Re: Your Brains

Just A few notes on a great set of bands that I saw about a month ago: Paul and Storm who's set was :

Opening Band /Your Town /Count to Ten /Nugget Man /Easter Song /Mothers Day Song

“Commercial Break” / Nun Fight / Lullaby for your Vagina / Urinal Cakes
James Taylor on Fire / Randy Newman theme song for LOTR, Passion of the Christ (Go Hobbit Go & Go Jesus Go)
TMBG as the Ice Cream Man / The Captains’ Wife Lament (seamen everywhere!)


And then Jonathon Coulton was the main act. His songs as Paul and Storm's are found on their web sites (follow the links) as I cant explain them well - so listen to it yourself - they are hilarious! :

Future Soon / Ikea / Shop Vac / A Talk with George (Plimpton) / I’m your Moon (Pluto Song)
Baby Got Back (Cover) * / Soft Rocked By Me * / Code Monkey * / Chiron Beta Prime *
Creepy Doll * / I Feel Fantastic * / I Crush Everything * / Skullcrusher Mountain
Mandelbrot Set / Still Alive / You Ruined Everything /
Re: Your Brains

Encore: 1st of May (F*#$ Outside) * / Sweet Caroline (Cover) *

Check them out if possible

The Future Sure Looks Bright !

GO !

Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (TML for short) is an amazing set of ever rotating plays put together by a group from Chicago called the NeoFuturists. Based on my friend Stefanie's recommendation I went to see this after missing catching it during last summers Capital Fringe Festival ( I think i ended up seeing A Romeo & Juliette - suicide prevention play) . This is a neat perspective to convene VERY short plays into one hour - specifically 3- plays, one hour. For each performance the audience chooses the order and the Neo-Futurists create a non-illusory collage of the comic, tragic, political, personal and experimental all while embracing chance, change and possibly a little chaos.

Now as some have already made some notes on this (near bottom), I wont be overly repetitive. Other than a few of my favorites listed:

Moonlit Theatre Presents: Apollo 11 Lunar landing - Definitely "Moon" lit.... just imagine where the flag on the moon is planted...

The simple and eventually cancelled - United Airlines Flightplay 15

Night of the Wild Tortilla Throwers - where else can you throw tortillas anonymously BACK at the stage?

Ryan Walters: Bad Ass Bike Messenger - yeah I'm AM Inspired to be one... I think....

Baggage (the mini series) - Damn with the Writers Strike ! this is better than TV - when your baggage stars as the main character.

The enigmatic THE CHAIR play... What do you see it? What is it? NO it's not....

And because they don't deserve to go into obscurity - as what I see will probably be Nothing like what I would see in three months from now (due to them constantly removing old plays and adding new ones), honorable mentions are:

Veterans Day: July 4th Edition - a poignant yet (politically) neutral comment on a soldiers homecoming from Iraq.

Low Stakes/High Drama - all I could think of was of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly as I saw this one a mile away - still couldnt help myself from laughing uncontrollably.

Fame - How do you make a social commentary on Columbine or Virginia Tech... Well Done Neo-Futurists, Well Done

Night of the Flying Tortillas - They figured on an interactive play, they didnt think the Audience would interact back. Yes watch for a horror movie with a similar titlle ... maybe Attack of the Giant Tortillas!

And the Self explanatory: Pastie on My Dick (alas poor Ryan Walters who had to preform this, and kudos for the imaginative use of the OTHER Dick !)

CURTAIN

Epilogue: Apparently in the flyer that you get with the title of the plays (and numbers you must call out to have them performed) There are "neo-futurist facts for the day"

I always thought Virginia had the most personalized License plates - nope its Illinois
The National Mall is 1.4 times larger than Vatican City
There are an average of 165 cans of beer in a keg

and

Topless Saleswomen are legal in Liverpool England - but only in Tropical Fish Stores

Mountains, Meadows & Morlocks

Spent a cool fall weekend at the Myron Glaser Cabin near Paris,VA for Kevin L.'s birthday. (above left is the composition of "Javin" ; Right is our Hike group @ Sky Meadows)

A first on this particular trip due to the hike in while raining and packing everything on me for the 2 miles from the car to the cabin. I don't think I had hiked anything like that since I was a Boy Scout. Even then, I don't think I carried as much as I did this time, or in such an awkward fashion compared to the rest of the group who had proper packs.


Eventually the rain stopped and we finally emerged into true sunny fall weather for a great hike to Sky Meadows along the old Appalachian Trail. It's kinda of strange in that I would have never guessed 4 years ago that I wold have enjoyed the mountains so much. But in a way I see it as a replacement for the beach, since the beach is always better! This trip was particularly cool in the sense that wildlife was actually spotted by my own eyes: 2 Deer, 1 Bald eagle, at least 2 hawks/falcons of some type - one extremely low-flying over us as we ate lunch at Sky Meadows, and various turkey Vultures headed to South Florida most probably (pic of them on the Miami Courthouse) . This was in addition to the various uncounted songbirds heard in the forest.

The view was kind of neat at sky meadows - but pretty spectacular was the pseudo impromptu game of Frisbee at the top of what is effectively a plateau with a view of the Paris, V.A. farmlands.


Overall a better way to spend a pre-Halloween weekend eschewing the costumes and parties for this year..... Either way it seems as if some phantom figures (or ghosts) showed up anyway, leaving strange images on my camera. Only discovered 2 days later when downloading them, I finally figured out why my batteries were so low!



The following week I re-did Old Rag Mountain. It was even more amazing than in the spring with all the foilage in perfection! Although I didnt also do the rock scramble on the way down due to starting off rough with what I believe was a pain in either the Tibal Posterior or Flexor Digitorum Longus Tendon(s). Either way is seriuosly hampered me to almost a crawl for about 30 minutes before the pain was bareable. Despite it I worked through it and was well enough later on, but still wasnt up to the scramble down. Next time I do Old Rag- although I will miss some amazing foilage on the fire road back- I will do the scramble down! I am glad I stuck it out because the colors were AMAZING!

From OLD RAG fall ...

Of Horses, Steeples and Ferry's

Another year now comes with the coming of the International Gold Cup Steeplechase at the Plains in Loudon County, VA. Along with the spring cousin, the Virginia Gold Cup, these are great day of fun at the horse races with the gang. Our amazing coordinator Jeff once again needs a big congratulatory applause for this the 4th year. Bookie duties were handed back to Alexandra (since last time she was missing). Big difference though was that this year was the first time I lost money on betting on the horses (albeit only $4). Of note though was one of my friends and his comments on women chewing gum. He calls it "bovine", unless of course its some trashy girl...

So lots of fun was had by all, otherwise I leave you all to some helpful advice from Jon on the horses, and the more eloquent AB.

Next day was another early one as Carmel, Rob, Minah & I headed off to Harpers Ferry for a day of hiking, leaf peeping, and some historical stuff. Got to hike the Maryland Heights trail taking the road less traveled up to the Old Stone Fort. With our warm weather the leaf changes have been disappointing until this trip - finally fall weather is upon us, and this was a great weekend to usher it in.



Notes about Harpers Ferry:

• Don't go expecting a real town - it feels allot like Colonial Williamsburg in many ways, lots of fun to still be had though
• Don't miss the Ice Cream shop in town
• Check out the Cemetery at the highest point in town.
• Explore lock 33 on the C&O Canal. There is nothing that stops you walking on the canal itself
• Jefferson Rock Is climbable - just don't let the park rangers catch you.
• It would suck to be a Civil war soldier - apparently all they did was build rock walls
• Apparently almost any panoramic picture of Harpers Ferry will include that church steeple, theres no way getting around it.
  

Topping off a graet weekend is having my team win two games straight in a row - both Sat & Sun nights. No not the poor Dolphins who can't win this year at all, but the Red Sox. I believe it happens to be what we were wearing - lucky Pirate gear and lucky Dog - Reagan!!!!












With fellow Red Sox fan Mary, and her dog Reagan doing Blue Steel thus intimidating the Indians into loosing

The Sands of Time...........

It all goes by to fast. I spent a week on Carolla, NC (in the Outer Banks) and enjoyed every single bit of it (almost). Great people - good times - sleeping & waking to the sounds of the ocean. It's really hard to describe the week in the short space here , but I have definite highlights:

• As mentioned - an requires rementioning as #1: going to sleep & waking to the sounds of the ocean
• Poker Night!
• Delicious home made Crab cakes
• HOT TUBS!!
• Being able to see Stars again! - lots of them!
• Tennis! - such fun; first time since I was like 11 or 12 yrs old
• Fishing! I finally caught FISH!! and 2 of them (Bluefins) on my first cast!
• Puzzles - Puzzles - Puzzles - and a Puzzle Off contest!
• Rooftop Sunset watchers
• Water Ballons!! FIRE AWAY!!!
• Pirates! (specifically International talk like a Pirate Day - and the associated Fireworks)
  
• Paella!! My grandma would be proud.

It's The Great Paella Charlie Brown!

Tonight I made my first real Paella. I had just bought my paella pan, had the correct rice (Bomba), good Saffron, and Spanish Paprika - along with all the seafood I wanted. Ahhhh seafood... that is a big one.

Mind you it took me 3 hours to find some fresh squid as the guys from Sharky's Charters, Bait & Tackle sent me & Rob down out to Roanoke island to the town of Wanache. There we made stops at Oneal's which brings in the seafood from the trawlers in the "Industrial Seafood Commercial Zone". Well then, after having driven 25 miles (and stopping a 5 other places before hand), the guy tells us they have don't have them - despite the Sharky's guys promising up & down they would. At least Oneal's sent us to Ellsworth's a few blocks away. They had Squid for sure! Well they did, and we found out from this big guy in his late 50's with a classic NC OBX accent and oozed lifelong fisherman. Well we could buy all the squid we wanted as long as it was in 28 pound frozen blocks!!! Sure enough he sent us to back to a local market obviously called Seamart !!!

Ok I got my squid - and the Paella was a first of many. Although I knew how to make Sofrito (the tomato base sauce for many Cuban foods) - I had never actually made it from scratch being lazy all these years. OH how amazing that smell alone was filling the huge kicthen I had the pleasure to cook it in. Even more so was that since it was such a large group I was working TWO Pealla pans. Overall I was pleased with the outcome except that I used a little too much of the Hot Spanish Paprika... use less next time!
(of note the cook always makes better food when supplied with a glass of wine!)

Folklife Can't Really Suck this Much Can It?

Ray and me went two weeks ago to the Folklife festival.... My Gawd!! Who thought of the lineup of Virginia for this thing?? If you want to see Virginia , go 10 minute South!! Or get this - The CALL CENTERS or Ireland!!!! Brilliant Geniuses! Even the Mekong River Area was annoying... Puppet theaters with no shows, and a Tea House with no Tea......

Thank goodness that friends make an outing fun, yes despite it all we had fun, mostly because we made it ourselves..... plus I actually managed to not crack my head open on a bike ride with Ray...... NEAT!!!

Here are more pics that Ray took

Tubing, Rockin, Its All so "Beaching"

WOW what a way to have to catch up on everything!

1) Tubing on the Shenandoah River with Hilary (Visiting from L.A.) , and the peeps on the 4th of July!! Gotta thank Jon for organizing this one! Of note was the awesome spot in front of the Netherlands Carrilion for the fireworks.... next year I am biking down... getting back was insane!

(pics from Darrens awesome waterproof digital Olympus camera , of which I want one, are -->here<-- Pic above is of George, me & Joel)

2) Carbon Leaf Concert - Of course Carbon Leaf Rocks - unexpected was how cool Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers were. Awesome on the stage - later as we listened to the album - is wasn't as high energy.... sad.

3) Day Trip to Chincoteague: Somehow this trip was soooo much fun! was it the company, was it because it was my first trip to the beach? was it Eric falling asleep?? Actually Its ALL of the above!! ... I miss the beach though & just lounging around, the warm feel of the sand and sun, and getting in the water when I please. I highly feel part of the euphoria was my first beach trip with my friends.
(thats Eric & Jon with me at the entrance of Chincoteague Island)

Things of note - even if they don't all make sense to everyone:

• Beware playing Journey or Air Supply on long car trips...
• Eric reads books while listening to Books on tape
• Seaweed necklaces RULE!
• I can still body surf just as good as those dumb body boards
• bring money when biking parks.... I couldn't go up the lighthouse because it cost $4 and I didnt have it on me.
• I had forgotten how funny Eddie Murphy's Delirious was.....
• My camera sucks.. I need a new one
• BEACH TRIPS RULE!!!!
  

Oh yeah I took home 2 lbs of shrimp for cheap!! Oh was that good! Thanks to those on these trips that made them all FUN!!!

more pics of Chincoteague here!

Necessity will Make us all Forsworn

Last night I got to see Micheal Kahn's production of Love's Labour Lost - a little know play of the the Bard's. Having been a fan of the Bard for a long time, I used to think Much Ado About Nothing was amongst his wittiest plays put forth, but now I think Love's has surpassed that in my own personal standings. Now mind you I still think Hamlet is his masterpiece, closely followed by Othello and then Richard III for his dramatic works. But for the more light hearted were I had Much Ado ranking first.. with Twelfe Night and Mid-Summers in close 2nd & third, Love's is definitely now in first for that category!

It was a perfect evening for the annual Free for all production run that is put on by The Shakespeare Theater Company here in D.C. (Last year they did Pericles). Even better was the fact that before hand I joined a great group of friends for a picnic. Best way to spend a Friday evening - I could do this all my life - sunny afternoon - full moon at night for the play. By the time I went to sleep I could hear the sound of beautiful thunder lolling me to sleep... so nice.

But the play has some very neat themes - both visually and in its words. Kahn (you've gotta love a guy who has that last name!!! KHAAAAAAANN!!!!!!) sets the play in the 60's in an Indian kingdom of some type. So the set is vibrant as the colors just pop out at you, and even though they use the Bard's words - I love it that they need not be the same old Englishmen, Italians, etc that we normally see adapted. One reason I love Shakespeare is because of his universitality.

There are a few themes that were summed up nicely in the play, one being the title of the post. The other is somewhat related quote is : "Let us once lose our oaths to find ourselves,
Or else we lose ourselves to keep our oaths." It is an interesting concept and a question that can cut deep down, but that would take a dissertation of my thoughts here (versus a simple few paragraphs) and is in relation to a book I re-read occasionally called The Four Agreements. Of course there are themes aplenty about love, and how we hide and pursue it. How shallow and deep it can be etc...

I found this video clip which includes scenes from the original run of the production and also which talks about other themes in the play I find interesting - even if it is partially in a Hindi dialect - it was still good.

Even if its not Kahn's production of this play, I suggest seeing it of at all possible! This one though was especially fun, if anything - to see some of the Bard's sonnets - put to Rock n Roll and girls in Go-Go Boots!!!

A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend

So how do you celebrate the beginning of summer? Barbeque's perhaps? A trip to somewhere different maybe? Visit with old friends make new ones? Party like an animal? Go off and do some shooting? Learn a new talent?

How about all of them! Well all except for the learn a new talent bit. Though the picture looks like I knew what I was doing - I really have no skill with the guitar. We cant win them all can we?

Friday was Laser Tag day - though the crowd was smaller - I had been over 2 months since the last time. Yeah sure we ran allot (from 8pm to 1 am!!), we also tried this new weird stuff called TILT which is some weird mix of Red Bull and a malt beverage (like a Smirnoff Ice). Lets just say that it is quite interesting playing Laser Tag, lets say.. slightly buzzed! Big Props to Ray for coming out.

Saturday was a rather lame - I went to see the "Taste of Rockville" If it wasnt that I saw a Dodge Charger decked out as a kick ass cop car, it was kind of lame - luckily the company was better. Later that evening went to a PJ party.... sadly this was no where near as good as the old D Street house PJ party from 3 years ago. At least I got to catch up with old friends and got to know some new ones better.

Summer really got into the swing of things with Joel & Melissa's traditional Memorial Day Birthday BBQ. What makes it truly kick off the summer? I say it is VOLLEYBALL!!! yeah I got the first game in - can never get enough of it, which is kind of sad that I don't like playing on indoor courts. But something new and different was a ROCK CLIMBING wall. OMG this was off the HOOK! And yes I went up twice! I would have gone up more but the park rangers pulled the wall down (we later found out they were wrong & Joel HAD gotten the permits). I will say that rock wall was tough, my fingers still kind of hurt.

The BBQ wrapped up as a storm loomed, later I learned it was a massive Super Cell system - the kind that creates tornadoes in an instant... No weather service warned anyone, luckily (yet again this weekend) nothing happened. That was effectively what I termed lazy memorial day weekend vs grueling fun memorial day! More to come on that.....

Who needs a Wine festival??

Who needs a wine festival anyways?? Just go out and spend a day at a winery! Even better when you turn it into a picnic! 10 seemed to be the number for this weekend - thats how many went on my hike to OLD RAG Mountain, and that is how many were on Sunday's trip out to Chrysalis Vineyards in Middleburg, VA.

With a much later start than the day before (thank goodness!) and making my first ever stop at Wegman's ever, this vineyard has a great summer wine that I have always loved (though I was commented by a certain person - that their disdain for MD & VA wines has increased after tasting it, hey everyone has different tastes!).

Well let me start with Wegmans because I will just have to take another trip there. It was overwhelming and fantastically stocked with anything you would want - good stuff too! Like WOW! due to the short time we were there (and the chaos of the girls in trying to decide what went where) my memory gets fuzzy... so lets move on.

Chrysalis is a perfect picnic spot - they provide you with a massive gas grill (you must share space with others). As long as you get there early enough it is well worth it. In my opinion their premier wine is the Sarah's Patio Red & White - they are great summer wines, served cold (both of them) and perfect for sangria. Yes - despite my good friends findings - I will pimp this wine.

Overall it was a very chill day - food, friends, sunshine, and Yusef brought along a cool Cohiba Cigar for me. Oh man I was in heaven with that thing.... well it didn't hurt that Emilie fed me raspberries - roman style either!! The management was worried about our behavior - ok Yusef's behavior really, for a while and got close to kicking us out of this family environment.... as usual - he is a bad influence.

But a Sunday drive in the country was awesome (two days in a row!) and was capped off by Jon & Darrens night time showing of TOP SECRET on their lawn. I always forget how insanely funny that movie is. It appeals to my warped sense of humor and totally tangential way of thinking.....

Maybe we should call them The The's

The last two nights were a great night for music. On Wednesday, I went to the Rock and Roll Hotel for the first time since I've been in D.C. Well I guess that can't be too hard since the place is barely a year old, if that. Three of us went to see The Cedars (a local DC band), The Changes (From Chi-town) and The Cinematics (pictured, from Scotland). This outing was initiated by Ray after being emailed in the afternoon saying these guys (all three) are God's next gift to music, well now I am using his style of exaggeration, but thats a different story. I was glad that Dana was also able to come along - so that made it three peeps to see THE Three bands.

Needless to say, I passed by my good buddy's Wayne's row house before hand for "pre-club liquid consumption" and helped grill up some fantastic chicken that Jerry had brought and eat it of course! Along with salmon soft tacos, fresh pineapple, and delicious chips and guacamole -oohhh yeah I was happy.

Let me get back to the RnR Hotel! This place was VERY COOL. I wish I had taken more pictures but the upstairs has all these various "rooms" with couches, that look psuedo vintage, and all decorated with music posters (I would gamble they are high quality prints of them vs the real thing) schedules of different tours, even an ad for the 9:30 club when it was at its original location.

I think one of us mentioned, that these rooms almost looked like make out rooms, especially since the prominent color on the walls was a very RICH RED! Sadly the only pic I took was of the downstairs mens bathroom... Yeah!! This is by far one of the best club bathrooms thus far, and yes its weird that I noticed it, and even weirder that I took a PICTURE of it!!- this rocked!!! I mean look at it! It has:

1. A place to put your beer
2. A Naked trucker women on the walls
3. The thing is CLEAN !!
4. One flush takes care of it all!

So from my untrained musical ear- here is my assessment of the three "The's" as i dubbed them since they all started with well .... "The". First up The Cedars - Good jam group, but they seriously need a lyricist... really dudes, when you only sing for a minute then play for 2 and call that a song... well you all need work. Second - The Changes - A little more cohesiveness would be good, but overall these guys did a good job. The lead vocals were clear and they really changed it up with their instrumentation without compromising their overall sound. Most interesting was the drummer switching to the Xylophone, and the lead singer, Darren (pictured with Dana and me), using maracas on the drums. I am curious to see how hey sound in the studio (i.e. on the CD) - I have a feeling they are a more interesting live band than a studio band.

Finally The Cinematics - These guys just pure jammed! Though typical of brit rock (IMO) where the vocals felt a little drowned out, the bassist more than made up for it & totally rocked the place. Overall they proved why they were the headliners.

Thursday I went to IOTA to see Paul Michel, and Two if by Sea. I like Iota, something about its simplicity. Unfortunately I missed half of Paul Michel's set, what can I say I was distracted by a pretty woman. When we got there we caught the last 2 1/2 songs of the set. From what I heard he was pretty cool - I will have to catch him again. Next up was Alphabetical Order, whom I quickly dubbed Alphabetical DISorder due to their chaotic sound changing the whole rhythm, tempo, sound in one song two or three times. It just sounded as if they didnt know their identity. On the bright side they had 3 decent singers, one of them being the very Tina Fey looking bassist. Finally the much touted Two if by Sea from Bal'mer (Baltimore for you out of towners).

I had heard of these guys from the Six Points Music Fest where I first heard the Roosevelts (this was the weekend before the Morris Cabin trip). I should have stuck around and heard these guys back then. They rocked!! First they were picky about the sound, and stopped the first song, because it didn't sound right - it got fixed, and they were very cool chatting personably with the audience while it got fixed. But once that was done they launched into an even better song that had the audience moving - a rarity for this city where people just.. stand around and listen... IT'S MUSIC PEOPLE !!! MOVE A LITTLE!!!! - yeah - that's my one rant for this post.

Well worth sticking around for!!!

Pho Ball Fun!

Oh that heavenly dish called Pho! This Sunday I participated in my friend Linny's 1st annual Pho-ball fest. We ate appetizers, pho, and waaaaaaaaay too many sugary snacks. Though that I discovered that there existed GIANT POCKY was well worth all the sugar and sodium ingested.

This definitely helped flush out everything from my system from the previous day apparently you can get the Champagne of Beers for just 1.50 at the Hard Times Cafe in Clarendon. Alison was nice enough to buy me 3 of these watery pieces of junk - Hey Big Spender! Of course 3 beers doesn't do a person in... I'll attribute that later on when I went to my neighbors party....

Needless to say I missed the next days Billy Goat hike in Great Falls.

After enjoying Pho - Linny decided it was Pho-ball time, and was joined by here brother, Andrew, Kevin, Randy, Darren& Jon, even Joel. We managed to have a VERY subdued cheering section, so subdued that we forgot they were there. On the field, despite a gimpy knee I managed to not contribute much other than a bunch of chaos to the game, but thats fine - its just going to add to my Crazy Cuban Uncle persona that I apparently need to fill in my family. One of the first catches I got on a kick off, I got a nice scrape to commemorate my first pho-ball event ever... 2 days later... yeah it still hurts.

Though mostly I just ran allot, I generally didn't throw all that well (very rusty) , didnt get passed to all that often - though in the end, when we all put the whole game into the team that would score the next TD, I managed to get that win! (where are the cameras when you need them?) I won the impromptu Pho Ball Trophy for my troubles, and kept my knee in one piece!

I'll definitely say that I was tired that night and took a VERY restful nap.

Since I really don't have pictures to share about Pho-ball, instead I put pics up of the next night's dinner with Dave, Allison & Denise while house sitting for my sister, needless to say - a very nice evening (especially since everything goes better with wine!)