You may have already heard me say that Green Day’s American Idiot is hands down the album of the decade. And you probably know that I love theater. But you may have had your doubts about Berkeley Rep’s stage adaptation of the album. But if you live in the Bay Area, or are in an income bracket that allows you to buy plane tickets to the Bay Area, then get thee to the Roda Theater, right away!

Lisa and I went to see it last night, and it was AMAZING. Really well done. Amazing set. Great singers, great choreography. Great band. They made some really great choices. Like the album, there are great characters, and there’s a little bit of a story arc, but it would have been a mistake to try and make it linear or even narrative. They didn’t. It’s really a mood-piece. It was really freakin’ good.

I don’t know what else to say. You should see it.

October 11th, 2009 | Leave a comment

Some things are easy to google, and some things are hard to google. I’ve had this lyric that I’ve been trying to place for years, with no success. It goes “Gary grew up in Gary, Indiana/ home of both his parents, and the Jackson Five.” I always loved that line, but could never remember where I heard it. I kept asking people, and nobody had heard it. I never had any success googling it. And I’m usually a solid brown belt googler. Well, today it popped into my head because Janet Jackson was the featured article on Wikipedia today. So I tried one more time, just to see if I could find it, and the googlegods were with me. I found it. It’s the opening lines to the song “Side of the Road” by country-rock duet Foster and Lloyd.

Funny thing is, I used to know Radney Foster – his ex-wife was a friend of the family. I was even in a play with her (directed by my father). Radney has even  picked and grinned on my back porch, though I haven’t seen him in years. For what it’s worth, he’s a good songwriter, and one of the most endearing things about him is he’s not afraid to tread the line between corny and clever. It’s a good line. And I’m glad I don’t have to go to my grave (er, ash-scattering ,or being dropped in the forest to feed the woodland critters…) trying to remember where that lyric was from. Mystery solved.

Now, can someone please find me the sweater song. No, not that Weezer song that clogs my google search and stays in my head. That really arch song I loved freshman year in college, sung by that obscure artist I can’t remember, that was really wrong, in the most awesome way. What the hell was that song?

October 9th, 2009 | Comments (2)

A strange comment from a vegetarian, you say? Well, one year ago, I made this post, congratulating Lisa and Shelley on completing the San Jose Rock & Roll Half Marathon, and how I wanted that feeling myself. Well, I have already completed two half-marathons, but on Sunday I get to run my third: the very same event I witnessed and wrote about, one year later. Dude, we’re goin’ to White Castle!

October 2nd, 2009 | Comments (1)

The song I want stuck in my head: The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood,” after a recent Rock Band Beatles night at Camp Meridian, and as I am reading Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. As beautiful as the song is, there’s something about it that resists headsticking. In fact, I think that’s part of its beauty.

The song I actually have stuck in my head: “Evil Monkey” by Chris Griffin.

September 19th, 2009 | Leave a comment

Okay, I probably shouldn’t be giving them free advertising, but this is one of the coolest internet ads I’ve seen in a long time.

It was, indeed 4:08 when I viewed this ad. Technology is cool. (so is beer…) I also like it how the 12:00 lime looks like it’s stuck in the bottle.

September 2nd, 2009 | Comments (1)

I found this article, about the closing of a restaurant in Berkeley, to be very interesting. Sad, too.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/30/FDU019D8SF.DTL&type=food

September 2nd, 2009 | Comments (1)

But maybe not entirely coincidental.

Yesterday I went on a hike to celebrate my 1 year anniversary. I went to Big Basin – one of my favorite hikes in the greater Bay Area. It’s a little bit of a drive, but since I’m catsitting in San Jose, it was 45 minutes closer than it usually is, so I wanted to take advantage of that. I love that hike!

So, anyway, without even thinking about it (until just now 36 hours later), Big Basin is the place where I was first given my trailname Loafy. Pretty cool, huh?

August 21st, 2009 | Leave a comment

One Year Ago Today, the above picture was taken. That’s really all I have to say on the subject, for now. Maybe I’ll wax poetic later, or maybe that’s all that needs to be said.

Big shout out to my fellow summiters (my heroes) that day: Jukebox, The General, Bunz, Roses, Tupperware, Hearts, Twiggy, Spoc, Memphis Tim and Beershake.

Now please excuse me, I have to go out and hike today!

August 20th, 2009 | Comments (1)

I didnt want to leave it all until my 8/20 anniversary post. One year ago today, I was in the 100-mile wilderness, with, yup, less than 100 miles to go. Let’s put that in perspective. Before I hiked the trail, the longest trip I had ever done was ~35 miles. And I did more than that on 8/13 and 8/14. 85 miles to go seemed like nothing at this point. Though it wasn’t without its challenges. 8/14 was a surprisingly hard day. In general, the ups and downs in the 100-mile wilderness aren’t huge, but this days’ were very steep, and I think I had been pushing. As I described it, I sorta cracked. I just didn’t have my legs. We were meeting Dave (Jukebox’ dad) at Ironworks Road, and he was taking us to a campsite along that road. A gorgeous campsite, as it turned out. Those logging companies sure know how to site campsites. Well, I ended up reaching the road just after dark. Dave was there waiting for me (he had already picked up the guys about an hour earlier). Needless to say, I was very happy to see him. And I got my legs back the next day, 8/15, which included our first glorious view of Katahdin from White Cap. As I blogged that day,  “I can literally see the finish!”

August 14th, 2009 | Comments (1)