The Power of Protest, fueled by Trail Mix

The last Anti-War protest G attended in Sept, 2005 was by far more widespread, but the timing was ripe and the weather was ripening for today's Demo on the Mall.

A pause to observe a fluffy chickadee in McPherson Sq. It flitted away just after the click.

This is the best shot the blog managed to get of Jesse, Jane, Susan and Tim enroute to the podium. Heh.

Our fearless leader came but seemed busy rehearsing for his stage version of Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" Note bloody hands and (obscured)platform shoes. (He's only 5'4!!!!)

First observation-Inventive use of the English language for sloganistic purposes.

Good old fashioned punnery.





And these young people...just crazy about the bongos.

Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, being the most vocal of the anti-war candidates, was the trendy pick of the day, and why not with such vixens handing out the literature?
After moving up as far as I could, settling in, the crowd settled down around the blog and the situation began to get a bit crowded.



Being in such close proximity to these folks, I got into the spirit, but was annoyed to have to endure the minutae of people's habit, particularly their cell phones.

Where are you? I'm....uh...hello...I'm over here by the...uh...
and in the spirit of macrobiotic bliss, the Love crowd shared a bit of Trail Mix with each other.


















Things were getting spirited, but hectic, with crowd surfing and bad acid cases









Soon, after the speeches and before the short March towards the Capitol, some in the crowd paused to rest,










Give their dog friends some water and let them play some drums. Baroo?








Eventually the blog departed, sadly observing the muddy detrius left behind:






and bore witness to the (symbolic) horror of the uncharged detainees of Gitmo:

Praying hopefully that they at least get one phone call






Then, a brief bit of satire outside the museum:







Past the Washington Monument, you would have never known there was a protest going on


and by the White House, there was no protest route extended there. It was business as usual.

Felled by a hit single

We give equal time on the blog for the politics, and the pop. Everybody get some!
Due to a scheduling change on NPR radio, G was forced to the FM hit radio stations and low and behold the rockin' and poppin'.
There was leeriness if giving boy-band associated popsters a shot, regardless of the gossip obsession going on, but after hearing Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" the realization was quite clear. This was a brilliant piece of pop fluff.
It's funny for those who like funny, it's sexy if your'e tuned into that, and it's incredibly dance-able. So danceable as I discovered, that you could do practically any move to it and look like you're dancing in a music video. Regardless of being in tempo, on the one (first beat of the measure) or a mirror image of the vocal line, you can get your freak on instantly.
And the singer, who is the ultimate twink, doesn't come off too whiny, greasy or fake-tuff. There are no significant samples, just a simple 2-beat and simple synth lines. No breaks in the fun.

SOTU View-Spot the Sunni

The blogs' view recently of the Iraq war is unchanged. but maybe Bush has finally developed a tactic in his first-hand way of addressing the enemy. By now, enough of us know the parties involved. He has namechecked the Sunni insurgency several times as perhaps the worse of all evils or even directly linked with Al Qaeda. Saddam's peeps were Sunni.

The point is, make a damn decision who you want to back and back their ass up. And if you wish the Sunnis to not be ethnically cleansed out, make a pact, split the country, give them some oil revenues and make your bed with Al-Maliki, the Mehdi army of Al-Sadr and the Shia. Show some support, dammit!

Do I get tax-exempt tenure?

Upon hearing a preview of Bush's State of the Union speech, the blog became angry. Very angry!
The blog had been without health care coverage of any kind for 12 years. It's all been out of pocket including a failed root canal which left the blog without a molar for 4 years. Toothless was G!
This summer after starting a new job, the pay was reasonable, the health benefits simply fab.
But Bush's idea is to tax people's health care benefits provided by their employer, to pay for public health care for people
with no health care. Not to come off as cold hearted or superior in any way, but that puts a real kibosh on a sweet deal, well earned after some low-down times.

Tales of the new Yuppie and the new Fondue.

New title of the blog? Nah. But there were ideas of (in an attempt to generate sponsors who would insist on more frequent posts) turn this blog into yet another home for political discussion. And to refer to "The Blog" in the third person. Talkin' radical stuff here. We'll see where the energy goes. For now, allow the pseudonym "G" to stand for "The Blog" representing your author.

There was a notion of posting this week regarding the impending covers gig G had intentions on for some time. There was a declination, a rejection by this particular fast food manager, declaring that although my playing and material were good, the singing was not up to (the establishment's) standards. Needless to say this was disappointing and hurtful, and made G recall briefly watching American Idol the night before, a rare occasion. Of note was a proud but delusional Latina girl whose vocal warbling were rebuked by Simon repeatedly. To smugly retort "you don't know nuthin' 'bout me, you don't know nothin' about music" was somewhat out of line. If you don't make the audition, it is simply wasted time chalk it up to the need for more practice. The cruel lesson is, the pain is real, though not acute.

Now until G gets serious about the blog the material will remain it's varied-topical self, full of silly anecdotes chronicalling the modernistic adventures of G. Got one for you now:

There's been alot of cheese lately. A lot of cheese. Urp! I just turned down raw brownie batter after just a few licks. Let's see. Yesterday's breakfast was a cheese omelet and 3 pieces of bacon. Late lunch was a can of CBAD Ravioli (sprinkled with peppered parmesan). Dinner was a lovely party at the home of a "Washington Socialite". There was smoked gouda, pizza and a very large German pretzel which G smeared with goat.

Tonight is a party home, just to hang with our main gays. The item featured is a device and a cheese of the same name:RACLET. It is a soft stinky Swiss solid cow milk product. The device is an electric grill with trays that you slide underneath to melt your cheese, On the flat top, you grill small cooked potatoes, which are later semi-mashed, salami, pepperoni and prosciutto which are fried crispy, and apple and pineapple for contrast and extra flavor. Pair this with a fine Pinot and you have an interactive and smoky fun experience which is both appetizer and entree.

Now here's the kicker, J and G go to nearby Whole Foods to purchase these pricey vittles, finding everything but the most vital ingredients: the cheese and the meat. It is now starting to snow, first of the season, cause of much jubilation on G's part, or at first I thought as much. All that matters is the task at hand, the obstacles notwithstanding, minor but daunting in my mind. The mission is to hop on the bicycle in moderate snow a couple of miles over to Dean & DeLuca in Georgetown.
Now I'm a sale watching, coupon clipping, discount store trolling fellow, as is my usual inclination. But now I have a great loving and cultivated girlfriend that likes me eating organic foods and wearing cashmere sweaters. There was a time I would not have imagined wearing such items, or shopping at such places as D & D. Perhaps Whole Foods occasional for certain items if they were on sale like couscous. So, why shop for raclet when you can microwave a can of cheez whiz? If your'e watching a football game alone it's fine, but in my situation now it just won't do.
This is all mean to be funny people.

So I did the mission, one of those trudgy grindy rides, wore many layers outside but sweating heavily underneath. To confess to a bit of pride to accomplish this is somewhat hubristic. The same kudos would have been earned if the run was done in a motorized vehicle, but to know further what is possible with the will and the ways currently employed is the standard by which the blog abides and will continue to do so.

Soundtrack to this blog entry (subject to new-hipster shufflings' sake)
The Killers "Jenny was a friend of mine"

Emulating the master?

2006 may have been the first year since 1988 that I did not play a single gig. I'm really not sure if i can count the Hispanic Street Festival, since it was so unprepared. It was noteworthy though that I shook hands with DC Mayor-to-be Adrian Fenty, but the performance was a mess.

Doubtless he captured the gay vote.

I'm also hesitant to count the improv-collective jam I took part in at the Electric Possible series at GW (linked above-tonight there is a ballyhooed THEREMANIA Extravaganza). The night I played I had the only non-electric instrument, and still sported hair on my head by the time the performance was done.

So, I'm still putting myself out the on CList and word of mouth. I'm working on cover tunes I can play with deep concentration and conviction, like Segovia (pictured) doing pop hits of the day. Note the calmness of his demeanor and his pillowy sausage fingers. Imagine if he could sing too. That's what I'm going for.