Our third guide dog puppy, Wichita, graduates from Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind this weekend. She joins our puppies AJ and Fairfax as a working guide dog, and we could not be more proud.
We got Wichita in the fall of 2009, and she turned out to be the easiest of our three guide dog puppies. She was great with the baby, great on the leash, good with other dogs, and generally a delight. She let Mark play tug with her, and they would sit and chew on their toys together.
"She's a lap dog," said her new owner, Bill, when I talked to him on the phone last weekend. He and his wife have renamed her "Chita," because they didn't think anything that sounded like "Witch" was appropriate for her.
We weren't sure Wichita would have the opportunity to become a service dog. She had some recurring ear infections, and while she performed well on her training test at Guiding Eyes for the Blind, she was released from their program because of her health. However, Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind wanted to train her, so she went up there and has been successful.
Our second dog, AJ, graduated from Guiding Eyes for the Blind's training program right after we moved from Delaware to California in January of this year. His owner, Dustin, who lives in Burlington, VT, has become a good friend of ours, an unexpected and wonderful gift.
We got AJ after our friend Linda taught him all his manners and got him off to an amazing start. Linda decided to get another baby puppy when she heard we were looking for an older dog to raise until it needed to go back to Guiding Eyes for training, and we got AJ.
AJ took good care of Mark when he was born, lying on Mark's floor when we put him to bed, and standing by Mark's crib when Mark woke up from a nap crying. He used to come check on me if I went to bed earlier than Matt. I'd hear his paws pad into my room, and I'd say, "Good night, AJ." He'd pad back into the living room. He is an extraordinary dog. He was named after someone very special, and I believe he holds that family's love in his heart. I have never met a dog quite as tuned in as he is. When he wasn't at home, it felt like a human member of the family was missing. He has an amazing presence.
Fairfax, our first dog, came to us at eight weeks and left us at 18 months. A picture-perfect puppy, we adored him. He was incredibly intelligent, with a great sense of humor. He was always up to something. He'd wait until I was engrossed in work and sneak off to do naughty things in the house, like nap on the guest bed or chew up the toilet paper roll. He'd identify a bagel on a walk around the University of Delaware campus and plot how he was going to snatch it up on his next walk. Then he'd walk really well on the leash right near the bagel and dart away to grab it when his handler least expected it. His owner, Nick, who lives in New York, says Fairfax keeps him on his toes in and out of harness.
We feel like our service for Guiding Eyes for the Blind was the most wonderful volunteer experience we could ever have, and we have gotten back as much as we have put in--the immense satisfaction of having all three of our dogs graduate, the phenomenal honor of touching someone else's life in a tangible way, new relationships with the owners of all three of our dogs, and the opportunity to continue to be involved in our dogs' lives.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Perspective
Now that Fairfax is a guide dog, when people say, "Oh, I could never give my dog up," I say, "There is nothing like the feeling that comes from a dog you raised and loved becoming someone's guide dog. Nothing."
And I'm sorry, but no matter how hard it is to give a dog up, blind people deal with things we take for granted every second of every day. My blind friend just got married, and she and her new (sighted) husband bought a Santana tandem bike so she could go bike riding for the first time in her life (she is in her 50's). Someone stole the (locked) bike yesterday. She said she cried all morning. I cried, too.
And I'm sorry, but no matter how hard it is to give a dog up, blind people deal with things we take for granted every second of every day. My blind friend just got married, and she and her new (sighted) husband bought a Santana tandem bike so she could go bike riding for the first time in her life (she is in her 50's). Someone stole the (locked) bike yesterday. She said she cried all morning. I cried, too.
Friday, June 12, 2009
School's Out for Summer
My friend the science teacher writes to say,
"The 8th graders have graduated, my grades are entered *whew,* and as I cleaned up my classroom, I found the following detritus remaining from a year of 7th Grade Science:
"The 8th graders have graduated, my grades are entered *whew,* and as I cleaned up my classroom, I found the following detritus remaining from a year of 7th Grade Science:
2.5 broken pretzels (brunch)
4 candy wrappers (brunch)
6 bingo tokens (vocabulary reinforcement)
3 UV polymer beads (optics of light)
2 pencil eraser barrels (nervous STAR testers)
1 plastic jiggly eye (paper pets-genetics)
1 Eppendorf tube (strawberry DNA extraction)
several sequins (rock star paper pets)
a few paper hole punches (industrial melanism lab)
1 dead cricket (escaped from becoming a lizard lunch)
1 Twilight movie sticker backing (binder decoration)
5 lentils (bird beak evolution lab)
multiple species of pasta (classification)
1 stale marshmallow (calorie content heat energy lab)
broken and burned walnut bits (same heat energy lab)
1 clump of dried up moss (terrarium debris) and...
...1 really gross corn nut from like, February?
'DUDE, I dare you to eat that!'
P.S. Classic quote from a 7th (last) period Sevie this year:
'Are we allowed to waste time?'"
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Medieval Knievel and a Pumpkin
My friend Joel Proto's band Medieval Knievel is doing really well--their hit "Smells Like California" was featured on the TV show Californication, and they are playing all over the place (let's hope they come to Philly soon!).
They recently jammed with Jeff Schroeder from the Smashing Pumpkins, and it's the featured video on the Pumpkins' website. Joel is the one in the blue shirt.
They recently jammed with Jeff Schroeder from the Smashing Pumpkins, and it's the featured video on the Pumpkins' website. Joel is the one in the blue shirt.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Spike Heels
The lazy days of winter term are over here at UD, and the town is now swelling once again with undergraduates, who have graciously returned to entertain those of us regular folks with their unbelievable fashion sense. The tights/Uggs ensemble is old news now; in with the new! On the way downtown last night, Superman and I got a good laugh from a girl running in leggings, very bright green shorts, a funky top, and a wild headband. It got better when I went to park the car on my way back from aerobics: A group of three girls, obviously headed out for the evening, walked by. In front of the pack was a young lady in a jacket, green skirt, leggings, and spike heels. Behind her were two girls who looked comfortable from head to ankle in jeans and regular top/jacket combos, but they were both wearing spike heels as well.
After cringing as I watched them struggle to cross the street gracefully, I had a sudden urge to open the window and yell, "Girls! No one is going to notice the shoes! Save your feet while you still can!"
I've tried this before, explaining to eighth grade girls whining about their heels that I have jogged across streets in San Francisco in four-inch-heeled platform boots and paid for it with plantar fascitis later (tough on a marathoning hobby). They just stared at me, not believing that there was any way I could ever have been remotely cool. It's true; giving advice wearing running shoes and jeans just doesn't inspire action.
Apparently, around the time I stopped being cool, I also became a hall monitor. Superman calls me the neighborhood busybody, and he's right. Once you teach, you become very comfortable with giving other people instructions for how to behave appropriately.
I'll try to contain myself. After all, I'm sure those undergrads could offer me a few fashion tips.
After cringing as I watched them struggle to cross the street gracefully, I had a sudden urge to open the window and yell, "Girls! No one is going to notice the shoes! Save your feet while you still can!"
I've tried this before, explaining to eighth grade girls whining about their heels that I have jogged across streets in San Francisco in four-inch-heeled platform boots and paid for it with plantar fascitis later (tough on a marathoning hobby). They just stared at me, not believing that there was any way I could ever have been remotely cool. It's true; giving advice wearing running shoes and jeans just doesn't inspire action.
Apparently, around the time I stopped being cool, I also became a hall monitor. Superman calls me the neighborhood busybody, and he's right. Once you teach, you become very comfortable with giving other people instructions for how to behave appropriately.
I'll try to contain myself. After all, I'm sure those undergrads could offer me a few fashion tips.
A Valentine's Post from the Super Science Teacher
My science teacher pal is at it again--check it out:
This week's Egan's script must have been written by the Coen Brothers and possibly Saint Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animal. I kid you not.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
We finished our first ever "Human Body Extravaganza" unit where we let the kids teach human body systems (jigsaw style--each table taught the other tables a system). My colleague and I thought the whole thing was "half baked" when we started...but eventually we found our way. The kids came on their daily cable news to say that the 7th Grade science teachers had hatched a "genius" plan to let them teach for a couple of weeks. Each group was responsible for a powerpoint, a creative activity, a lab activity, homework, daily brainsnacks and a quiz. The reflection essays poured in this week and they were happy to be the "guinea pigs" for future sevies! To watch them at the front of the class, running the show, trying to get the kids' attention with my bodhran (Celtic tambourine), Buzz Light Year wand, train whistles, dinner bell...etc. was priceless. Pay back time. For 3 weeks. Heh heh heh. One teaching group finally bribed their audience with candy (which I rarely do--I prefer to use extra credit) but were freaked when the entire 7th period class stormed and trampled them as they hoisted the 5 pound bag from its hiding place. The merits and misfortunes of sugar were discussed at length in the 7th period reflection essays. This latest crop of sevies sure talks a lot, but they do write well!
Meanwhile, this unseasonably warm weather (please call it global climate disruption, NOT global warming!) has spawned more than birds migrating tin he wrong direction--the kids' hormonal and circadian rhythms appear to be completely out of whack. [This next section has been censored to protect those adolescents who will look back on junior high in total and complete mortification.]
At the level of the district, 2.6 million dollars are being slashed and pink slips may fly. I was put in charge of finding a venue for our union's annual TGIF and I was told to do it ASAP because teachers need a beer BEFORE they get their pink slip. The state is in more a miasma than our school board and we are all in a state of confusion. 2 o'dark:30 meetings just kicked up the anxiety a tad, but they did clarify what we are being asked to give up. We'll be partying down at the sportsbar in the meanwhile...
The week culminated in a 3:30 Friday formal wedding between 2 leopard geckos of unknown gender, Ramses and Honey. This was the brainchild of the animal caretaker kids, not We the Teachers. I felt partially responsible for this--I had given Honey to Curt (my courageous colleague) as a replacement for his beloved Caledonia (a kid managed to crush her pelvis by accidentally dropping her "cave" on her--she died shortly thereafter). Yes, it's true; I "introduced" them! Formal invitations were sent out (within the science department). Curt's room was arranged like a church with an aisle--we even had assigned seating--and Curt himself was dressed hippie-style for the Tie Dye Dance he was supposed to chaperone that night. He added a cross on top of his peace pendant and became the High Priest. There were ring bearers, flower girls, another gecko named Jeckyl as best man, and one of my students held the bible for our priest to read from (which was damn difficult because he forgot his reading glasses): "Leopard Geckos for Dummies", Chapter 9, verse 1: "It may be difficult to tell a girl from a boy..." Curt had just the right timing on the whole Priest Parlance. Curt and I looked at each other and we were laughing so hard that we were crying. All the animal caretaker kids and a couple of my TAs were in attendance (they came for the free food and to get out of grading frog dissection packets) along with 3 of 4 science teachers and 2 older siblings (now in high school) who rolled their eyes the whole time. Also in attendance were all the other animals--in fact, the entire Ark was present. I held Romun the Praying Mantis who boxed at the nearby lizards. My TAs held Mushu and Gizzard, my phat lizards; Damon, my colleague, had Vesona the Anorexic Garter snake around his neck. The other snakes were held by other students, and one student sat in the back with the fish and spider tanks perched precariously on his lap. Somebody else had my toad Koko who kept trying to leap away--she/he didn't want anything to do with these geckos. She can object all she wants, she is the wrong species (Physignathus cocinus) and can't jockey for position with Ramses. Gizzard the Constipated Bearded Dragon threatened to relieve himself on a boy's lap, so he was given back to me. A girl whispered to me that Mushu was "objecting", so I assisted Mushu in raising her front leg in objection to the union. A girl from the chess team filmed the entire ceremony with the animals getting most of the coverage (Thank Ganesha). The Giving Away of the Groom provided some really great histrionics from the "OPM" (OverProtective Mother) of the groom (Ramses' caretaker). Then the geckos "kissed" from their royal pillows, Honey swatted at Ramses and we all rejoiced. Reception Time! The wedding planners blasted some seriously overplayed Coldplay and we all tucked in to the artfully arranged stale Girl Scout cookies and Super Sucrose cakes in the back (AFTER we put the Ark back to bed and washed our hands!). One of my boys ate so much he almost upchucked. The girls' shrieking sent the boys into the relative quiet of my room until their parents could pick them up. Curt said we might all end up on the kid-produced cable school news. Lava, my laid back and low key cornsnake (he's never bitten anyone!), certainly hopes not; he doesn't like to draw any attention to himself. I think they are now planning an engagement party for Bart and Freddy the hypermelanistic cornsnakes (we are SURE of their gender and have watched Freddy make overtures towards Bart). Bart was thought to be a boy for years but she had her first clutch of eggs last year and proved us wrong. Laidback Lava reportedly yawned and said, "Yeah, sure I'll go if there's mice on ice at the reception...".
Peace Out!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
We finished our first ever "Human Body Extravaganza" unit where we let the kids teach human body systems (jigsaw style--each table taught the other tables a system). My colleague and I thought the whole thing was "half baked" when we started...but eventually we found our way. The kids came on their daily cable news to say that the 7th Grade science teachers had hatched a "genius" plan to let them teach for a couple of weeks. Each group was responsible for a powerpoint, a creative activity, a lab activity, homework, daily brainsnacks and a quiz. The reflection essays poured in this week and they were happy to be the "guinea pigs" for future sevies! To watch them at the front of the class, running the show, trying to get the kids' attention with my bodhran (Celtic tambourine), Buzz Light Year wand, train whistles, dinner bell...etc. was priceless. Pay back time. For 3 weeks. Heh heh heh. One teaching group finally bribed their audience with candy (which I rarely do--I prefer to use extra credit) but were freaked when the entire 7th period class stormed and trampled them as they hoisted the 5 pound bag from its hiding place. The merits and misfortunes of sugar were discussed at length in the 7th period reflection essays. This latest crop of sevies sure talks a lot, but they do write well!
Meanwhile, this unseasonably warm weather (please call it global climate disruption, NOT global warming!) has spawned more than birds migrating tin he wrong direction--the kids' hormonal and circadian rhythms appear to be completely out of whack. [This next section has been censored to protect those adolescents who will look back on junior high in total and complete mortification.]
At the level of the district, 2.6 million dollars are being slashed and pink slips may fly. I was put in charge of finding a venue for our union's annual TGIF and I was told to do it ASAP because teachers need a beer BEFORE they get their pink slip. The state is in more a miasma than our school board and we are all in a state of confusion. 2 o'dark:30 meetings just kicked up the anxiety a tad, but they did clarify what we are being asked to give up. We'll be partying down at the sportsbar in the meanwhile...
The week culminated in a 3:30 Friday formal wedding between 2 leopard geckos of unknown gender, Ramses and Honey. This was the brainchild of the animal caretaker kids, not We the Teachers. I felt partially responsible for this--I had given Honey to Curt (my courageous colleague) as a replacement for his beloved Caledonia (a kid managed to crush her pelvis by accidentally dropping her "cave" on her--she died shortly thereafter). Yes, it's true; I "introduced" them! Formal invitations were sent out (within the science department). Curt's room was arranged like a church with an aisle--we even had assigned seating--and Curt himself was dressed hippie-style for the Tie Dye Dance he was supposed to chaperone that night. He added a cross on top of his peace pendant and became the High Priest. There were ring bearers, flower girls, another gecko named Jeckyl as best man, and one of my students held the bible for our priest to read from (which was damn difficult because he forgot his reading glasses): "Leopard Geckos for Dummies", Chapter 9, verse 1: "It may be difficult to tell a girl from a boy..." Curt had just the right timing on the whole Priest Parlance. Curt and I looked at each other and we were laughing so hard that we were crying. All the animal caretaker kids and a couple of my TAs were in attendance (they came for the free food and to get out of grading frog dissection packets) along with 3 of 4 science teachers and 2 older siblings (now in high school) who rolled their eyes the whole time. Also in attendance were all the other animals--in fact, the entire Ark was present. I held Romun the Praying Mantis who boxed at the nearby lizards. My TAs held Mushu and Gizzard, my phat lizards; Damon, my colleague, had Vesona the Anorexic Garter snake around his neck. The other snakes were held by other students, and one student sat in the back with the fish and spider tanks perched precariously on his lap. Somebody else had my toad Koko who kept trying to leap away--she/he didn't want anything to do with these geckos. She can object all she wants, she is the wrong species (Physignathus cocinus) and can't jockey for position with Ramses. Gizzard the Constipated Bearded Dragon threatened to relieve himself on a boy's lap, so he was given back to me. A girl whispered to me that Mushu was "objecting", so I assisted Mushu in raising her front leg in objection to the union. A girl from the chess team filmed the entire ceremony with the animals getting most of the coverage (Thank Ganesha). The Giving Away of the Groom provided some really great histrionics from the "OPM" (OverProtective Mother) of the groom (Ramses' caretaker). Then the geckos "kissed" from their royal pillows, Honey swatted at Ramses and we all rejoiced. Reception Time! The wedding planners blasted some seriously overplayed Coldplay and we all tucked in to the artfully arranged stale Girl Scout cookies and Super Sucrose cakes in the back (AFTER we put the Ark back to bed and washed our hands!). One of my boys ate so much he almost upchucked. The girls' shrieking sent the boys into the relative quiet of my room until their parents could pick them up. Curt said we might all end up on the kid-produced cable school news. Lava, my laid back and low key cornsnake (he's never bitten anyone!), certainly hopes not; he doesn't like to draw any attention to himself. I think they are now planning an engagement party for Bart and Freddy the hypermelanistic cornsnakes (we are SURE of their gender and have watched Freddy make overtures towards Bart). Bart was thought to be a boy for years but she had her first clutch of eggs last year and proved us wrong. Laidback Lava reportedly yawned and said, "Yeah, sure I'll go if there's mice on ice at the reception...".
Peace Out!
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Best Concerts Ever (Inspired by Heather Landers)
Heather beat me to it; I've had a list of my greatest concert experiences waiting to be added to this blog for years now (I started it while I was taking History of Rock here at UD in February 2007), and all my dilly-dallying means...well, only that I'm not the first person I know to create such a list. Why not add to it?
1) Bob Mould at World Cafe Live in 2008, when I met him. Great venue in a great location with great food and amazing sound. Best show I've ever been to.
2) The Bob Mould Band at the Fillmore in, I think, 2005. Matt and I went, and I couldn't stop dancing. Every Bob show is the best show ever.
3) Bob Mould at the Great American Music Club in 1993. The company wasn't great, but the show was. He played both acoustic and electric and was in a great mood.
4) Sugar, 1998, at the Fillmore. I went with the same guy with whom I saw my first Bob show, but the crowd is always so great at Bob's shows that it almost doesn't matter whom you're with. I think I've seen Bob a few other times, but those four stand out for me the most. It's impossible to have a bad time at the Fillmore.
5) Speaking of, Jeff Tweedy at the Fillmore in 2005 or 2006 was pretty fantastic. I unfortunately can't say the same about most of the Wilco shows I've been to, not because of the band, but because their fans tend to be really obnoxious. I don't get it. There was Coachella 2005, in which a girl in a pink cowboy hat almost beat Matt up after he asked her to be quiet (while they were playing--how is that too much to ask?) and the Greek Theater in Berkeley in 2004 (I think I have those dates right) in which groups of drunk people just chatted right through the set. They played a good show in San Jose in the fall of 2005 (again, not sure of the date), but I was suffering from cassoulet-itis and had to leave during "California Stars." What a bummer.
6) My friend Marta took me to U2 at the Oakland Arena, and we had amazing seats. That was a great show.
7) Coachella 2004, which was my first post for this blog. It was amazing.
8) Erasure with Mark Phillips in 2004, at The Independent in San Francisco. He bet that acid wash wouldn't come back that year, and I bet it would (moon boots did; it seemed like a natural next step). He won the bet, which meant that I was supposed to wear acid wash to the show, but I couldn't find anything. He, on the other hand, did, and rocked those acid washed jeans like the stud he is. And that's why I'm naming my firstborn after him.
9) Stacie and I randomly went to see Fun Lovin' Criminals at the Fillmore in 2000, and it was thoroughly entertaining. Stace and I always have way too much fun dancing. We went with Nancy to see Vertical Horizon and that horrible band with the song about the little black backpack a few months later--VH was pretty fun, but the other band--Stroke 9, that's it--was pretty lame. It was still fun. Like I said, the Fillmore doesn't disappoint as a venue. I've also seen my friend Joel's old band open for Train there (his band was better), seen Matchbox 20 there for free (my friend was their manager for a while), seen Maceo Parker and almost fell asleep (damn teaching job), and went to some DJ thing, too.
10) For a very short while in the early 2000's, the club on California Avenue in Palo Alto was not The Edge and not Illusions, and it got good bands. Joel's band The Substitutes played there a few times and rocked the joint.
11) I remember some show that BostonErin and I went to in high school--Rebecca Schwedner's boyfriend's band played...we had to drive through Sunnyvale, or Santa Clara, or something to get there. It was fun, and I remember thinking that our parents were incredibly cool to let us go.
12) My brother and I went to a Drive-Thru Records show at the Bottom of the Hill in 2002. Super fun. That's another great venue.
13) My band, Morningside, played El Rio in 2001. Great place to give a show. That was a fun night. The Egan Intermediate School stage ain't bad, either.
14) I can't believe I was too sick to see Built to Spill in 2001, and I've missed the White Stripes every time, but I did drive baseball pitcher Joe Nathan's black Ford Explorer home from a Chili Peppers Show in 1999. And yes, I'm pathetic enough to still be telling that story ten years later.
15) I always loved going to Shoreline to hear the Grateful Dead. Then I lived on their street in San Francisco. I'm no Deadhead, but Jerry's guitar was truly amazing, and pulling up a patch of lawn there in the Mountain View sunshine was a good time in high school.
16) The Bridge School Benefit that Neil Young hosted at Shoreline was also fun--we got to see Neil play, of course, and Pearl Jam, and Sammy Hagar once. I remember bringing pizza from Tony and Alba's to one of the shows with my brother and some of our friends.
17) Superbro and I hauled ourselves out to the Concord Pavilion to see Weezer in the early 2000's. Sparta opened for them--great show all around. That's a fantastic venue, but I think it took us 3 hours to get there on a weeknight.
18) I used to go hear shoegazer bands at the Edinburgh Castle on Friday nights all the time around 2000 because my bandmate booked the bands and did sound there; sometimes it was fun, but mostly it wasn't.
19) I saw the Old 97's and Cake at Roseland in New York City the weekend Superbro graduated from college. So. Much. Fun.
20) Sweet Honey in the Rock always gives an inspiring, wonderful show. I first saw them at Stanford Memorial Church in 2002, and saw them again a few years later with my parents. Last spring, my friend Gina and I caught them here in Delaware at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington--great show.
21) Like Jeff Tweedy, I'm not that into music festivals. The two I've been to in Golden Gate Park were overcrowded and cold--one with Peter Gabriel and Sinead O'Connor and one with Elvis Costello and Ben Harper. The best one I've been to was, of course, Coachella (the first year I went, anyway), but Laguna Seca was pretty good in 1994--Sam Phillips, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, and The Mother Hips.
22) My drummer friend Scott played in this band, Aunt Beru, in college, and they were really great. Best song was a punked-up version of the Laverne and Shirley theme song.
23) Actually, a lot of the undergrad bands at Stanford were good, and I always loved going to different battles of the bands. I can't remember any of the bands' names now, but that was fun. High school, too--some good bands in high school. There just isn't much that can beat sunshine, great music, and a fun crowd.
24) Superbro and I took our second cousins to a Blink-182/Green Day show at Shoreline in around 2002. Green Day blew those young whippersnappers out of the water. They give a great show.
25) I'm limiting myself to 25 shows, here, so I'll close with Soul Coughing at the Warfield in 1998.
Rock on...
1) Bob Mould at World Cafe Live in 2008, when I met him. Great venue in a great location with great food and amazing sound. Best show I've ever been to.
2) The Bob Mould Band at the Fillmore in, I think, 2005. Matt and I went, and I couldn't stop dancing. Every Bob show is the best show ever.
3) Bob Mould at the Great American Music Club in 1993. The company wasn't great, but the show was. He played both acoustic and electric and was in a great mood.
4) Sugar, 1998, at the Fillmore. I went with the same guy with whom I saw my first Bob show, but the crowd is always so great at Bob's shows that it almost doesn't matter whom you're with. I think I've seen Bob a few other times, but those four stand out for me the most. It's impossible to have a bad time at the Fillmore.
5) Speaking of, Jeff Tweedy at the Fillmore in 2005 or 2006 was pretty fantastic. I unfortunately can't say the same about most of the Wilco shows I've been to, not because of the band, but because their fans tend to be really obnoxious. I don't get it. There was Coachella 2005, in which a girl in a pink cowboy hat almost beat Matt up after he asked her to be quiet (while they were playing--how is that too much to ask?) and the Greek Theater in Berkeley in 2004 (I think I have those dates right) in which groups of drunk people just chatted right through the set. They played a good show in San Jose in the fall of 2005 (again, not sure of the date), but I was suffering from cassoulet-itis and had to leave during "California Stars." What a bummer.
6) My friend Marta took me to U2 at the Oakland Arena, and we had amazing seats. That was a great show.
7) Coachella 2004, which was my first post for this blog. It was amazing.
8) Erasure with Mark Phillips in 2004, at The Independent in San Francisco. He bet that acid wash wouldn't come back that year, and I bet it would (moon boots did; it seemed like a natural next step). He won the bet, which meant that I was supposed to wear acid wash to the show, but I couldn't find anything. He, on the other hand, did, and rocked those acid washed jeans like the stud he is. And that's why I'm naming my firstborn after him.
9) Stacie and I randomly went to see Fun Lovin' Criminals at the Fillmore in 2000, and it was thoroughly entertaining. Stace and I always have way too much fun dancing. We went with Nancy to see Vertical Horizon and that horrible band with the song about the little black backpack a few months later--VH was pretty fun, but the other band--Stroke 9, that's it--was pretty lame. It was still fun. Like I said, the Fillmore doesn't disappoint as a venue. I've also seen my friend Joel's old band open for Train there (his band was better), seen Matchbox 20 there for free (my friend was their manager for a while), seen Maceo Parker and almost fell asleep (damn teaching job), and went to some DJ thing, too.
10) For a very short while in the early 2000's, the club on California Avenue in Palo Alto was not The Edge and not Illusions, and it got good bands. Joel's band The Substitutes played there a few times and rocked the joint.
11) I remember some show that BostonErin and I went to in high school--Rebecca Schwedner's boyfriend's band played...we had to drive through Sunnyvale, or Santa Clara, or something to get there. It was fun, and I remember thinking that our parents were incredibly cool to let us go.
12) My brother and I went to a Drive-Thru Records show at the Bottom of the Hill in 2002. Super fun. That's another great venue.
13) My band, Morningside, played El Rio in 2001. Great place to give a show. That was a fun night. The Egan Intermediate School stage ain't bad, either.
14) I can't believe I was too sick to see Built to Spill in 2001, and I've missed the White Stripes every time, but I did drive baseball pitcher Joe Nathan's black Ford Explorer home from a Chili Peppers Show in 1999. And yes, I'm pathetic enough to still be telling that story ten years later.
15) I always loved going to Shoreline to hear the Grateful Dead. Then I lived on their street in San Francisco. I'm no Deadhead, but Jerry's guitar was truly amazing, and pulling up a patch of lawn there in the Mountain View sunshine was a good time in high school.
16) The Bridge School Benefit that Neil Young hosted at Shoreline was also fun--we got to see Neil play, of course, and Pearl Jam, and Sammy Hagar once. I remember bringing pizza from Tony and Alba's to one of the shows with my brother and some of our friends.
17) Superbro and I hauled ourselves out to the Concord Pavilion to see Weezer in the early 2000's. Sparta opened for them--great show all around. That's a fantastic venue, but I think it took us 3 hours to get there on a weeknight.
18) I used to go hear shoegazer bands at the Edinburgh Castle on Friday nights all the time around 2000 because my bandmate booked the bands and did sound there; sometimes it was fun, but mostly it wasn't.
19) I saw the Old 97's and Cake at Roseland in New York City the weekend Superbro graduated from college. So. Much. Fun.
20) Sweet Honey in the Rock always gives an inspiring, wonderful show. I first saw them at Stanford Memorial Church in 2002, and saw them again a few years later with my parents. Last spring, my friend Gina and I caught them here in Delaware at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington--great show.
21) Like Jeff Tweedy, I'm not that into music festivals. The two I've been to in Golden Gate Park were overcrowded and cold--one with Peter Gabriel and Sinead O'Connor and one with Elvis Costello and Ben Harper. The best one I've been to was, of course, Coachella (the first year I went, anyway), but Laguna Seca was pretty good in 1994--Sam Phillips, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, and The Mother Hips.
22) My drummer friend Scott played in this band, Aunt Beru, in college, and they were really great. Best song was a punked-up version of the Laverne and Shirley theme song.
23) Actually, a lot of the undergrad bands at Stanford were good, and I always loved going to different battles of the bands. I can't remember any of the bands' names now, but that was fun. High school, too--some good bands in high school. There just isn't much that can beat sunshine, great music, and a fun crowd.
24) Superbro and I took our second cousins to a Blink-182/Green Day show at Shoreline in around 2002. Green Day blew those young whippersnappers out of the water. They give a great show.
25) I'm limiting myself to 25 shows, here, so I'll close with Soul Coughing at the Warfield in 1998.
Rock on...
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Where Have All the Bloggers Gone? Oh, to Facebook
Superman keeps bugging me to update my blog. My response? I have nothing to say. I do have things to say, but apparently, my attention span has shrunk to the size of a pea. Or, more accurately, has shrunk to the one-liners that Facebook and Twitter have made so very, very popular. And everyone else's attention spans seem also to have shrunk, so that I don't read blogs anymore--instead, I look at my friends' status updates on Facebook. Beth's son locked her out of the house for an hour. Erin is doing too many things at once. These are all the beginnings of great stories--how many of us took creative writing and were told that if we could come up with a great first sentence, the rest would follow? And the stories often unfold through comments--someone sympathizes with Beth and shares the story of when the same thing happened to her. Someone asks Erin more about what she's doing, and she elaborates. It's interactive storytelling this time, instead of this blog business, where you have to actually read whole paragraphs--several of them!
I won't lie and say that I don't miss the days when my dating blog had a following, and I still follow certain writers. But it seems like many of us have abandoned our regular writing activities for other forms of sharing. I don't think it's a good thing, to be honest. I think we're stunting our creativity and becoming boring. My Facebook self is pretty vanilla. My blogger self was a little sassier, and my dating column self...well, she was fierce.
You can only get a sense of a writer's "voice" if you have time to actually experience that voice. One-sentence updates do not cut it, unless you're already fairly familiar with his/her style.
Blogs will be back--we've been writing journals and letters for centuries, right? I'm not sure about the fate of Facebook--it has some cool technical aspects that I believe are the reason it's going strong now, but it's a privacy-issues disaster, and frankly, the web design leaves much to be desired. Plus remember Friendster? That seemed pretty cool, too, and then it just wasn't anymore. Twitter is going to be even more of a flash in the pan, mark my words. Sure, call me a curmudgeon, but let's just check it out in a few years and see what's going on.
Don't even get me started on the ability to completely ignore all rules of grammar on Facebook, too. I increasingly get emails from people that read like they're text messages. I can't help it...I judge them. Am I going to announce it on Facebook? Nope. But every time I find myself not capitalizing, I have to rein myself in. Standards, Ms. Beman, standards! You used to rant about this to students; walk your own talk!
And that's really all I have to say today.
I won't lie and say that I don't miss the days when my dating blog had a following, and I still follow certain writers. But it seems like many of us have abandoned our regular writing activities for other forms of sharing. I don't think it's a good thing, to be honest. I think we're stunting our creativity and becoming boring. My Facebook self is pretty vanilla. My blogger self was a little sassier, and my dating column self...well, she was fierce.
You can only get a sense of a writer's "voice" if you have time to actually experience that voice. One-sentence updates do not cut it, unless you're already fairly familiar with his/her style.
Blogs will be back--we've been writing journals and letters for centuries, right? I'm not sure about the fate of Facebook--it has some cool technical aspects that I believe are the reason it's going strong now, but it's a privacy-issues disaster, and frankly, the web design leaves much to be desired. Plus remember Friendster? That seemed pretty cool, too, and then it just wasn't anymore. Twitter is going to be even more of a flash in the pan, mark my words. Sure, call me a curmudgeon, but let's just check it out in a few years and see what's going on.
Don't even get me started on the ability to completely ignore all rules of grammar on Facebook, too. I increasingly get emails from people that read like they're text messages. I can't help it...I judge them. Am I going to announce it on Facebook? Nope. But every time I find myself not capitalizing, I have to rein myself in. Standards, Ms. Beman, standards! You used to rant about this to students; walk your own talk!
And that's really all I have to say today.
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