Beware the ninja cat!

This video cracked me up and I just wanted to share. Enjoy!


Ninja cat comes closer while not moving!

Where do songs come from?

You never can tell where a new song is going to come from. For me, they occasionally come when I mishear or misunderstand someone else’s song, which sends my brain down a whole new path completely unrelated to the song that created the original spark. Case in point: At the Luke Doucet show tonight I misheard Luke talking about one of his songs - he said it was about "falling asleep in the desert" and I thought he said "falling sick in the desert." Well, then my mind just took off with the idea of what it would be like to be incredibly sick and out in the desert in the middle of nowhere.

On the way home from the show I mentioned it to Bobbo and was rolling it around in my head when the phrase "High Desert Fever" popped up and it seemed like a pretty cool title and chorus. As we pulled into the driveway I remembered this amazing instrumental melody in 3/4 time that Bobbo’s been playing for a few years now. It has a real hypnotic, kind of psychedelic quality that really captured the feeling I was going for, so he pulled out the guitar and we started playing through it and moving some parts around to make it work with a lyrical structure.

Once we had the parts mapped out and the "high desert fever" chorus pretty solid, I walked around for a while humming the verse melody in my head, then disappeared into my office and started writing. I knew the story I wanted it to tell and the meter that I wanted to fit the syllables to, so it was just a matter of getting the right words to fit in the right places to make the whole thing flow. About half an hour later and a few more runs through on the guitar to make sure it all worked, voila! A brand new song!

So there you have it, a peek into our songwriting process and a preview of our newest song, High Desert Fever. Oh, and the Luke Doucet show was great too!

This man MUST be our next president!

Alright, so I was wrong about the Springsteen at the convention rumor. But you know what? I'm ok with that. Because I just got to see the most amazing and inspiring and pitch perfect frickin' speech ever delivered.

Barack Obama just raised politics to an art form, one filled with beauty, grace, intelligence and truth. And at the same time, laid out point by point why John McCain is so wrong for this country, why Democrats should and can and will win the White House in November AND exactly what they, and he, will do once they get there.

He reached out to Americans and invited them to listen to their best selves and join together to work towards a future where affordable quality health care, energy independence, and a thriving economy is the norm for all, not just the lucky few.

He predicted, addressed and neutralized every concern: foreign policy, domestic policy, social issues, character issues - every argument the Republicans have and will throw at him. He...

Aww heck, just watch it yourselves!

Democratic Convention so far - Reader's Digest version

I know not everyone is as obsessed with this years election as I am, so here's a quick and dirty list of the best speeches from the first two days of the convention. Enjoy!

Day 1:

Ted Kennedy overcomes brain surgery and kidney stones to give his support for Barack Obama.

Michelle Obama shares her story of love, family, and faith in the American Dream, with an adorable surprise ending.

Day 2:

Dennis Kucinich gives an energetic wake up call to America.

Brian Schweitzer riles up the crowd with his down-home truth-telling.

Hillary Clinton heals the rift between her supporters and Obama's and calls for a unified party and a united victory in November in spectacular fashion.

If you have a chance, check out the video intros for Kennedy, Michelle and Hillary as well, they were also excellent. Can't wait to see what the next two days brings!

Springsteen for VP!

One can only dream. But rumor has it that Bruce will be playing at Invesco Field in Denver when Obama makes his acceptance speech. Woo hoo!

I don't need another doorstop

I don't know about you, but I really don't need a new telephone directory every month, especially since I use the internet for 99.9% of my telephone-number-finding needs. And yet, these books just keep coming, sometimes even two or three at a time!

While they can make for good pranks on your neighbors, it would be much better for the environment (and the neighbors) if we didn't get them at all.

Enter YellowPagesGoesGreen.Org

This service allows you to put your name on a national "Do Not Deliver" list, saving trees, energy, and landfill space. And your neighbor's goodwill.

The Viper Room Rocks!

Had a great time playing the Viper Room this past weekend. It was our first time there and everyone was super nice and easy to work with. Thanks to all our friends that came out to see us, we had a great crowd and met a bunch of cool new people too. Hopefully we'll be back there again soon. Pretty damn awesome!

On the campaign trail... pt 2

I really wasn't intending to post another one of these, but I just can't resist. So here you go, another compare and contrast of what our candidates are up to today!


This is the middle section of the speech. Here are the beginning and end if you want to see the whole thing. And on a side note, the story behind the Berlin Airlift that he refers to is really fascinating, I had never heard of it before this!

On the campaign trail...

A little compare and contrast of what our presidential nominees are up to this week:

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

If you like Neil Patrick Harris, goofy musicals, or super- (or not-so-super)villains, you've got to check out Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog! It's an internet-only musical in three acts and it's free to watch online until July 20th, so if you want to catch it, you better be quick!

Oh my aching feet!

Went to the podiatrist yesterday and he confirmed that I have plantar fasciitis. Got my feet all taped up funny and he gave me a splint to wear at night - comfy!

Hmm, perhaps I should have gotten a pedicure beforehand!

My new virtual kitty cat

It took me all week, but I finally got my mage a kitty cat to ride! I think she looks great on it and it's soooo much faster than running! Yay!

Unity - Not just another campaign slogan

RJ Eskow: Have We Missed the Key to Obama's Leadership Style?

An interesting take on what makes Obama's leadership style unique, and why he's not really "moving to the right" at all.

His political architecture isn't built on the old foundation of Right vs. Left - or on Right vs. Wrong, for that matter. It isn't even binary. When it comes to policy he inclines toward the progressive position, but he's not thinking in terms of "winning" or "losing." His goal is group unity around the best possible realistic outcome. That means assess the situation, get what you can, then move to bring the parties together around a new consensus.

Dancing with the world

I have no idea why it feels so good to watch this, it just does. Enjoy!

The real world of warcraft

Most of you know that I play World of Warcraft. It's a fun diversion that I picked up when Bobbo was working nights and I had lots of free time to kill. One of the things I like most about the game is the social aspect - meeting other players, working together to accomplish goals, helping others when I can. Last night was one of those times that really reinforced why I enjoy the game.

(Hang on, it's gonna get geeky for a bit here, but stick with me!) For the past few days I've been working on improving my level 40 mage's reputation among the Night Elves so I can qualify to purchase one of their big cat mounts. The easiest way to do this is to complete a ton of lower level quests in the Night Elf starting areas. It's pretty easy, just time consuming. Often I'll run into a lower level elf working in the same area as me and I'll offer to team up with them and help them out, since I can blast through things much faster than they could by themselves.

This is exactly what happened yesterday when I teamed up with a level 14 druid. We worked through a number of quests and I also answered some questions for him, as he seemed to be fairly new to the game. As we chatted, he told me he was 18 years old and he seemed like a sweet kid. As we continued to work together he thanked me numerous times, expressing his gratitude for all my help. I told him it was my pleasure, and that all I asked in return was that he passed the same kindness on to others.

As we were finishing up, I remarked on the lateness of the hour and that I had to be going. He replied that it was morning for him, as he was serving in Iraq. Eighteen years old. In Iraq. As I let that sink in, I realized how paltry my kindness had been in comparison. Here I am feeling all good about myself for helping him kill virtual beasties, while he's over there in a "world of warcraft" of the truest sense, putting himself in harm's way for us. It was my turn to express my sincerest gratitude and as we said goodbye for the evening I thanked him for his service and hoped that he would stay safe until the next time we met.

So to Tyler, somewhere in Iraq, again I say thank you and be safe. I hope to see you in Azeroth for a long time to come.

OCTA and Me

As some of you may remember, Bobbo was hit by an OCTA bus while riding his bicycle two years ago tomorrow. With the settlement from that accident, the two of us were able to spend three fantastic weeks traveling through Europe. During the trip we visited six countries and relied almost exclusively on public transportation to get around, which is pretty easy considering how great the rail, bus and subway systems are over there. So when we returned to California after living car-free for almost a month to find gas prices had jumped up to $4.70/gallon in our absence, it was a bit of a shock to the system.

So today I tried something that I hadn't done in the eight years we've lived in California - I took the bus! Yep, I left the car in the driveway this morning and walked to the bus stop to see what commuting on the OCTA was like. And frankly, it was as easy as pie! Using the online OCTA trip planner I found a bus route that runs straight between our apartment and my office in Irvine, with only a ten minute walk on either end. It's a 45 minute ride, which is a little longer than it usually takes in the car, but I get to spend it listening to my iPod and reading a book instead of fuming at the guy that just cut me off on the highway, so it all balances out. Plus it saves me about $1.20 a day in gas, is better for the environment, AND I get a total of about 40 minutes of exercise walking to and from the stops.

So I guess after all this I've made my peace with OCTA. Now if we could only get Bobbo on one of those busses!

Still recovering!

We've been back from Europe for about two weeks now, and I swear, we're still recovering! I just posted the photos from Germany, Austria and Italy on Flickr, you can see go see them here. More will be coming! In the meantime, I noticed that my last post ended in Paris. Let me see if I can sum up that last week for you here...

(Five minutes later) Ok, I can't seem to find my travel journal at the moment, so I'll have to get back to you on the details of the last week. Here, I'll give you some quick random impressions though:

• Paris - Famous monuments, Napoleon everywhere, art museums, Bobbo falls in love with Monet, train strike, amazing food
• Brugges - Pretty town, delicious chocolates, hanging out with a nice guy from NY
• London - Feet hurt, Petra, Natalie and Martin visit, Rami and the Foo Fighters, Churchill's bunker

Ok, that should hold you over until I find that journal. In the meantime, go browse through some pictures!

Updates from Europe!

Thanks to everyone for your birthday wishes! Bobbo and I are having an amazing time in Europe! I apologize for not keeping up with the blog, internet access has been harder to come by than expected.  I have been taking tons of pictures though, so I'll be sharing them all when we get home, don't you worry about that!

I'll give you a very quick update since my last post was from Germany. After we left there we headed south to the castles of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. These are nestled right at the foot of the Alps and it looks just like a scene out of Heidi or the Sound of Music.  

Then we headed to Vienna, Austria where we meet Roman, a musician Bobbo had met over the internet.  He and his girlfriend Nicole spent three days showing us all the sites of Vienna, as well as taking us to the home of his parents in the countryside, a tiny village in the Wachau valley where we hiked up to the ruins of a 12th century castle where King Richard the Lion-hearted was once held for ransom!  I think that day was one of my favorites so far, just an amazing experience that you can't get out of any tour book!

After Vienna, we boarded an overnight train to Venice, Italy. By an unexpected turn of luck, we had a sleeping cabin for six all to ourselves. Thank goodness too, it was almost too small just for the two of us!  Venice was absolutely lovely, we walked all through the city and had dinner at sunset right on the canals. A very pretty city, though a little too touristy I think. 

The next day we were off again, this time to a tiny little Italian town called Pesina, on the shore of Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy.  After a somewhat stressful bus ride through Verona, we finally arrived at the home of Donato and Marina, a wonderful couple who are friends of our friend Rami.  They welcomed us into their home, an incredible 14th century castle where over the years they have hosted performances by an impressive roster of musicians, including our friends Rami and Phil Cody, along with many others. (Bobbo almost fell over when Donato mentioned that Townes Van Zandt had stayed in our room!) That evening we were invited to join Donato and Marina, along with their daughter and her boyfriend, for dinner at the home of his friend Armando and his wife and two daughters. Armando's home was gorgeous, with a view of Lake Garda that took my breath away.  And the food was amazing, wave after wave of fantastic courses, prepared by Armando's wife Chiara, but most of all, the company was wonderful.  After dinner, they produced a guitar, and we gladly played and sang in repayment for such a lovely evening. This, as you may be able to tell, was my other favorite day of the trip so far.  Though I would have loved to stay longer, we had to leave for Paris the next day, with promises to return for longer on our next trip. 

And now I'd better get going, the morning is getting late and we're off for more sightseeing in Paris. The Musee D'Orsay and a return to the Louvre I think is on the schedule for today.  I'll post more soon!

Greetings from Germany!

We arrived in Frankfurt bright and early Monday morning and were greeted by Bobbo's uncle Marty and cousin Natalie at the airport. So nice to see familiar faces when arriving in a new place! We've spent the last two days with Marty, his wife Petra, Natalie, and her brother Martin, and it's been wonderful. I wish we'd done this years ago!

Yesterday we toured the old city of Bamburg and today we're headed to Wurzburg for some sightseeing. We'll be picking up the rental car today for our road trip tomorrow as well as getting Bobbo's guitar from the post office - which means we'll be having a little hootenanny tonight! (Hopefully we'll be able to stay awake for it, we've been falling asleep around 10 pm the last two nights due to jet lag, which is why I'm up at 6:30 in the morning now!)

Europe, here we come!

We're off to tour the continent in just a few short hours! We're headed to Southern Germany, Vienna, Venice, Verona, (all the V's!) Paris, Belgium and London. Whew, just typing it all makes me exhausted! Stay tuned for pictures and updates!

The beauty of the brain

A fascinating and moving account of what one scientist discovered about her brain and herself as she underwent a massive stroke. Simply amazing.

The new album is out!

Hi all! Just wanted to let you know that yesterday we put the last finishing touches on our new album, Where the Road Bends!It went to print today and we’ll have it in our hands by Saturday 5/10 for the cd release party. Woo hoo!!!

If you’d like to purchase one, you can pre-order them on our website for $10 between now and 5/10 - after that, we’ll be selling them for $15, so it pays to order early!

Treadmill Desk

Treadmill Desk
Originally uploaded by {platinum}

Well, here it is! So far I've walked about five miles between yesterday and today, all while checking email, catching up on th news, even playing World of Warcraft. In fact, I'm walking right now! I'm thrilled with how the desk came out, it was easier to put together than I expected. You can check out more pictures here. Enjoy!

Walking and working

Just bought a treadmill yesterday and got it set up in my office. My goal is to create a treadmill desk like this so I can walk and work at the same time. I threw some cardboard over it this afternoon to make a desk for my laptop and have been walking for over an hour now. It's surprisingly easy! I plan to get a piece of wood or acrylic to use as the desktop and to mount my monitor to the wall instead of using the laptop, but for the moment, even this simple set up is pretty effective. Plus now I don't have to bother buying a new office chair!

Best Live Acoustic Band of Orange County!

We won, we won!! Woo hoo! Saturday night was the 2008 Orange County Music Awards, sort of like our local verson of the Grammys, and the Fallen Stars took home the award for "Best Live Acoustic Band." It was our third or fourth year competing (I can't remember which!) and our first win! Here's a picture of Bobbo, Gregg and me with our good friend Corvette Sandy, one of the founders of the OCMAs. She was so happy for us it was tough to tell who was more excited about us winning - us or her!

It was such a rush to hear them call our name. They played our song "Raining in Hollywood" as we made that long walk throught the crowd to take the stage and it was great seeing so many familiar faces smiling and cheering for us on the way! Bobbo and Gregg both said a few words and I for once was speechless! :) After we left the stage the other founder, Martin Brown, told the crowd that we were a great example of the spirit of the OCMAs because when we started a few years ago we weren't all that impressive, but we worked hard and improved every year and have become a really great band that everyone should go and see! Oh, and now we're eligible to perform at next year's award show too!

Anyway, it was a terrific night and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that came out to the many semifinals and finals to support us and to the judges who put so much hard work into putting the OCMAs together every year. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We're going to Europe!

We finally bought the tickets yesterday! I was so nervous I made Bobbo sit next to me and hold my hand. :) We're going for three whole weeks and will be visiting Germany, Italy, France and England, wrapping up with a Foo Fighters concert at Wembley Stadium! So excited!!

We've got the passports and the plane tickets, so next on the list is booking places to stay. Germany is pretty much all set, since we're staying with family, but if you have any suggestions or recommendations for the other countries, please let me know!

Photoshop Disasters

Photoshop Disasters

Up side - Laughing at the horrors wrought by bad photoshopping.
Down side - Questioning the reality of every photograph you see!

Not just another campaign speech

By this point, you probably know that I'm supporting Barack Obama for president. Regardless of who you are supporting, I encourage everyone to watch the speech that he gave today on the issue of race. It's a response to the concerns raised about his former pastor, but it's also a candid and thought-provoking conversation about the role of race in today's society and politics, and it's worth listening to no matter what your political leanings. Don't listen to just the sound bites you hear on tv or the snippets that are quoted online. Set aside some time and really listen to the whole thing. (Look, I even posted it right here for you!) Or, if you can't find the time to watch, please read the transcript. It's well worth it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's a Muppet interpretation of an old Irish classic for you - not exactly the three tenors!

OCMA Finals for "Best Live Band!"

We competed in the finals for the Orange County Music Awards last night for "Best Live Band" and it was awesome! The room was full and the energy was great going on. Bobbo called a last minute audible, swapping our opening song from "This Town" to "We Are Only Young" and we were off and running. It was a strong powerhouse set, lots of big dynamic rock. One of the highlights was the introduction of our newest song, "One, Two, Three (Thousand Miles Back to You)." We just wrote it last week and it came together great last night, very fun and upbeat.

Another highlight for me was "Ellie" and I want to share with you why. It started out the tightest we'd ever played it, it just felt really dead on. Then somehow in the solo, things got a little lost in all the swirly guitars and drifted into multiple tempos, but then the most amazing thing happened. We all simultaneously felt the shift, looked to John for the next beat, and snapped right back onto the tempo in perfect time, finishing the song as strongly as it began. It was the most seamless, amazing musical recovery I'd ever been a part of. In that moment I felt like we went from being five musicians playing in a band to one single perfectly attuned musical entity.

Maybe I shouldn't be telling you about a mistake we made while competing for "Best Live Band." But to me, being a great live band it isn't just how well we play, but how well we play together. And in that moment, we played together better than ever.

Hockey Monkey!

OMG, there's a video for this song! The Zambonis are the best hockey rock band ever!



Having a good time, yeah!

Elegant Interstates

I had no idea that the national interstate highway system was so elegantly put together! Look at the logical numbering systems! The patterns of odds and evens, high numbers and low! It's a transportation work of art!

Who needs alarm clocks?

This is our morning, times two!

Fallen Stars Game!

Check it out, I just discovered a Fallen Stars video game that you can play online! It's a fun little time killer, and addictive too. Just don't let your boss see you!

What makes a president effective anyway?

In light of today's big primaries in Ohio and Texas today, I thought I'd share a book I stumbled across a few days ago called The Presidential Difference: Leadership Styles from FDR to George W. Bush. It was published back in 2004 by Princeton University's presidential scholar Fred I. Greenstein. In it, he examines the last 11 U.S. presidencies and identifies six critical factors in determining the effectiveness of a president:

• Effectiveness as a Public Communicator
• Organizational Capacity
• Political Skill
• Vision
• Cognitive Style
• Emotional Intelligence (Greenstein deems this one most critical, "In its absence, all else may turn to ashes.")

PBS.org has a good rundown of the definitions of those criteria that they published back during the 2004 elections and since I haven't actually read the book yet, that's about all I can tell you about it right now. But I love the idea that there might possibly be concrete, observable, measurable behaviors (dare I say competencies?) that could be used to assess candidate performance and help predict effectiveness - just like any other job!

Because when it comes right down to it, what is a presidential campaign but a nationwide job interview where every single citizen gets a say in who is hired for the most important job in the country?

Find me some fiction!

Anyone have any good novels you can recommend? The last few books I've read have all been non-fiction and I'm pining away for a good meaty story. So friends, what would you recommend I pick up on my next trip to the library?

Falling Slowly wins Best Song!

I'm just so pleased that "Falling Slowly" from the movie Once won for best song at the Oscars last night. It's a gorgeous song and a wonderful movie, one of my current favorites. Both Glen and Marketa's acceptance speeches were sweet and inspiring. Marketa's return to the stage after getting played off initially was definitely the best moment of the night. So happy for them!

More of me!

In case you hadn't noticed, I've added a Twitter feed to the sidebar of my blog page (and set it to update the status on my Facebook as well), so now you instant updates on my every fleeting thought and mundane action. Ah, the miracle of the internets!

All this Useless Knowledge

Saw this blog post about an abandoned book depository in Detroit a few months ago and it really stuck with me. It's just so sad to think of all these books, all this knowledge going to waste.

I happened to mention it to Bobbo last night and thought I'd share it with all of you. The writer of the blog also posted some amazing pictures on Flickr that you should definitely check out.

It really is a small world after all!

Had a great show tonight at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, and a funny story for you. After we leave the stage, I'm by the door chatting with people and a woman comes over to say hello. She heard Bobbo's dedication of our new song "This Town" to our hometown of Billerica, MA and had to come meet because her brother lives there, and it was such an odd coincidence. So I ask her brother's name, on the off chance that Bobbo or I might happen to know the family. Well, as it turns out, not only do I know the family, I dated her nephew! In fact, we were very good friends for a number of years, and my Junior Prom dated to boot. Oh, and he was the first musician I dated (a drummer!), so Bobbo, you have Ryan Holohan to thank!

Funny how you can go all the way to the other side of the country and still find connections to people back home.

Women have no intellectual interest in music? Bullshit!

Oooh, this article irks me to no end. One of the authors - a woman no less! - essentially says that women are mental midgets (no offense intended to midgets) whose primary response to music is to scream, cry and pick which member of the band they'd sleep with first. Ugh. Just for the record, I would love to have a conversation about Ahmet Ertegun and chances are that I do love the Clash more than anyone else around the table at the time. So there.

Ever have one of those mornings...

...where you wake up half an hour late for work, rush through your shower just to step smack dab in the middle of the most enormous pile of cat vomit you've ever seen, then spend the next 15 minutes searching in vain for the carpet cleaner that you had in your hand the night before and now has mysteriously disappeared off the face of the earth making you just that much later for work? And people wonder why I hate mornings.

Wearing your cool factor on your sleeve

I'm torn on these vintage rock tees by Worn Free. On the one hand, how awesome would it be to have a copy of one of John Lennon's or Johnny Ramone's classic t-shirts? On the other hand, the pictures of all the celebritys wearing those very t-shirts just make me cringe. Mischa Barton in a Blondie t-shirt? Katherine Heigl and the Flying Burrito Brothers? Dweezil Zappa in a Frank Zappa - oh wait, that's just sweet.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you don't get one of these cards from your honey!

Is the sky blue or yellow?

Ever wonder if what you see is the same as what other people see? Here's a pretty thorough test for colorblindness so you can at least find out if your world is the same color as everyone else's! Kind of neat!

Guitar Hero with Real Guitars!

Check out Guitar Rising, a cross between Guitar Hero and actual guitar lessons. You can actually plug a real guitar into your computer and learn how to play while competing for accuracy just like the Guitar Hero game. Learn to be the next Bobbo! (Does it measure how well you jump around on stage and fall down too?)

Frank Lloyd Wright, Oil Heat and Bolivian Cults: The Secrets Behind Your Favorite Toys

The Mental Floss Blog has a great run down of the history of seven classic toys, including the Slinky and Trivial Pursuit. Fun for the whole family!

The 7 Most Unforgivable Grammy Award Snubs of All Time | Cracked.com

The 7 Most Unforgivable Grammy Award Snubs of All Time | Cracked.com

A fascinating look into the stupid, stupid decisions Grammy voters have made. Sad, very sad.

Playing the Piano Inside Out

Here's a unique way to play the piano! A ten man group uses strings, sticks and other devices to play the inside of the piano, without ever touching the keys. The sound is extraordinary, almost other-worldly. I wonder how we could fit this into a Fallen Stars song?

Voting Day!

Hillary, Obama, Obama, Hillary... which way to go? I'm a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, and these are two good, strong candidates to choose from. Honestly, I'd be content with either one winning, so it's not a bad choice to have to make. (I don't envy the Republicans, they've got a tough choice ahead of them - hmm, crazy old guy, slimy rich guy, or crazy religious guy. Yeah, that's a bunch of winners.)

Anyway, after hours of debate watching and reading and thinking, I've decided to vote for Obama. Here, in no particular order, are the reasons why:

• Baggage - We don't need another dynasty. The "Clinton years" baggage will overshadow her every move.
• Experience - The think she oversells hers and he undersells his. And honestly, there is no experience that adequately prepares you to be the leader of the free world. So it's pretty much all a wash.
• Health Care Policy - I agree with Obama that people would buy health insurance if it were affordable. I don't believe people need to be penalized for not being insured - the bills are penalty enough.
• Iraq war - He didn't fall for it, he didn't vote for it. She did.
  
• Demographic Appeal - He appeals to a very wide cross-section of people - whites, blacks, minorities, young, old, men, women, liberals, moderates, independents. Her appeals seems much more limited. Which brings me to...
• Hillary Hate - The number of people that hate Hillary is astonishing. "Anyone but Hillary" is a very common feeling out there. I haven't heard of anyone that hates Obama, they just don't know much about him.
• McCain - He seems to be the frontrunner on the Republican side, and Obama stands as a sharp, and far more appealing contrast to him, whereas Hillary is much weaker opponent. How is she going to run on the platform of "experience" against that guy? And if she doesn't have that, what does she have?
• I vs. we - Listen to each of them speak. Hillary (and most politicians) is about the "I," how "I" have the experience and "I" will make change happen. Obama is about the "we." How "we" can bring change to the country and "we" can work together toward the common good. They both have a strong vision, but she is alone in hers, and his includes all of us. It's a fundamental difference in thinking, and to me, defines the difference between a good leader and a great one.

Now don't get me wrong, I like Hillary, I think she'll be a strong leader, certainly far better than any of the Republicans. But when it comes right down to it, it's President Obama for me!

A little bit of movie history comes back to Malibu

MASH was aways my television fall back position - if nothing else decent is on, at least I knew I could always find an episode of MASH to watch. Well now it looks like we'll be able to drive up to Malibu and see a little bit of the MASH barracks in the flesh: 'MASH' camp comes alive - Los Angeles Times
That's definitely getting added to the list of fun things to do when the folks come out to visit!

Sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, so you can rest... yeah right.

Damn, I wish this was available now. Even better, 3 months ago. Then I wouldn't feel so crappy. Maybe a flu shot isn't that bad after all? (Says the girl who once ran out of a doctor's office and locked herself in the car to avoid getting a shot. Yeah, I was a fun child.)

Putting the "fallen" in The Fallen Stars!

I always liked the name of our band, but never has it seem more appropriate than last Saturday night at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano! We opened for The Motels, (puts on best Troy MClure voice) you might know them from such songs as "Only the Lonely" and "Suddenly Last Summer." (/Troy McClure) Anyway, Martha Davis was amazing, and I was really impressed by some of their new material - really good stuff!

So getting back to the "fallen" thing, here's what happened. We're about two-thirds of the way through a fantastic set, and up comes one of our biggest crowd-pleasers, "Welfare Cadillac." I start with some swinging bass while Bobbo's talking to the crowd. He's got them in the palm of his hand, hanging on every word. The rest of the band comes in and we're off and running. As we come up to the solo Bobbo and his wireless guitar go running off the left side of the stage and into the crowd. He's making a loop through the audience out front and is heading around to the stairs on stage right. But the house lights are all down and it's pretty dark in there and well, you'll have to see for yourself what happens next!

Never a dull moment with The Fallen Stars!

My amplifier went kablooey!

We're in the middle of rehearsal last night, and I noticed that my bass amp is sounding strange. Thin, tinny, not it's normal big bass-y self. After we finish running through the set it's crackling and popping and making some very suspicious noises so I put it down for a bit. A few minutes later I go back and hit a note and... nothing! Not a single sound comes out! So now I have a huge show tomorrow night and no amplifier. This is not good. Looks like we'll be hitting the guitar stores tonight. Oh boy, fun. *sigh*

Trip photos

As promised, here's a link to check out the photos from the trip. Enjoy!

Blue Rodeo Trip

Back from the Pacific Northwest

Just returned from our whirlwind 3-day tour of Seattle and Vancouver. Didn't sleep at all last night, except for an uncomfortable hour or two of catnapping on the plane from Seattle. The Blue Rodeo show was amazing, got to go backstage and meet the band. Very cool. Will be posting pictures later.

Canada, here we come!!

A few days ago my dear husband and I were chatting about one of our favorite bands, Blue Rodeo. If you've never heard of them, go check them out now. They're huge in Canada and have been making amazing albums for almost 25 years now. Seriously. Go.

So we're talking about how we'd love to see them live, but they rarely tour the U.S. However, it turns out that they're touring Canada right now and will be playing two nights in Vancouver this weekend. The conversation goes like this:

Him: Vancouver's not that far, right? (Mind you, we live in Southern California.)
Me: Well, it's too far to drive there and back in two days, but it's not far to fly. I think we need passports to fly to Canada though.
Him: Hmmm. (Looks at map) Seattle's kind of close to Vancouver. Could we fly there, then drive to Vancouver?
Me: I suppose, as long as I'm back for work the next day.

After some intense online shopping for flights and car rentals, suddenly we have a three day trip to Seattle and Vancouver, leaving tomorrow! The only thing we don't have booked yet is a hotel, but if any of you know anyone in Seattle or Vancouver that might be willing to put us up for a night, we'd be eternally grateful. Floors, couches, barcaloungers, we're not picky!

Fun with blenders

In search of the answer to the age old question, "Will it blend?," the host throws all types of items in the blender - iPhone, Bic lighters, Chuck Norris, just to name a few. This is a great concept for creatively demonstrating the power of a product! And it's strangely satisfying to watch an iPhone get reduced to a pile of black dust in seconds!

Will It Blend? | Presented By Blendtec

Into the wild blue yonder

Today's moment of zen. Sit back, relax, and watch it go.
Epic Paper Airplane Flight

Continuing in my quest to know everything...

Here's a fun new website that aims to list "Every Rule of Thumb on Earth in One Place!" If you log in, you can contribute new tips or vote on the value of the ones other people submit. All hail the hive mind!

RulesofThumb.org

Why good smart beople do bad dumb things

Calling all psychology enthusiasts! I'm fascinated with how the mind works and this collection of articles highlights some of the most interesting studies in human behavior ever done. A great read!
PsyBlog: Why We do Dumb or Irrational Things: 10 Brilliant Social Psychology Studies

The weight is gone!

Did you ever have this thing that you know you should do, yet never get around to doing, and it just weighs on you constantly? Even when you're not thinking about it, there's that little voice in the back of your mind going "Why haven't you done that yet?? It's so quick and easy! Do you WANT to lose everything just cause you couldn't be bothered? Get it done already!!"

What I'm talking about of course is backing up my computer files. And the good news is, my new hard drive just arrived and it's backing up everything at this very moment. I can feel the heavy spectre of lost data melting away with every copied megabyte! I'm free!

When they all start to sound the same...

They keep telling us they're different, but all I can see are the similarities. If you're like me and wondering how to compare the presidential candidates in more objective terms than what you hear in their stump speeches, check out the NY Times Election Guide 2008 - Presidential Election - Politics. It lists where each candidate stands on six major issues, including what actions they've actually taken in the past on those issues. Have fun comparing and contrasting!

It's a fine line between laziness and efficiency

I've finally figured out how to post a single blog on just one place and have it update on my band website and facebook and anywhere else I want it to go. Oh happy day!

If any of you wonderful people actually want to follow my random blathering on a semi-regular basis, now you can go to http://curiousnotionsandthings.blogspot.com/ and subscribe from there. Though why you would want to do a thing like that is utterly beyond me!

When will the rain come?

They've been warning about it for days, but it's still not here. Waiting for the gusting winds and frantic tappity-tap-tap of the rain like hundreds of Poe's ravens beating their wings at the window. Maybe even a little thunder and lightning? One can only hope.