is in all her glory at one of our shows. I think we were still calling ourselves Hoegarden back then. In fact...this may have been our very first show. It was at this space called the Accordian on Bayshore in SF. Kind of a scary place to park your car. But as I remember...no one was hurt or robbed.

This was before babies and all. Well, Jamie was pregnant with Miles. So she didn't play drums for us at this show.

Cassie and her husband Kaveh and their two beautiful kids left SF last weekend to live in Chicago where apparently it's less expensive.

It's never going to be the same here without Cassie. She of all the songs, gossip, parties, dinners, camping trips, clothes with animal print's.

She sang for three of my bands. Yusakuta, Might Tight and Hoegarden/Hazy. Cassie definately had that loud punk rock girl voice I LOVE SO!!!

I'll really miss you Cassie

Am I in another country?

I wish I could let you hear the insane "Iraqish" noise that happens in Oakland on the 4th of July. It really begins in May and goes until September but it has it's climax on July 4th. I'm not sure where all these people get their fireworks--
which are quite professional.
We're not talking sparklers here.
I would guess that at least every other house has something to send off into the air, blow up on the ground or shoot..Hopefully not AT someone.
Seems like people should be licensed for this stuff. And it is illegal of course but that never stops anyone.

Then, July 5th I took my dogs out for their morning walk and as I climbed to the top of a hill I spied out of the corner of my eye, a red fox. He saw us first obviously and began to run down the hill into the canyon away from us. I imediately looked for my dog Gabe. She sat and just watched him go. I couldn't believe she didn't chase him. Maybe it was a "I know your not a domestic animal" thing. So strange because Gabe will always chase.
Anyway. We watched that fox for awhile--Gabe and I. While the other 3 dogs sniffed around and ate goat poop. Completely unaware. He ran on a trail stopping every 30 feet or so to look back at us.
I like that kind of dichotomy about Oakland.

Sound Down

So Kimm and I have been watching the first season of the L word.
We don't have cable so we rely on our friends to tape stuff for us that is culturally relevant in some way.
We enjoy watching straight girls kiss and make-out and that hasn't really been done on T.V. before.
Anyway, we've decided we like it best with the sound off.
Katherine Moenning is pretty hot. Jennifer Beals still has that nice ass. AND it's got goddamn Pam Grier! I wonder how they got her on the show? I can't imagine what Guinevere Turner must have said to convince her...

SF Pride Parade 2006

Remember Josie Cotton? "Johnny are you queer?" Here she is performing with a cute dancer on the main stage at this years Pride Parade Festival.
Saturday night we went to the Dyke March. We succesfully partied at a friend's house before hand. Marched. Danced to the Whoa Nellies (Fun SF band fronted by ex-Elvis Herselves). Ate like pigs. Then went to another party. Crashed at friend H and N's place. Got up and went to the Civic Center to troll around and buy "M" Brownies--This year we got lucky and also got a "M" pound cake! We'll put that in the freezer and save it for a river trip in August or September.

HOT

It's so focken hot here today.
Do you like how I changed that ONE word in the last sentence? I haven't seen that version and I'm running with it.
Memories of HOT Redding nights:
I would swing on the swing set after dinner when I was kid. I'd watch the sky get darker and the night would fill up with good smells of orange blossoms and mimosa trees.
Later when I was older I'd run around barefoot with my friends thru the neighborhood at night and toilet paper peoples houses. We were never afraid of creepy perv's.
When I was 16 or so I'd jam with my band in my girlfriends parents garage in the outskirts of town near the lake. We were so far out there no one complained about the sound.
While I was in my college freshman year. I would sit in a small group of girls by the pool side of my bestfriend. We'd try and out-attitude each other.

Kris--Or--All my best friends die on solstices

Here is a photo of Kris and I and our friend Nancy from our days at "the BYU". Kris is in the red shirt looking adorable. Nancy has the peace sign. I of course am the one in the back looking miserable. Today is year #4 without Kris.
I miss her everyday.

We used to sing along to "Los Angeles" by X in her kelly green volkswagen bug. Screaming at the top of our lungs.
We had so much fun together.
As Exene says in the song Los Angeles--"She found it hard to say goodbye to her own best friend". That's still how I feel about Kris.

Mark...where are you?

Listening to Memphis Minnie

This is Kimm with our hot friend Mark. They tried on all our wigs a few weeks ago and posed for this picture. I love this one because they look all Kentucky. Mark was supposed to come stay with us this weekend but he hasen't shown his handsome face yet. I s'pose we should call him...
Doesn't Kimm look a little like Martha Stewart in this photo?
So what's with this weekend anyway? Memorial day weekend? Well I'm not the proud Amerkan type so I think I'll celebrate it by buying the new Minutemen dvd "We Jam Econo." Aren't we required to LOVE the Minutemen in this country?? I sure do. The BAND that is.

I SOOO suck at this

It's been more than a month since I posted..Geez, I really suck at this blogger stuff. And I haven't posted one picture of my art. I did name this "My unseen art" a year or so ago. Well lucky for all of us the goats are back at my favorite open space and they've almost finished eating everything. Next they will cross the street and eat everything at the other open space. Hopefully I'll come across some fresh skulls when I get back there. Seem's every year there are several goats that die on the job -or maybe they get shot-who knows..this is Oakland.
Anyway, soon I'll post some art photos. With or without skulls.

These are the good times...

Listening to Decline and Fall of Western Civilization.

I remember when I was younger and I didn't have responsibilities. Yes I had a job but If I wanted to call in sick--I could. I didn't own a house. I didn't have a girlfriend. I only had one dog. My life was simple. All my furniture matched. I remember thinking.."One day I'll have a real life with responsibilities. These are the good times". Thank god those days are over.

Big Mean Dogs=Bad Owners

listening to Sleater-Kinney " I want to be your Joey Ramone"
Our nice neighbors little dog got into our mean neighbors yard with their two big mean dogs. Those two big mean dogs were trying their hardest to kill that sweet, small and nearly blind dog. I heard it and climbed a ladder to see over the fence to find out what was going on. After I saw what was happening I screamed for Kimm to come and help. She kept the dogs at bay with our hose and I ran around the corner to the mean neighbors house to get them to call off their dogs. Both of their cars were there but no answer at the door. Kimm finally jumped the fence with a blanket and wrapped up the little hurt dog and handed it over the fence to me. Poor little thing. If I hadn't heard them that dog would be dead. It didn't seem to be bleeding. Maybe just really brused and possibly broken or cracked. I hope not. We got him back to our nice neighbors. Still can't figure out why if our mean neighbors were home how they could let that commotion happen without doing something about it? And how did that little dog get into their yard? Kinda scary because we have 4 little dogs. Knowing their dogs are capable of that is frightning. I'm making sure our fence is dog proof so that never happens.

BAD STUFF

Here is a picture of a Montery Pine that fell onto the back and roof of my neighbors house on tuesday. A big gust of wind knocked it down. The rain has saturated the ground to the point where it won't hold up trees anymore.
This is just one more shitty thing to happen to us or those we know well. Our friend Walt lost his home in January when the rains flooded the river in Lagunitas. THEN: Tedd commits the unbearable. THEN: We have little or no work because of the season. Etc...Etc..... Those windows are not broken. I can't believe they didn't break! That is one of the owners in the foreground. She is in shock! This doesn't show the damage on the roof. There were SO many holes punched into the roof by big thick branches that you can't see in this picture! Kimm scampered up there with all the slick pine needles to help them put on the tarps afterwards. Then on Friday they got about 6 tree guys over there and they got that whole tree off of the roof and cut it down to the stump. Brave guys. They didn't break one petal off of any of our neighbors flowers! Those kids were good!

Stonefox

There was this band from San Francisco in the mid-late 90's called Stonefox. They could not be touched. 4 girls on guitar and mics and 1 guy on the drums. Hard - Driving - Sweating - Sex Rock Punk Metal. They were just so good. Sooo Good.
I'm listening to this C.D. I got from my dear friend Tedd's collection. I am the biggest Stonefox fan and I didn't know about this! "Really Burnt" on Man's Ruin. It's their first album "Burnt", with several live cuts. Show's I know that I was at because I was a junkie. I saw them all. I stalked one of the guitarists after I saw her get off the bus one day in my neighborhood. She lived right next door to Mission Delores. The balcony of her studio looked out onto the graveyard of the Mission. I spent many days walking my doberman Isabelle underneith that balcony.
Good Times--Good Times..
Thank God for this band!
I also got a well worn Stonefox t-shirt from Tedd's t-shirt collection. I'm not sure I should ever wear it.

Tedd ruins our lives lately

Listening to KUSF
It's been a long time since I wrote anything. Our good friend Tedd committed suicide in Febuary and I didn't feel much like writing after that. This is a picture of Tedd in better times. He was one of a kind. No one knew he was in any kind of emotional pain. But like my mom said, "Sometimes you can't know what's in peoples heads". Pretty simple but true.
We played music together in a band called Yusakuta that was together from '97 to '01. He played bass and I played guitar. We played lots of shows and had so much fun. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be playing in the band I am today. I wouldn't know the SF friends that I still have. I wouldn't have all the great memories that I have. He used to be counted on to come to all our shows. Now he won't be there. In ten years I wonder if I will feel even worse than I do now. It's hard to explain that.
I'm going to his place next Sunday to help his boyfriend and best friend among others to clean out his stuff.
I really miss that guy.

WORK!!!

Listening to Damian Marley

Where is the work? February is always slow for us. We are waiting for someone to call and give us a good job. In the meantime we are painting the bedroom a calming off white. And today we are going to start sanding the floor in order to refinish it.
It's HARD to stay calm when you are slowly running out of money.
Have to try and keep my cynical attitude in check. Reggae helps. All the tings dat go along with jahs music help.....But I'm going to need more of that soon and that means I need more MONEY.
vicious circles.

Much Visitation

Listening to Muddy Waters
There has been much visitation this weekend. We had 7 friends come over on saturday and 2 on sunday. Luckily the 2 on sunday ate the leftovers from the 7 on saturday. I was unable to see my friend from up north because of all this friendship. Well, you gain some and you loose some I suppose. I hope my good northern friend will forgive me.
I really tied one on this weekend. It was the first party we had at our homestead here in maybe 4 years. Kind of a last minute thing. I'm glad we finally got our balls together and did it. We have a lot of anxiety between us about such things
if it's not one person loosing their mind ...it's the other.

Unmasked

Listening to Jimmy Reed
Well it seems they have unmasked the person who is appearing in public as J.T.LeRoy. He is a she- a 20 something woman from SF. And it also seems probable that the writer who writes as J.T. is actually a 40 year old woman ex-rocker also from SF. See what happens when you give up the rocknroll. But who doesn't appreciate a good hoax? Wish I could come up with something that good to make some extra cash.
This picture of me is taken in Volcano, Ca. last spring. Some friends and I went a-shootin with bb guns. That was a nice little get away.
I'm noticing that my body is just falling apart. I'm still looking pretty good for my 39th year but I have so many aches and pains. It's just not fair to grow old. I now have some kind of water on the knee and SEVERE pain in my rotating sholder cup thingy.
I think someone needs to shoot me with a bbgun to stop my whining ways.

My new bass

Listening to Drunk Horse

I got a new bass recently. An Ibanez Iceman ICB200. It rocks. It's a re-issue. They do that with cool old guitars these days. Mass produce them in Korea and sell them over here for big bills. The most famous person to play an Iceman was Paul Stanley of Kiss. Although he played guitar. Mine looks the same but bigger! I have a pretty nice Ibanez SR810. If I compare the two basses it's like comparing a corvette to a jeep. The Iceman being the jeep. The two sounds are so different and they both play so differently but that's what I wanted.
Kimm was a little put off when I brought that thing home. She didn't understand why I needed TWO basses. When I brought it to it's first show in Dec. I broke a string on my "corvette bass" during the first song. So I swung up my new Iceman and charged thru the set. Now I think she understands.

Maya

Listening to the blues.

It's a nice name for our friends baby. She's just arrived and they named her ...finally. Welcome Maya! Her mom was in 3 different bands with me. She's played drums and done a lot of singing. We both have a lot in for the Butthole surfers, Pixies and Velvet Underground. Now she's twice a mom.
Some of us have grown up.

I'm lame at this

Listening to Camioux

I wish I was better at this blog thing. I could never keep a diary as a child and now as a grown child I can't keep a blog.
This is a picture of Santacon 2006. God was mean to Santa this year and allowed it to rain uncontrollably. I like how in this picture the rain looks like snow. It never snows here. BUT IT RAINS...and here it is now outside the door. I can see it falling. I guess I won't be able to sit in the hot tub.
Kimm and I are off today but we have a lot of work to do around here. So she's taken off to the thrift store. It's all good. She needs a little fun after working so hard all week.
We went to visit her brothers in Placerville last weekend. We took up late x-mas presents. It's always fun to see her nephews and nieces. They love to play with our dogs -so we don't have to find things to talk about. Kind of the way I like to play with kids... Bring the dogs in to keep them occupied. I know that sounds bad. They are great kids--really. And I really like her two brothers and their wives. I guess the older I get the more I realize that I have I*S*S*U*E*S.