Month: May 2006 (Page 2 of 2)

“It is so beautiful here; I wonder how many people decided to end things here and jump-off?” I didn’t know the answer to Barb’s question about the Golden Gate, but I would find out.

Research turned up “The Bridge,” a film by Eric Steel documenting the deaths of some 20 people who didn’t come to walk, or jog, or linger to absorb the beauty. They came to “cross over” the ledge to the other side. Since opening in 1937, the bridge has been magnetic to those with a death wish, and its pull has claimed over 1,300 lives.

Walk On By…
In a Q&A; session during the SF Film Festival, Mr. Steel spoke of things that surprised him during his year at the bridge. One incredible observation was that many people walking by would clearly see that a person was preparing to jump, but would just keep on walking without making any effort to intervene or help. While that seems incredible, it’s not really surprising. Many among us are indeed colder than the icy waters of the San Francisco Bay.

I hear Prom Night is big with the chicks. Here are a couple from last night’s prom… No, I don’t have any idea why it was on a Thursday. Anyway, here’s Megan (R) and her pal, Courtney. No words can explain the joy I feel seeing the smile on her face and the sparkle in her eyes. My little girl has become a smart, funny and most beautiful woman.

The Robot Strikes again…
My friend Jeff is a brilliant writer. He’s the reason I’m here, and I mean that on several levels. In the last couple days he’s written another of his exposes’ on the Tar Hut years, and today has a sweet interview with Brian Henneman of the Bottle Rockets. They are in town June 17th… Don’t miss ’em.

Between work, travel and watching Love Monkey, I just haven’t had much time to write lately, but for this I’ll make time. Back in June, I posted this photo of Kyle posing with “Bruce,” the shark from “Jaws.” Yesterday, I received this email:

“On your website, I stumbled across your picture from Jawsfest posing with Bruce. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the documentary, THE SHARK IS STILL WORKING, but I’m one of the producers of it. My name is James Gelet, and I’d like to have your permission to include that photo in the documentary. In fact if you could better yet email me a higher res version of it than what is on your site, that would be wonderful.

If you’d like to learn more about the doc, check out www.sharkisstillworking.com. I’d be happy to hear from you if you have any questions.

-James”

I quickly wrote back to James and let him know what a huge fan Kyle was and of course included a hi-res version. Here’s James’ response:

“Thanks a ton for the speedy response. We’re honored to have you and Kyle in the doc. It’s just going to be a quick musical break where we talk about how Greg Nicotero’s shark was such a hit. We’ll have a little medley of people’s photos, and I think we’ve already made the decision to have Kyle’s photo be the last one so he can stay on screen a little longer. He looks like he was really happy and had a fantastic weekend.

Thanks again, and I’d be happy to hear from you any time if you have
any questions at all.

-James”

Kyle in the movies… How cool is that?

Sometimes it’s the song, sometimes it’s the choreography, and sometimes it’s just because…

5. Sloan, Hampton Beach Casino, NH (2004) – Megan’s first show in a club and she was about 10 people deep from the stage when the band opened with “Gimme That.” She turned to look back at me and her smile said it all. Sure, there was Jeff Tweedy kicking off my first Wilco show with a solo version of “Gun,” and Queen in 1978 at Boston Garden opening with “Tie Your Mother Down,” and the Who, and of course my first Bruce show, but this one makes it just because…

4. Black Sabbath at Live Aid (1985) – No, they didn’t open, but when I stumbled in after an all-nighter driving from Boston and partying in the parking lot, Ozzy and Sabbath were rocking in front of a sea of 100,000 people in Philly’s old JFK stadium. Surviving that show was like going 15 with Ali.

3. Stones, U of Colorado (1981) – College roomies Phil, Marty, Pat and yours truly drove 900 miles from Tucson, AZ to see the boys and there was one song I really wanted to hear. I’d never seen the band, so the first chords Keith ripped to “Start Me Up” was good enough to make the top 5. Oh, and “Under My Thumb” they played 2 songs later…

2. KISS, Providence Civic Center, New Years Day (1976) – Lights, smoke, bombs, action! Gino’s bass line thumps as he and Paul Stanley descent 20’ high stairs opening their “Destroyer” tour show with “Detroit Rock City.”

1. Alice Cooper – I don’t remember when or where, or even what the first song was, but Alice’s theatrical entrance to the stage was the best I’ve ever seen. Ever. (Granted, I never saw Spinal Tap live…) The lights go down and a film is projected on a movie theatre screen made up of long, white vertical strips. The scene is of a wheat field being harvested. We then move to a bottling plant where large vats of clear liquid are seen and then the filling of thousands of vodka bottles… (At that point, we all got it. Alice had famous battles with the bottle, even back then. Bottle after bottle was filled and sent down the line to be capped and boxed. At the end of the line, the bottles were falling toward us and into one of twelve slots in new cardboard boxes. Suddenly one bottle is coming at us and is uncapped. Just as the vodka begins to spill from the bottle, Cooper bursts out from the projected image and onto the stage as guitars wail and drums crash. That was cool.

“Dad, we need an exterminator” Megan shouted out from the kitchen. I walked in with an attitude, intent on conducting a complete forensic investigation prior to paying someone to spray generic bug spray. More specifically, in our case, ant spray. The ant invasion had begun. It seems every spring, these freakin ants get off the plane from Florida and head right to my kitchen. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a good cook and they know they can get a good meal here, but jeez, call ahead, willya? Megan and I have held intense strategy sessions (she’d say I just yell at her) about keeping the kitchen spotless so there’s no food sources to attract the little bast… um, guys. Megan had washed the floor and i had thoroughly cleaned all countertops. The place was clean, but still, I would not have eaten off the floor. In spite of our efforts…ants. I opened up our cupboards (how come that’s pronounced “cubbords”and not “cup-boards?”) to see if some package was open and providing the food source I wanted eliminated. I found this.

Yes, it’s shocking, but combating illegal ant immigration is a dangerous and sometimes scary vocation, and it’s not always pretty. Just consider this a free, “keepin it real,” good housekeeping tip from fifteenkey.com.

There’s drink n’ dial, txt intoxicated, and blogging while blind. I don’t think I’m quite in the latter category, but it is Cinco De Mayo (that’s Greek for “Jeff’s Birthday”) and I’ve celebrated with some fine Mexican cuisine and libations appropriate for this annual festivity… Oh, so the title… Well, I’m at my brother Kevin’s house outside Philly that he shares with his very cool wife, Noreen and their adorable daughter, Margeaux. At two, my little niece looks like her Mom, but has a miniature evil streak passed from her Dad’s (and mine) side of the family.

I spent much of today working on Sales issues, trying to help my business partners close business. Closing is hard. My brother is in the business of training Sales professionals, so I asked him why it’s sometimes so hard to close business. He said, among other things, that you’ve got to find out what your prospect’s pain is and then convince then you can take it away. “What if you don’t know what the pain is,” I asked. “You either find out or find another prospect,” he replied. “Otherwise you’re wasting your time and theirs.” Thanks, bro.

“Blog Ideas” is a document where I keep um…well, I had a note in there to write about cool based on an article I read in the Chicago Tribune. Instead, I’ll write about it within the context of one day in San Francisco, a city where (almost) everything’s cool.

Day two of the odyssey began by resuscitating Barb with a Starbucks Triple Venti Latte. Her pulse restored, Barb was ready to seize the day. I was just ready for some breakfast. The place we found could not have been more perfect after a long day into night involving some great California wines. Adel’s Restaurant is on the corner of Wabash & Broadway, in Eureka, CA. It was so cool. It was Samuel L. Jackson cool. In fact, I was sure we’d hear Sam saying this before we left, but he must have been delayed with Mr. Wolf. After refueling on a breakfast that rocked the cholesterol Richter scale, we were off to the city by the bay (did I just quote a Journey song? OMG, I’m sorry…). I won’t get into a major retelling of the whole day, but pretty much everything we did ended with a “that didn’t suck.” Here’s the punch list:

• Jamba Juice
• The View (Yeah, click the photo above…)
• Legion of Honor
• Haight-Ashbury
• Amoeba Records
• Kezar Pub
• The Buena Vista
• Lou’s Pier 47 Blues Club
• Sir Francis Drake Hotel

It’s a tough call on what was the “coolest” thing we did on that particular Sunday. For me it was likely the return to the Legion of Honor museum. On my inaugural visit, I didn’t appreciate art the way I do now, so it was like seeing an old friend years after acquiring some semblance of wisdom and maturity. Fun hit it’s highpoint at Lou’s Blues where we made fun of the “Fleetwood Mac” type drama we thought we were seeing. It was pretty clear the bass player, think Art Garfunkel without the money, was “with” the female lead singer, and the completely disengaged guitar player um, wasn’t… anymore. It was such a contrast to see “Art,” mojo on, jumping around in “Krameresque” fashion while the guitar player played almost motionless, a blank gaze pointed out the window to Jefferson Street below.

By the time we sat down for dinner at the end of Day 2, I had a blank gaze of my own; one of complete exhaustion. Barb claims the waitress flashed her a couple “boy, he seems like a lot of fun” looks, but I didn’t catch those. I’d seen enough for one day.

Day 1 of my excellent San Francisco adventure took me to California’s wine country. The beauty of the countryside around the Bay area is both complex and simple as illustrated by the intricate row houses of the city back dropped by rolling green hills. The land flattens out and the hills embrace as you enter Napa Valley. Cornerstone Gardens was our first stop and is a collection of 20 garden landscapes, each created by a famous landscape architect. We walked around and snapped a few pictures, including sad, photographic evidence of where I lost my Bluetooth headset. After building up a thirst, it was time to toast Barb’s new job with a glass of the bubbly at Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves. Of course it’s not really “champagne” because the grapes are grown in California, but I don’t want to go all “wine snob” on you…

It was a great day including service by a “Wheel of Fortune” winner at Domaine Carneros and a nice tasting at my favorite winery out there, V. Sattui. The wineries caught us by surprise with their 5:00 – 6:00 pm closings, so we headed to Bistro Jeanty in Yountville to see if we could get a table before our 8:30 reservation. We sat at the bar drinking wine until they sat us around um, 8:15… Dinner was spectacular and a fitting end to a wonderful day. Well, except it wasn’t quite the end. We still had a little ride from Yountville in Napa Valley to Santa Rosa in Sonoma. Yeah, we were headed over the hills and through the woods in the dark, through clouds of valley mist and fermented grape.

Barb was at her post in the co-pilot seat and she had the map firmly grasped in her hands. Unfortunately, her hands were attached to her sleeping self. Yep, my trusty navigator was counting sheep after a 20 hour day. I needed a Plan B, and I had one. As you may recall, I posess the Swiss Army knife of the technology realm: The “Jack Bauer” edition Palm Treo. On it I have the until now, classified “Directory Assistant” app.

With thumping music building a fake sense of tension in the background, I quickly found the hotel address and then plugged in our current zip code. In less time than you can say “24,” the directions were on my screen. I punched the gas pedal (not really, we were in a “thickly settled” 20mph zone) and screeched toward our destination. Barb continued to hold the map. I’m certain some terrorist likely named “Marwahn” probably spiked each and every glass of wine she had that evening.

(We’ll now return to reality…)

I wanted the right music for this “rural route” home. Uncle Tupelo’s “Anodyne,” as it has before, got the job done. It turned out to be an apt soundtrack to the dark, slow ride through the twists and turns separating life in each valley. The songs got me thinking. They also got me singing. For me, that music is cleansing like a hard rain. Its words offering a slightly different meaning each time they’re heard; some more pointed, depending on time and circumstance. On that night, on the road I found myself on, one line stood out: