redoak58

homo erectus alternative

2011-04-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

Homo Erectus does it upright.

Does that sound better? I'm not sure.

Bumper Sticker

2011-04-19T16:45:00.001-07:00

I had this bumper sticker idea many years ago.

Homo Erectus do it upright

I returned to this blog after a facebook induced hiatus of a year and a half because I googled it and I can't find where anybody has already posted it to the internet.

Idea claimed!! ©

bad girl no biscuit

2009-09-11T21:15:00.001-07:00

Yes, I am married to a rock star.

Here is Julie, along with her friend Lori, who, together, comprise bad girl no biscuit, performing at the First Avenue Wine House a week ago. As you can see there was a huge crowd. And they rocked!

one last ragbrai pic

2009-07-27T18:38:00.001-07:00

at least they spelled liberry right.

More RAGBRAI

2009-07-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

There are many pass through towns on the Ragbrai route, but there is always one designated as the 'meeting town', somewhere between the overnight stops. I couldn't tell you where this was exactly. Brighton? Moravia? Somewhere between Chariton and Burlington, anyway. But it gives you a feel for the atmosphere. Festive. Circus-like you could say. There are many people in skin tight brightly colored costumes. And tents.

Another typical shot. This one illustrating that for every downhill there is a corresponding uphill. Here you can see it in the distance, filled with lots of cyclists slowly and sweatily making their way up it.

Another meeting town. Or maybe the same one. I'm not sure. More circus. With portapotties galore and bikes strewn carelessly everywhere.

An ultralight aircraft in the distance. Making lazy circles in the sky.

I tried twice to get off the road ("biker off!") at an appropriate distance ahead of this unicylist to get a good photo of him. But all I managed was this blurry shot.

Part of team Coebrai, waiting for everyone to get there so we could make our triumphant descent into Burlington. The jersey with the Marvin Cone painting was a great conversation starter throughout the ride. One guy asked me "Is that an Edward Hopper painting?" as we were riding and we talked art history for a good fifteen minutes.

Waiting with the team to dip our bikes in the Mississippi. The second baptism of the ride for most, the only one for me.

A group photo of the team. I stole this from Lonnie's blog. I'm in there somewhere.

RAGBRAI

2009-07-26T17:00:00.001-07:00

I just finished my three days of Ragbrai yesterday. I'm exhausted, my skin is peeling, my knees hurt....

But I'm going to do the whole thing next year.

Here are a few images to add to the 50,000 or so of this year's ride that are already out there on the internet.

Dawn on my first day. I hadn't ridden yet, but sleeping in a failing, coffin-sized tent while it rained from 2 am to 5 am was an ordeal in itself. I was up at six and riding by seven.

Typical view from the rider's perspective (well, from the side of the road. let's be safe). Backs and asses as far as the eye can see. For hours and hours on end.

I was happy that the roadside vendors that reappeared like mushrooms along every day's route included a coffee specialist. I bought the same coffee from the same people each of my three days. The same musicians also played each day. They were playing Moondance when this photo was taken. Moondance with a clarinet. Doesn't that sound like a good fit?

mmmm.....coffee.

Pie lust pervades ragbrai. I had to stop for some on the first day when I saw these amish vendors. Rhubarb pie. The rhubarb was green. Yummy.

And the buggy they rode in on.

Mountain Vacation: Colorado

2009-07-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like we have no photos from Wyoming. I was using the video camera that day, and I'm too lazy to try to capture stills from the video. So let's move on to Colorado.

Driving across Colorado to Grand Junction was great. I had never really considered before just how mountainous it was all across the western half of the state. We arrived at Dave and Janeth's house and got a good night's sleep in preparation for a long day of exploring.

Our first stop was the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River. It's pretty damn impressive.

Then, a long drive on a gravel (dirt, really) road led us deep into the wilderness. We stopped beside a babbling brook for lunch, then headed up to Owl Creek Pass. We turned off onto an 'undeveloped road', and the Subaru was able to make it pretty far until big bumpy rocks made us pull off to the side and walk.

We walked about a mile. Uphill and high altitude made me a little short of breath, but I adapted pretty well over the next couple of days. The valley we were in is at about 10,000 ft.

Downhill was better. Alex and Carmen Sophia were running circles around us.

We were in the Uncompahgre National Forest, right on the edge of a wilderness area that about a 20 by 20 mile area with no roads.

Next stop, Ouray. A very nice little mining town high up at the end of a valley, surrounded by mountains. It caters to tourists, but only cool ones. They call it 'the Switzerland of Colorado'. Somebody tell me how a town can be the country of a state?

Found in Ouray. There must be some kind of Fail/Disaster Blog out there that this would be appropriate to post on.

And back to Grand Junction to sit out on Dave and Janeth's deck. And yes, this is the actual view from their deck. And yes, that rainbow is ALWAYS THERE!

Next day: Utah.

Mountain Vacation: The Black Hills

2009-07-07T16:29:00.001-07:00

aarggh. I'm frustrated with Blogger. Couldnt get it to link to larger pix, so I messed around with the html and the template settings. It's a mess, but at least you get to see larger images.

scroll down for the post.

Julie and I just got back (on Sunday at 4 am) from a trip to Grand Junction, Colorado. We went to visit with Dave and Janeth (Julie's brother and sister-in-law). On the way we stopped in Cheyenne to visit Geoffrey and the boys (my brother and nephews). But first we spent a couple of days in the Black Hills.

After checking in to our cabin (just north of Custer State Park) we headed out to the Badlands. The sun was going down and the views were spectacular.

Julie in front of our cabin. Really really relaxing to be staying in a tiny cabin in the woods.

On Sunday we drove around the park and went for a hike near Sylvan Lake. The endpoint of the hike was the summit of "Little Devil's Tower". The climb got steeper and steeper as we went. Here we are taking a breather and admiring the view.

Steeper and rockier. The map listed this as a 'moderate' rather than a 'strenuous' hike. But the last half mile was more strenuous than we expected. Good thing they painted these blue arrows on the rocks. There was not really any evident 'trail'. More like 'try scrambling up these rocks. It might be a little easier than some of your other options'.

Finally, the summit. Yes, my legs were feeling a little wobbly from my slight acrophobia. But it was a breathtaking 360º view of crazy black hills rocky crags.

We saw a lot in our one full day of exploring the black hills. We caved and went to Deadwood toward the end of the day. Even though we both expected to be disappointed, knowing that the historically fascinating mining town had been converted to one big casino. But it really was a great experience to be walking the actual streets of Deadwood. The sun was low in the sky and the light was beautiful. Just like it always was in the HBO series (which of course was filmed in California)

The spooky part was that whenever you looked through the window into one of those faithfully recreated saloons, you saw banks of slot machines. And seated in front of them, the same tired old sadsacks that you see in a regular casino. They seemed oblivious to the resonances of this town.

Finally, on the way out of town, we swung by Mount Rushmore. It was only a mile or so from our cabin so it was easy to take a peek. I had been to see it in '66, at the age of 7.

We went a little farther out of our way to see Crazy Horse. And actually paid the entry fee to see the little museum and get a few hundred feet closer to the monument. Actually, it felt good to pay to support this endeavor. They have a LONG way to go. I figure they'll finally get it done after they invent matter disintegration beams in 2047.

Coming up: Colorado and Utah.

chalk drawing

2009-06-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, I spent much of this last weekend working on a chalk drawing of Marvin Cone's painting, "Little Bohemia". It was part of a weekend commemorating the one year anniversary of the flood. It took place throughout the flood affected areas of the city. The bar depicted in Cone's 1941 painting was the longest continuously operating bar in Cedar Rapids. It is now in jeopardy of not being renovated after having been seriously damaged in the flood.

This was on Saturday, the second day of work on the drawing. I had a pretty good crew working with me, but not nearly as many people as I would have liked. There was live music at this event. It was an acoustic stage put together by Lori Blattner. One of the musicians (the best one if you ask me) was Julie Thompson.

I came back on Sunday with only half of the drawing finished. Jim Jacobmeyer and his son Connor helped me out and we finished the damn thing.

It lived through Monday. And then today, Tuesday, the rains came. I had to see it

disappear, so I went down as the rain started and took these pictures. Here we see the first drops falling.

A few more drops.

OK, now it's really wet.

This photo shows the wet surface, and also the rivulets of color moving through the piece.

I went back later in the day, after things had dried up. Nice to see that there is still a ghost. It will rain again though. And the experience will be all that remains.

goslings

2009-06-01T08:01:00.001-07:00

In the industrial backwater that is the downtown Cedar Rapids bike trail, there are geese. These geese have goslings. It is usual to have to navigate around these babies when biking, trying to avoid the hissing mama goose in the meantime.

Getting Organized

2009-05-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of cleaning up and organizing things around the house and in the yard. And now, a couple of weeks into the summer, I am just about ready to occupy my no-longer-messy studio and get to work painting.

One thing that I did was to buy this little shelving unit at a consignment store. It must be made of oak, or adamantium or something, because it weighs a ton. I got it home and said "what am I going to do with these tiny six inch shelves. Then it came to me. My paint tubes will no longer be strewn across the bottom shelf of my palette table.

So here you have it. Starting with white and black, and moving through a range of earth colors. first the umbers and sepias, then the iron oxides, reds then yellows. Ochre gives way to yellow and we start the spectral parade. Moving from deep, medium and light yellow to green gold (one of my favorites). Then the greens go from sap to phthalo. Leading to phthalo blue and its purpler cousins like ultramarine. Dioxazine purple is next, of course. Then a wealth of magentas, crimsons, burgundies, maroons, etc. The reds then, getting lighter (oranger), and ending in a couple of nice oranges.

Is it weird that I'm salivating?

Drag Show

2009-04-30T06:56:00.000-07:00

Hello disaffected former audience. If any of you happen to straggle back you'll see that I have posted again after...yes... five plus months. Yesterday was the last day of classes, so that might have something to do with this return from limbo. And also yesterday I served as a judge for the Coe Alliance Drag Show.

I was a last minute replacement for a sick colleague, AND I had never even been to the drag show before. So I was mightily clueless when I arrived. My fellow judges were a guy who works in food service and a student. Really nice guys, but I thought the chaplain was going to be one of the other judges, so I was a little disappointed. The whole thing was slow getting started and somewhat disorganized. I realized there was beer and immediately settled into the spirit of things.

There were student performers with professional drag queens mixed in to the program. The pros were entertaining. I have had very little first hand exposure to drag shows so it was fun getting a feel of the particular art of it. The student performances really amounted to a haphazard, lewd, genderbending amateur hour. The whole point was for the students to see their friends get up on stage and embarrass themselves. Needless to say, everyone had a great time.

The funnest parts for me were the efforts at sucking up to the judges. Giant stuffed asses were wiggled in our faces (I tried mock surprise). Nylons stuffed to resemble enormous junk were whipped out and layed on the table in front of us (I scribbled notes furiously).

Thanks for listening, ghostly remains of my audience. Summer is coming up, with lots of bike riding. I promise I'll write again some time before October.

We Just Got Back From New York...

2008-11-09T17:46:00.000-08:00

And boy are my legs tired.

No, seriously. We walked a lot.

It was a perfect vacation. Almost entirely wandering around and drifting to wherever we felt like drifting. We stayed at the Washington Square Hotel in Greenwich Village. Not just there but everywhere we went in the city there was palpable elation at Obama's victory. Makeshift celebratory signs. Happy attitudes. We passed one worker guy in the street who spontaneously burst into song "O-bam-aaaa.." (to the tune of Volare?)

So one club we went to is Smalls. We took absolutely not one photograph on this trip. And it felt good. We're just experiencing. We're not collecting or recording. I did draw at the clubs, but it was just a process, not an attempt to craft something. Or to work out a composition for a painting. So anyway, to show you what smalls looks like here are some photos I stole from flickr

This is a tiny Jazz club on 10th st. You go through this barely even marked door and descend the stairs.

This is a wide shot that gives you an idea of what its like sitting in the middle of the floor on some random rickety chair. I'd be surprised if the place seats 100. We were actually off to the left on a comfy couch. I was able to kneel on the couch and lean over a divider to draw. I was right next to the band.

the performance area

Again, remember, these are not my photographs. But they give you an idea of the place.

Friday night we saw an early show at nine. A group with trumpet and sax that was playing pretty straight ahead bop stuff. Then we went to Terra Blues, a little bit bigger club, to hear some solid blues. I walked Julie back to the hotel room and returned to smalls, where my $20 cover was still good. The door guy went by sheer memory. No stamp, no ticket. I was in time for the midnight show which was really good, progressive, but with a deep groove. Led by a guitar player. I got my couch spot and drew them the whole show. I did catch a little bit of the 1:30 show before i left, getting back to the hotel by two.

portrait

2008-10-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

This is a portrait that I just completed. (you really must click on it for a larger view). It's of our neighbor (or should I say neighbour), Richard Acton. Or should I say Richard Gerald Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 4th Baron Acton.

He is a member of the House of Lords. Of, you know, Great Britain. Their house is filled with portraits of ancestors and other artifacts and documents. So the idea of a portrait within a portrait came up. The man on the wall is Sir John Francis Edward Acton, 6th Baronet Acton

Sir John was the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Naples. (actually the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies). The portrait was painted in 1802 when he was 66. My favorite anecdote of this whole experience is this one: When we were first shooting he was standing in front of the painting and had his hand under his jacket. His wife said "that's a rather Napoleonic pose." He, thinking she was speaking of the portrait behind him, said "Oh, Napoleon hated him!"

Richard's great-grandfather was John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton. He was a Victorian historian who is best known for saying "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely".

It's a very odd composition, but I'm quite pleased with it. Even though it's almost like a double portrait, I hope that Sir John sinks into the background a little. A static formalized object. While Richard has a kind of vivacity and corporeality about him.

Jam Session

2008-09-14T20:20:00.000-07:00

My cousin Brian and my Aunt Marcia have been here this weekend and tonight they came up to our house. We had a great time with lots of good conversation, but the best part was when Brian asked to see Julie's guitars and they ended up jamming. Excellent blues were enjoyed by all.

Colin and Cassie's apartment

2008-09-04T21:33:00.000-07:00

warning: motion blur ahead

Greeting pig

The lamp works

Two Billys

The length of the apartment

Ingenious design

A brief history of the iPod

praying mantis

2008-09-02T20:28:00.000-07:00

We were in downtown Iowa City today and saw this GIANT praying mantis. OK, it was regular size, but it looks big in this photo.

Pinball Paintings

2008-07-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

I have never posted any paintings on this blog, so here are a few that I did most recently (slowly over the last year or so). The pinball machine (in case you are wondering) is Attack from Mars. Not to be confused with the movie "Mars Attacks". Though, through uncanny coincidence, they were released at approximately the same time.

Click on them for large versions.

ragbrai

2008-07-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

Hey, I rode Ragbrai today!
I thought I would try to ride one day as a 'rogue' (by not officially registering and just gettin on the damn road and riding). I chickened out a little because I was feeling ill and had a bit of a sore throat, so I joined the ride in Mount Vernon. That was at the 20 mile point of a 65 mile ride. I got started around 10:30. Came into Tipton around 3:30

My first feeling as I joined the stream of bikers was "Damn, I'm in the middle of a huge thick dense river of bikers....awesome". And that was the situation for the next four plus hours, people in front, to the left, to the right, behind. You get a feel for the traffic, though. Pulling ahead and passing when appropriate. Staying with a cohort for a while. There are always groups of speedy road bikers zipping past in the left hand lane.

This was the first photo I took. Inadvertently. As I was trying to use my iphone while riding. It was a precarious situation. I DO NOT want to drop my iphone!

An attempt to capture the feel of endless endless bikers. Not having a zoom makes it difficult to capture. But you got the pastoral landscape there. Also the overcast skies. It was also mild in terms of temperature, so a very good day to ride.

Resting in Martelle. The roach bus had happy beer drinkers under a tent out front. No beer in Martelle for non-roaches.

But in MechANichsville....there was beer.

And in Tipton there was beer. But I only had one before Julie came to pick me up. Just as well. I was pretty well exhausted. Maybe next year I'll do the full-on sleep-in-a-tent drink til you're dizzy Ragbrai.

Right now I'll do the thank god I'm home sleep in my own bed I'll be sore in the morning Ragbrai.

Jasper Ginniff Thompson

2008-07-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

We went up to visit Sue and Jasper this weekend. Here is a photo of him that Ben took:

I uploaded the rest of the photos to my flickr account:

www.flickr.com/photos/redoak58

Some I took, some Ben took.

Flood Aftermath: Cleanup

2008-07-10T06:23:00.001-07:00

For the last couple of weeks I have been helping Carol with the cleanup and semi-demolition of her rental house on fourth street.

The flood waters moved with such force that they broke windows.

Here is the homeowner.

Tearing out walls revealed a hidden staircase that had been blocked off since the seventies.

Secret no more.

I had to get a shot of the mucky basement. I used the Blair Witch setting for this one.

Here's part of the work crew: Mike and Sundee. Sundee is pulling out floorboards. We had to remove all flooring down to the subfloor.

Across the street: a tattered and flood-stained flag. Happy Fourth of July.

Ben took some photos of the same stuff. Keep an eye out on www.shambot.com. (his photos are better than mine!)

Flood Aftermath: Damage

2008-06-21T19:47:00.000-07:00

I volunteered yesterday. My job was to deliver a two page newsletter from the city to each home and business on my assigned streets. This was in an area that was underwater a week ago. They are without power and have no other easy access to information while they are working to clear out the mess that remains in their homes.

I went back to that neighborhood today to take some photos.

What floods do mostly is get things wet. They also leave behind a lot of mud. Actually mud is a polite and overly simple term for the gunk that covers everything.

Floods also move around things that float. A lot of houses were missing their front steps. That made it difficult to deliver my newsletters. Sometimes it was hard to find a clean spot to leave them. I left one on a porch under a carburetor.

There was also some evidence of the strength of a moving river. This fence is one. There were some traffic lights down on First Avenue.

Flood Aftermath: Gutted Homes

2008-06-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

The ruined contents of thousands of homes sit on the curbs in downtown Cedar Rapids.

Thousands of people are laboring in the foul odor to try to salvage what they can and clean up the debris.

Yuck.

Flood Aftermath: Coping

2008-06-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

I have seen police vehicles from neighboring states since last thursday. I saw a Nebraska state trooper, a Minneapolis police car, a Hennepin County Sheriff's car, and today this St. Paul police car. They're helping out in many ways I'm sure. In this case, directing traffic.

I saw this yesterday and had to make sure to get a photo of it today. You can actually see the high water mark in many cases because of the slime left behind. But it's good to have a commemorative spraypaint marker anyway. Probably there will be more permanent markers put up in various places when all the dust settles.

Jesus Christ. What a mess.

Flood Aftermath: bars

2008-06-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

One of the very noticeable effects of the flood is that many of the bars that we have counted on for going to listen to live music have been wiped out.

City Beat was a nice comfy bar where DJ and Daddy-O played regularly.

This was outside of a bar on E Ave. that I don't remember the name of.

And Rumors. Former home of the Tuesday night jam. [actually, they discontinued the jam about two months ago]. I hear that Rumors will actually be up and running again soon. For all I know, that's true of many of these businesses. I was at a meeting of the New Bohemia Music Festival last night, and it sounds as if the Chrome Horse (which had water up to its CEILING) will be fully operational in a couple of months.

Apres le deluge: Down Down Town

2008-06-13T19:56:00.000-07:00

Fourth avenue, fifth street. Right next to Greene Square park. Where 'Uptown Friday Nights' was scheduled for tonight.

A huge team of sandbaggers. I think they were church people.

Looking down fifth avenue (?).

Looking down third avenue. The art museum on your right. Boat is the only way to go in downtown CR these days. And videography the only pursuit.

Speaking of which...We end this segment on First Avenue, with some guy babysitting a live disaster feed. Note the rapids. Which, as our news anchor pointed out, are rapids on the cedar river, which has spread out to such an extent as to be visible from the windows of the KCRG news offices.

Apres le deluge: Post Office and vicinity

2008-06-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

At the post office. Those are all the postal employees standing in front of the building. Fixin' to go home (We haven't been getting our mail for a couple of days. They're trying.)

The post office parking lot, where they keep their vehicles (obviously they have been moved to higher ground). Mercy is written in the sky.

Same parking lot. In this photo you can see that this is all MOVING WATER. This is all part of the river now. Not in a few days though. Then it will be dry.

It was a lot of fun moving through this area. I was getting my shoes wet to get to dry areas deeper in.

Yes, that is an overturned semi-trailer floating in the street that is now a river in the middle of downtown cedar rapids.

Stamats. A publishing company. I know people who work there. It's pretty damn thoroughly underwater.

Apres le deluge: Mercy, Mercy, Mercy

2008-06-13T18:38:00.001-07:00

This is Mercy Hospital, at eighth avenue and 10th street. Some gawkers here, and the national guard to keep people from wandering like zombies into the water and being swept away into the river. They evacuated Mercy last night. Julie is going in to help out tomorrow at St. Luke's , which is now 100 patients over their normal load.

Oh, the tragedy!
I swear, this one cracks me up. I didn't even realize what I had until I got home. Honestly, I think the guy was just tired or something. Even so.... somebody call the Pulitzer committee.

Water at the door of the Mercy Hospital Emergency Room (where Julie used to work). Let me just make this clear: Mercy faces TENTH street. FIRST street runs along the river. The flood has spread TEN BLOCKS on either side of the river.

An artsy shot looking down 8th toward the river. Ten blocks of water. I was touring the perimeter of the brand new "Cedar Lake"

Apres le deluge: 12th street

2008-06-13T18:06:00.001-07:00

This is the first in a series of posts that I making after walking through downtown CR at peak flood stage. It will end up being read last, but that's OK.

This first one is looking south on Twelfth Ave. at Seventh St. You can see the roof of 3rd Street Live a few blocks down, and the bridge at the end of the street. Note the two submerged houses. That will give you an idea of the depth of the water here.

This is one of a couple of old boarded up...gas stations I guess. I thought the reflected columns made for a nice photograph.

A longer view.

My favorite shot. The other old gas station, on the east side of 12th street. And a city garbage can submerged in the water.

FLOOD

2008-06-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

It's hard to figure out how to describe this situation. The city that I live in is largely underwater. Well, that's not really true. But the entire downtown area is. And the floodwaters have not stopped rising yet. The picture above was taken at eleven o'clock at the corner of Tenth street and Eighth avenue. Mercy Hospital is just to the right. They are currently evacuating the entire hospital. You can sort of see a huge number of people with sandbags. There were a bunch of people walking knee deep in water in the parking lot. When I looked down eighth avenue I could see the traffic lights reflected in the water a couple of blocks away.

I've been watching the news all day. I tried to volunteer. But after driving all the way across town to the shelter in bumper to bumper traffic I was told they don't need any more help. Maybe tomorrow.

We went up to the Firehouse tonight to hear Mike and Rob play. But mostly to sit in a bar with other members of our community. Just so we all know we're still here.

Iowa City is getting it pretty hard, and all the water that came to us is still flowing downstream to them. Fritz was under mandatory evacuation and didn't have time to get his stuff out before a sandbag levee burst and made it impossible to get to his house by car. And the Iowa river won't crest until monday.

We have power (unlike much of CR) and our own well (so we aren't under the water restrictions that the rest of the city is), so we're doing fine up on our hill. But it's just numbing to look at the rest of the city and see how substantial the damage is, and is going to be.

OK, this is a win for downer post of the year. Think dry thoughts.

Malcolm knows how to loll

2008-06-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

I think he needs a new box.

Poker Tournament

2008-05-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

I just finished a poker tournament. It was a $30 buy in at the Shriner's Thingamajig. There were about 80 people playing and I finished ninth! I was the last person out before the final table. The top six were in the money. Not a lot of money at stake (top winner got $600 or something) but it was a lot of fun. Did I say fun? It was scary and intimidating. I was afraid I was going to make a stupid move the whole night. But it all went just fine. An early win came when I had pocket nines and made trips on the flop. Another guy went all in so I scored pretty big. I had similar good luck early on and was well positioned to stay in the tournament. By the time we got down to two tables there were a couple dozen onlookers so I really just wanted to go out with dignity. I had taken one pretty big hit and was somewhat short stacked. I went all in preflop with K9 off. I was called. She had AJ suited and made the ace. A respectable finishing melee.

And that. Is my poker story.

Shawn Kellerman

2008-05-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

This guy is fun to watch as well as listen to. We caught the last hour of his performance at Mahoney's Sunday. Actually it turned into an hour and 45 minutes of encores.

random thoughts about television advertising

2008-05-07T16:50:00.000-07:00

There are a couple of things that have become stuck in my head from commercials that I have heard over and over. One of them is the Cuervo Black and Cola ad in which the narrator chides the bartender: "No buddy... with cola". I've tried to say that out loud without sounding like a dick and I find it impossible. And it makes me laugh every time I try.

The other one is the endless Lipozene commercial. This line comes up in the middle of it: "Body fat builds over our mid-section, on top of the muscle, underneath the skin and over the years, it gets worse." Every time I hear this I hear the word "ears" instead of "years". Try it!

Morels!

2008-05-06T10:33:00.001-07:00

I've become a little obsessed with mushroom hunting this year. There's a section in 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' about hunting morels. After reading it I decided I would make a concerted effort this time. I went down to the farm this morning and searched for about an hour before this little thing jumped out at me:

The next one was not too far away:

Finding a couple really makes you eager to find more. About ten minutes later I found these:

YAY! Yellow ones!!

Ron DeWitte Soloing

2008-05-02T11:44:00.001-07:00

Here's some of Ron DeWitte soloing on the same number.

T-Bone Solo

2008-05-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

I heard Ron DeWitte play at O'Malley's last night. Here's a bit of Tommy Giblin soloing on "Evil Ways".

Mike solos

2008-04-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a little video I took last night of Mike Williams soloing on Little Sister. Electric Mule played to an enthusiastic house of bicyclists. Those people love their music. And their beer.

April Fools Bike Ride

2008-04-06T10:58:00.000-07:00

I rode my bike 24 miles yesterday! It was my first organized bike ride. Bryce Janey and DJ Johnson were playing some great blues at the first stop, and Electric Mule was playing at the final destination.

I took the photo above solely because of the way the colors of the barn line up with the landscape behind. And it also capture the wide open empty spaces of Iowa that you get an entirely different feel for when you're out in the middle of it on a bike.

Mem Shannon

2008-03-26T05:37:00.000-07:00

New Orleans Blues and Funk musician Mem Shannon made a stop in Cedar Rapids at Checkers Tavern this last Sunday.

it happened so fast...

2008-03-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

Ah, the absurdity of Facebook...

2008-03-16T17:38:00.000-07:00

After thirty years, it's finally official.

Daddy-O Two

2008-03-15T22:47:00.000-07:00

Sweet. It looks like that worked.

That was Dennis McMurrin soloing on Drop it in the Slot tonight at Chappy's. All four soloed and it was a great rendition of a tune I've heard them do several times before.

This one is a slow blues number that I forget the name of. This one's for you, Julie.

Well, they both are really.

Daddy-O

2008-03-15T22:44:00.000-07:00

OK, I hope the works. This is Dennis McMurrin playing tonight at Chappy's. There's another one coming if this one flies.

And if you wish to wish for fish...

2008-03-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

...just wish for fish with your ish wish dish.

I received about twenty pounds of frozen fish today. Half is for John B. But the rest ought to keep me in fish for a while. It's mostly sushi grade tuna and salmon.

Angus likes his fish. I usually give him a tiny tiny bit when I'm having it.
He was impressed by this mother lode of seafood.

But in the end, what cats are really interested in are the boxes.

overheard...

2008-02-20T05:12:00.000-08:00

Hey folks. I just had an idea, inspired in part by the Overheard in New York website, and in part by the fact that I store these anecdotes in my head and I think they take up too much room so I'm going to start putting them down here.

First one: Overheard on the radio..

Economics Expert: "When I say that oil is going to reach $200 a barrel, I'm not saying that we're going to wake up tomorrow morning and oil is going to be $200 a barrel. But one of these days oil is going to hit $200 a barrel. And I think we're going to pay a pretty high price for that. "

Second: Overheard in the coffeeshop..

Employee on the phone taking a sandwich order:

"And did you want chips and a tickle with that?..er, pickle!

(pause)

....so, just the chips then."

Winter F**king Wonderland

2008-02-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

snow, snow, snow.
I took some photos from our front steps and stitched them together into a panorama. Go ahead, click on it.

second joke

2008-02-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

Jim Dine should have named his dog 'Fandy'.

(pause for quizzical look from the other person)

Then, if you saw them on the street, you could say "That's just Jim Dine and Fandy!"

note: Jim Dine is an artist usually associated with the Pop Art movement

Funk

2008-02-12T06:27:00.000-08:00

While I'm at it, here is another text post. Gregg (Buddah) suggested in a comment that I might make an eclectic music post. Well, one kind of music that I have been looking more deeply into lately is funk. The stimulus for this research was some of the live music that I hear here in Cedar Rapids. In particular, Dennis McMurrin. He plays a lot of funky tunes, especially when the musicians around him are configured as Daddy-O's Funk Posse.

The first of my finds was found on a student's iPod. The ensemble: Medeski, Scofield and Martin. The album: Out Louder. This is a collaboration between members of Medeski, Martin and Wood, and the jazz guitarist John Scofield. What really blew me away about the album was the way it carried a solid funk groove, but also started to disassemble the music into progressive jazz cacophony. Ideal music to paint to. John Scofield has an earlier album in which he collaborates with MM&W called A Go Go. Also good.

The student with the iPod recommended the Meters. This is classic funk from the seventies. Not overorchestrated quasi-disco as a lot of that stuff tends to be. Don't get me wrong, I like Earth Wind and Fire. I danced to the Ohio Players during the Disco Scare of the late seventies. But the really raw direct stuff is so much better.

Another artist I am looking at is Grant Green. This is another student recommendation. (I have some musically sophisticated students!) I got one of his albums from the early sixties. Straight ahead bebop on the guitar. But he is also a master of seventies funk. His Majesty King Funk, to be precise. I have not yet been able to select the funk album of his that I want to purchase, but I am looking forward to it.

joke

2008-02-12T06:25:00.000-08:00

Here is a good use for a blog: writing down (or "publishing") dumb jokes that pop into my head.

This is the one that prompted me to make this post:

What did Mr. T say when asked what he did with the olive?

answer: I pitted the fool!

Beaucoup de la Neige

2008-02-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

We had a huge amount of snow recently. 14 inches fell on Cedar Rapids in 24 hours.

Julie took these shots. I was busy blowing snow.

cute cats

2008-01-20T08:40:00.001-08:00

Malcolm and Aileen cuddling

correction?

2008-01-11T20:59:00.001-08:00

xmas pyre

2008-01-06T18:29:00.002-08:00

The ritual burning of the dried out christmas tree started out ok.

some flame and smoke were generated

cheap and crappy wrapping paper was employed as an adjunct.

but in the end, some serious fuel was required to make that mother go up in flames.

Caucus Night

2008-01-06T08:06:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog. As an inaugural post, I thought I would share some photos from caucus night. These are Ben's photos, but I stole them because I thought they were worth sharing with more people. Now I just need to notify people of the existence of this blog so they can be shared.

Colin is excited as we approach Bertram.

Record turnout had us lined up out into the snowy street.

270 people in a 100 person room.

A little more room in the kitchen.

Cassie with Caucus Cat.

Carol giving the speech that got her elected as a delegate to the county convention.