My Mom's Book Reading (Portland)

My Mom at her book reading for Sisters Singing! last week in Portland. She looks so cool! (And she is!)

Devo - Uncontrollable Urge

1978

Today: My Mom's Book Reading for Sisters Singing

This evening, if you happen to be in Portland, go check out my Mom's book reading at Annie Bloom's Books! If you don't happen to be in Portland, you can check out my Mom's blog here, or just go buy a copy of Sisters Singing!

The Star-Spangled Banner - Jimi Hendrix

Happy 4th of July Americans!

(I love this performance!)

I Like It Like This

Jay Adams, Dogtown. Mid-1970s.

"There were many good skaters who contributed positively to the sport and somehow Skateboarder magazine chose to promote a gang of kids who only sought to destroy the sport on an organized level." -Russ Howell

[Yes!]

Where Kool-Aid was invented.

Looks fun, doesn't it?

Read more here if you want.

Roots Festival

I love rootsy reggae from the 1975-1985 era. Almost all the reggae albums I originally had from this period I picked up used at Logo's Bookstore in Santa Cruz, California -- at first mostly based on the cover art alone. I found some great music. Sadly, a lot of it isn't available digitally (and my albums all melted in the hot sun one summer ....).

Roots Archive is a great site for digging into old reggae.

...and this is the Farrah I want to remember

...along with millions of other men (mostly) my age. Yes, I actually did have this poster on my wall when I was in high school.

Of course, wanting to remember anybody only in their prime and youth is a horrible denial of all the twists and turns we all go through in life. But after observing what happened to both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson over the course of their careers, who in their right mind would want what they had? Who would want to be a star? Not me.

Jackson Five - ABC

This is the Michael Jackson I want to remember...

Sometimes it's fun to wait for the bus...

...even if you don't get on when it comes.

Toronto Junction

I know everyone who visits my blog probably already saw this picture on my Facebook page, but I still wanted to post it here. (I still love the old blog, even if I don't have time for it like I used to -- damn you Facebook! damn you Twitter!).

This beautiful car pulled up to us in the Junction yesterday. What it was doing in that neighbourhood I can only imagine. But it did remind me that the Junction is where Wendy's dad saw Queen Elizabeth I during a train stop in the 1930s. This could have been her car! It was that out of place!

Obama Reveals His Killer Instinct

Obama Fly Swat Reveals President's Impressive Hand-Eye Coordination

Thomas Edison: The Trick Cyclist 1899 / 1901

Spiderman Climbs Walls at Home

...and Amado's inspired by this!

Spider-man Original Cartoon Theme Song

I grew up on this, and now Amado is as well!

Iran Elections

Let me tell you - Andrew Sullivan at Daily Dish is nailing this news story big time....

I approached an elderly gentleman who seemed riveted, but disgusted by the scene in the street in front of him. “I’ve seen violence like this before,” he remarked, “What can one expect when you disrespect the people. This is a coup d’etat. After blatantly cheating the people they won’t be able to turn this off.”

Graduation Day!

I have no idea who any of these people are. I stumbled upon this post-graduation celebration at the University of Toronto yesterday afternoon. Everyone seemed so awkwardly happy as we walked together into the bright future. (Of course, I was just randomly along for the ride.)

Over Ontario

...on the flight home this evening from Winnipeg to Toronto.

Mmm, ice cream.....

(Frozen juice bar actually.)

Rahaf Harfoush

I'm in this picture from a book release by Rahaf Harfoush at Toronto's Rotman School of Management. I'm almost right in the centre. Can you find me?

Rahaf Harfoush, a twenty-something Torontonian, was the new media strategist for the Obama campaign and is a brilliant speaker. She has written a cool book revealing all the secrets of Obama's ground-breaking (and many say, election-winning) use of social media to rally his folks and get out the vote.

Tag Cloud of Obama's Speech in Cairo

Here's a tag cloud of Obama's speech in Cairo. I love tag clouds.

Downtown Toronto

...taken the other day with my cell phone while walking out of the ball game. These condo towers are popping up like dandelions all over Toronto. Probably in your city too.

Santana Plays Vegas

Carlos Santana is beginning a two-year residency at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. I never thought of Carlos as a Vegas act, but there you go. Maybe Vegas has changed. But Carlos is still Carlos....

"In my own vision, I feel like we're bringing a Trojan horse to Las Vegas," Carlos Santana says.

"Not necessarily to infiltrate or to infect," he is quick to add. "But Las Vegas is basically realized on luck, chance and fortune. ... We're bringing something really different. It's called power to God's grace. There's no chance with that one."

The Santana sound can be "sexy, swampy and funky, but it still has the element of (John) Coltrane and Mahalia Jackson in it," he says. "It makes your hair stand up beyond the illusion of entertainment or show business.

"I love infusing and activating people with knowing that you and everyone in your family has a spark of the divine and you can make a difference."

[From "Spiritual Validation: Carlos Santana calls still being relevant an incredible blessing." May 29, 2009. Las Vegas Journal-Review]

The Sixties

I'm glad I'm old enough to remember the 1960s. And I'm glad my parents were, like, with it, and not fuddy duds living in some fuddy dud place. It seemed like everything was possible then. But maybe that's just because I was a kid. Either way, everyone should have such a powerful feeling of endless, open possibility at least once in their life.

Strike Vote!

Wendy and Amado at yesterday's strike vote for Cupe 79, which is Wendy's union. We really hope there won't have to be a strike, but it's a real possibility now that it was approved by more than 90% of the members.

Amado has a new haircut he just got that morning. (Though we couldn't quite capture him smiling in a photo!) He's not actually taller than Wendy yet. That's just trick photography.

Just looking at this picture makes me feel cool....

Missing Santa Cruz again today....

Talking Woodstock

From an article on Ang Lee's new movie, "Talking Woodstock":

Lee ran a hippie camp to teach the extras the right way to behave and carry themselves. The filmmakers said their hardest task was getting the extras to look like '60s youths.

Screenwriter James Schamus, who heads Focus Features, which is releasing "Taking Woodstock," said there's a different look to today's young people, with their passion for fitness and disdain for pubic hair.

Said Schamus: "When you think about it, a generation of people who weren't fat, who weren't staring at themselves in the mirror all the time, and not shaving everything off down there, it captures the difference of 40 years right there."

VICTORVILLE MODEL HOMES DEMOLISHED - SHOCKING VIDEO: Part 5

Wow, cheaper to destroy these new houses than to sell them! Does my brother know about this? It's right near his house. In fact, he may have built them! Sol, what's going on out there?

Tamil Protest

A huge Tamil protest shut down Toronto last night, including the Gardiner Expressway. Tamils are demanding the Canadian government do something to stop the violence in Sri Lanka, which has truly been horrible - more than 300 civilians were killed and thousands more were injured in just the past few days, most of them Tamils.

Protest tactics like this aren't helping their cause in public opinion, that's for sure. Also, if Canada did act to sanction Sri Lanka would that stop the violence? I don't think so. The Sri Lanka war is coming to a brutal end and perhaps the thing that would save the most lives at this point is for the Tamil Tigers to surrender. At this point they can't win the war anyway. Wouldn't that force the Sri Lankan government to declare a ceasefire and deal with the Tamils as people, instead of indiscriminately shelling civilian areas?

Happy Mother's Day!

Mom, you're the greatest! Thank you for everything, including life-long memories such as the one pictured above! (1976 :-)

Awkward Family Photos

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

Wow! I have a blog!

Meditation

Nothing in the world
is as soft and yielding as water.
Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,
nothing can surpass it.

The soft overcomes the hard;
the gentle overcomes the rigid.
Everyone knows this is true,
but few can put it into practice.

-Tao Te Ching

I may not be in California...

...but sometimes surfing photos are the next best thing.

Amado Draws Toronto

Banana Times 5

The World Weary

I love this picture of our nephew Caleb and I from 2002. It's understandable that I look a little world weary, but Caleb? He was only 6 at the time.

Nana Mouskouri Comes to Town

Yes, that Nana Mouskouri.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Easter morning, 2009

Good Friday

Today would be the perfect day to share the shade with a few migrant farmworkers, drinking tequila and eating barbacoa, and singing the old rancheras about love lost and found.

All of us are too far from our homes.