Todd Blair benefit tonight at 9 at Roxy

Todd Blair Benefit at the Roxy

SRL Film Show w/MarkPauline and ? live interview/Q&A too.
$10 separate ticket.
Last part of the RE/Search PRANKS FILM FESTIVAL at Roxie Cinema, 3117 16th St/Valencia.

Come on down should be a hoot

Rebuild the house and fun videos of all sorts, Spider is in Berlin! Fun in Europe this fall at RoboDock and in Turkey

I've now really moved into Richmond to get focused on the house project.

Its camping, with no shower, and a playa toilet.

But I now have a cable modem so I can look up parts, how to stuff, and work on clients websites etc.

This weekend the actual building work starts.

With the framing for the bathrooms, plumbing, and electrical, floors etc by Big Daddy.

I'm not yet sure about the kitchen and who will do the work.

Kent Cates will be putting in a service panel, so I'll have plenty of juice to work with as I rewire the house installing new circuits.

This week I'll be ripping out some more areas like the kitchen. Then a dump run.

And getting the materials for next weeks build out, getting materials, plus getting the permits.

Its good to really be moving.

This weekends client work also was dropping into a new space for two clients. Video. Finding the best web hosting service for video (bliptv), as well as how to convert video from DVD's to web format.

I just put up a bunch of videos for Paul da Plumber / Paul, best known for his bicycle powered kinetic sculptures with Cyclecide. If you have ever been to the San Francisco Bike Rodeo aka Cyclecide then you have seen his rides.

www.paulsrides.com/

Right now he is the midst of the being the sponsored Artist in resident at the SF dump. His studio opening / gallery show will be in the middle of May. And the Crank Ensemble will be performing with his new works.

Good for him, bad for my plumbing plans.

So onto the videos

Here are my faves:

Check out miss rockaway video for sure. You will love the sound track.

blip.tv/file/749767

The rails video is gorgeous.

blip.tv/file/749456

The kharma video is pretty funny.
blip.tv/file/749781

There are more so check them out via bliptv or explore his website.

I also added a video for Tom Kennedy. It is rocking praise from Ben Cohen ( of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream ) and the Topsy Turvy bus that Tom built for him.

blip.tv/file/get/Tomke...eGoToGuy573.mp4

Beyond that I even caught up with my pal Maja Explosiv from Berlin today. Maja is a fantastic artist, a superb person, a licensed pyro in two countries, swiss, and really skilled in so many artistic dimensions. She can really draw. I stayed at her place for nearly 3 weeks after RoboDock and got the best intro ever of Berlin. I really dig her work and her people. Below is just one example of her work.

www.wired.com/culture/art...ery_robodock

For those that knows Spider ( of Burning Man Gate crew and Cyclecide) he has moved to Berlin. I'm really happy for him. If this house project had not required me, I might be there instead.

Spider and I hung out in Berlin and has enormous talent in so many arts and areas.

Maja is really stoked to have him as a house mate.

The big news is that Maja picked up one of the 4 grants for this years RoboDock, which will be really different.

As I understand it at RoboDock there will be a large cofferdam structured building ( with large gaps) in a downtown area (I don't think its Amsterdam) with a display / platform on each side. The Flaming Lotus Girls have one of the walls, Maja has another, Not sure who has the other two, and the walls will be continued by virtual walls at night created by lasers. With events inside and outside the building.

There will be performances by a couple of circus's and others, but this is a much smaller event.

And in Late September / Early October there will be a huge show / event for three weeks in Turkey at a former oil refinery site that her pal is putting together.

I'd love to go. Who knows. Maybe. After this house project, I can get on with my life within a few months.

-kevin


The image is from the Miss Rockaway barge last year on the Mississippi which Paul had one of his bicycle ferris wheel rides on. Now that is living the adventure of life and art.

Birthday party substitute: this Saturday: John Law Doggie Diner movie and Jamboree

Long ago many of my pals took off on an incredible cross country road trip with the Cyclecide bus towing the Doggie Diner heads of John Laws.
I really, really wanted to go, but was not able to make it.

I did follow the trip via blog, and found it a pretty inspirational trip. Though not the same.

Last month John Law told me to keep this Saturday open.

Well I have, even though I had thought of having a birthday party that night. For number 39.

Silly me. What could be more fun than all this in Alameda?

So instead lets experience the movie and lets all hang out at the Jamboree, which will have Cyclecide rides, drinks from John S new bar, and other stuff to do.

I could not have more fun at anything else for my birthday.

I'll hope to be there by 3 pm ( movie is at 4 and 8) , and would love to see all my pals there for either showing.

Of course, unless the 101 gets blocked by snow. I'm actually driving back today from Tucson for this.

-kevin

Fill details:


DOGGIE DINER JAMBOREE

Rythmix Cultural Works
2513 Blanding Ave.
Alameda, CA.

Saturday, January 26th
2PM - Midnight
Film shows twice, 4PM & 9PM
$10 at door / $8 in advance - <www.rhythmix.org/doggie.ht...oggie.html



World Premier:

Head Trip
A documentary film by John Law and Flecher Fleudujon
"An insane roller coaster of a ride during the opening salvos of the
Iraq war. See a bus-load of San Francisco characters careen across
our nation on a quixotic journey to The Big Apple. They drop in on
noteworthy American monuments and oddball artists along the way with
their own "roadside attraction, three giant Dog Heads in tow! A good
will trip like no other I've seen, at a time most needed."
-Louis Castaigne

See trailer at: <www.youtube.com/watch

Contact:
<mailto:john@laughingsquid.com>john@laughingsquid.com  /  510-543-5054 / 510-444-8844
<mailto:flech@mac.com>flech@mac.com  /  510-495-5296
<doggiediner.com> doggiediner.com
<www.laughingsquid.com/>http:/...uid.com/

Also - performances by:
Mr. Lucky <mrlucky.org/>http://mrlucky.org/
Mongolounge  <www.wearemongoloid.com/mongol...ge.html
Bishop Joey of the First Church of the Last Laugh
<www.saintstupid.com/event.html> www.saintstupid.com/event.html
Loop!Station <www.loopthis.com/>http://w...pthis.com/
Blake More <snakelyone.com/>http://snakelyone.com/
Phat Mandee <www.phatmandee.com/>http://...ndee.com/
members of S.F. Cyclecide <www.cyclecide.com/>http://w...ecide.com/
sounds and images by KrOB
<krobradio.blogspot.com/2006/0...th.html
thanks to Jon Sarriugarte & Art Bar <www.formandreform.com/wordpre...rdpress/
& Chicken John Rinaldi <www.chickenjohn.com/mayor/in...ndex.html
and More!

Free roundtrip bus ride from SF to Alameda:

Jarico Reese & the Cyclecide bus will be at:
2PM: Ace Auto at 2255 McKinnon <www.aceautosf.com/aceautofunstuff.html> www.aceautosf.com/aceautofunstuff.html
2:15PM: Ritual Roasters at 1026 V alencia St. <ritualroasters.com/3PM>http...ters.com/
3PM: Broadway and Nations Burgers, 317 Broadway (Jack London Sq. - 87
blocks from 12th St. Bart)

Chicken John & the Applause bus will be at:
7:15PM: Ace Auto at 2255 McKinnon
7:30PM: Ritual Roasters at 1026 V alencia St.
8:00PM: Broadway and Nations Burgers, 317 Broadway (Jack London Sq. -
87 blocks from 12th St. Bart)
buses return to all previous stops, leaving midnightish

Movie info:

Head Trip
85 minutes
A documentary film by John Law and Flecher Fleudujon

Produced by Central Services and Truth Serum Productions
In affiliation with Laughing Squid  <www.laughingsquid.org>www.laughingsquid.org.

This film chronicles the journey of the Bay Area's iconic "Doggie
Diner Heads" <www.doggiediner.com>www.doggiediner.com on a singular cross-country trek to
New York City.

Just as the bombs started falling on Baghdad in early 2003, some of
San Francisco most eccentric performers and whimsical characters
(Bishop Joey/Ed Holmes, Steven Raspa, Blake More, Jarico Reese, etc.)
set out for New York City accompanied by three ten foot tall, three
hundred pound fiberglas Dachshund Heads. Careening across America,
the crew visits the Grand Canyon, Graceland, the Gateway Arch, Mt.
Rushmore, the Washington Monument and many other celebrated roadside
attractions along the way. Hauled in tow behind the SF Cyclecide Bike
Rodeo's <www.cyclecide.com>www.cyclecide.com 1966 Gillig Autobus, the Doggies encounter
the spirit of America during a confusing period. Roadside encounters
with citizens and rendezvous with eccentric artist comrades through
out the "Middle" States are the heart of this journey.

Head Trip is narrated by KPFA radio personality, cartoonist, erudite
master of ceremonies, high priest of the Church of the SubGenius and
national treasure Hal (Dr. Howlin Owl) Robins.
<www.askdrhal.com/> www.askdrhal.com/

Interview subjects include: cartoonist Bill Griffith (Zippy the
Pinhead), Ron Turner (Last Gasp Comix), Harold Bachman (designer of
the Doggie motif in the 1950's) Cyclecide impresario Jarico Reese,
and tough guy screenwriter & novelist Floyd Salas.

Music by: The Billy Nayer Show, Savage Republic, Brian Jonestown
Massacre, Chicken John Rinaldi, Psychic TV, Phat Mandee, Sprocket
Ensemble, The Phenomenauts, The Yard Dogs Roadshow, Nervous Cabaret,
Polkacide, Kathy McKarty (singing Daniel Johnson,) Los Banos and
Three Day Stubble.

Directors Bios:

John Law:
-San Francisco Suicide Club (1977-82)
-San Francisco Cacophony Society (1986-__)
-Burning Man Tech Director & co-owner (1990-96)
-Crew member, prop designer for Survival Research Laboratories. (1990-___)
-Co-owner of Laughing Squid, web-host & SF's best Arts/Pranks info portal
-This is my first film.

Flecher Fleudujon:
-Instructor, Video and film production, New College of San Francisco.
-Producer/Director Truth Serum a Bay Area cable TV show since 1998.
-Co-Founder of SF's finest burlesque revue, The Yard Dogs Road Show
<www.eddyjoecotton.com>www.eddyjoecotton.com
-This is my first feature length film.

Saturday night Benefit for the Fire Bloom and Sea Star ( the firepits on the beach)

Come on down post Santa Rampage and support my pals like Rebecca, Yasi, and Charlie that are making public art that makes the beach fun for all out at Golden Gate Park beaches along the Great Highway.

www.facebook.com/event.php



Saturday, December 15, 2007 at 7:00pm
End Time:
Sunday, December 16, 2007 at 1:00am
Location:
The BoxShop
Street:
957 Hudson Ave.
City/Town:
San Francisco, CA



Save the Fires on Ocean Beach - Fundraiser to support the building of two new fire pits for Ocean Beach


Help us raise $5000 to make two new fire pits for installation in Spring 2008.

Saturday, December 15th, 2007 from 7pm-1am
the BOXSHOP located at - 957 Hudson Ave., San Francisco, CA 94124 maps.google.com/maps

Music, Food, Fire and Fun

There will be unique handmade gifts for purchase, food and drink, and an opportunity to meet the artists that made the SeaStar and Fire Bloom.

Come sit by the FIRE of the new SeaStar and Fire Bloom that will be on Ocean Beach soon!

Sliding scale $5-$5000

100% of the proceeds with go into producing new fire pits for Ocean Beach!

Thank you for your generosity and support!

The Direct Buy scam as learned in my remodeling education process (avoid the $6500 membership fee)

So I'm in the middle of remodeling the Richmond house.

The preliminary drawings are done, the bathrooms are ripped out.

When I stay over at the Richmond house ( max three days at a time) it's like playa camping with a bucket of kitty litter!

I'd stay longer but the lack of showers and lackof full time Wi-fi gets to me. I can drive up the top of the hill and grab some neighbors wi-fi, but its kinda a pain with all the research I have to do for the house.

The net is my pal, tutor, and comparison shopper for this project.

I'm soon going to get the new flooring and toilets in, oh joy.

The bamboo themed sconces, towel bars, toilet paper holder have arrived so I'm ready to pick the matching tones in cabinets, fixtures, and tile.

As much as I kinda want Tikki, this is not a tikki themed house, though its funny it easy could be converted to, if desired. Funny that.

Instead, I hear the Vapors "Turning Japanese" www.youtube.com/watch in my head.

Ideally, I will purchase wheatgrass based cabinets in the Shaker style. Wheatgrass are a most excellent green, tough woodlike fiber, low toxic glue vapor emmissons ( if you are careful with who you makes them).

Wheatgrass generally are lighter colors and since it's a small kitchen, light tones are a good call to make the space seem larger.

The current step in this process is to check out all the places to pick up the bathroom and kitchen flooring, cabinets, counter tops, and fixtures ( faucets). You know the expensive stuff.

So all the places include: Direct Buy, This and That ( San Pablo), Home Despot, Sears, Lowe's, Building Re/Sources, The Import Tile place in Berkeley, CostCo, IKEA, and too many damn others.

Tight budget you know.

Even my pal Max of Western Dovetail www.dovetaildrawers.com/ says I should go big box for the cabinets. As does two custom cabinet makers I know.

The cabinets are the most expensive purchase and kind of the most intimidating.

Short end of it: Direct Buy is a scam and does not have wheatgrass cabinets.

Nor do they have the advertised 40 percent savings.

Read this for the facts:
www.infomercialscams.com/scams..._scams

The best savings I've read of at DB is about $200 on a purchase, after popping out $6500 for the 2 year membership fee.

Of course, I looked Direct Buy up after ( and while) going to the "free " high pressure, one time only, presentation.

Actually I was pretty sure it was fishy beforehand.

From the lack of specific answers in the phone calls I made and received before attending.

But I had to check it out in person.

The promises were so large, the TV Ads so good ( not really), and I felt the entertainment value would make it worthwhile.

I think going as a group as cacophony event could be most excellent.

So heres the deal, a long tale to save you the trouble.

You go in, you get offered coffee or water. Soda's are .35 cents. Thats like 1/10th of a euro for my Berliner fans.

You are not allowed to look at the manufacturer catalogs.

They are secret and priceless, and special for only the most holy of holies " the Members".

Looking at the catalogs is what I had planned on doing in order to comparison shop and to evaluate the value of the membership.

I had zip idea in advance that membership was so insanely expensive.

This is a twisted scam merchants version of COSTCO.

Instead you get hooked up with a sales agent, who will drill you for personal information and demurly put any questions off until you have a chance to see the presentation.

I think this is the "getting to know and trust the sales person time". Their plan is afterwards you will hand over serious dough post presentation cause you know them and they know you.

My minimal answers to the sales agent such as:
"So what did you have for dinner" me: "Rice".
"Did you drive far? me:" No"

This might have blown the get to know plan by the agent, or at least tip her off I would be a hard sell.

Sadly her husband had left her after 17 years and she had two kids ages 13 and 18. She was raising them solo and had never traveled farther then Reno. Poverty sucks. As does being a solo mom. As does deciding one is way too young to have kids. I'm pretty sure she was in her mid 30's.

She mentioned the kids she was raising 4 times. But I was not to be swayed by emotion or thoughts of charity. Or calculations of sales commissions.

My questions were muy practical such as:
" Can we look at some catalogs?" agent: "No, wait til after the presentation" or " The presentation will answer all your questions".

Just like the Wizard of OZ, I thought.

Am I Dorothy or the Tin Man? Where is that damn little dog?

Finally, 10 wasted minutes later, we move to the two-tone Panasonic TV room, and the presentation starts.

I'm put into the back of the room. Maybe I'm a suspect. I can barely avoid cracking comments during the video, but they have planted a mole agent with the group ( in front) so I don't want to get kicked out.

Kind of like watching a movie in middle school with the teacher in the front of the class watching the kids.

Instead, I send snarky text messages to an outside pal.

such as
"This seems to be a scam of sorts but with over a 100 locations how could it be wrong?"
"After the 45 minute presentation do I get a free week in Hawaaii?"
" but wait a former CNN Anchor endorses direct buy"

Priceless quotes in the video include:

"Finally we can be high end purchasers!"
"Not an open opportunity"
"Prospective members can not be invited back"
"How much you spend is directly up to you"

After hearing the last quote I barely, barely restrained a "No shit?"

Forty minutes later ( its 45 minutes long or so) after a former CNN anchor ( the male authority figure of trust); a friendly and wanting to be funny white male "so membership is $40,000, just kidding"; a non threatening blond slim woman ( your girl pal not too hot to threaten the wifes in the audience) , and a few current suckers ( uh members) all extoll the value of Direct Buy and how much they saved, it is revealed how much the membership fee is.

In Palo Alto, it is $6500.

Um. No.

Others are shaking their heads.

I should walk out now. Make a show of it.

But I really want to see the rest of the demo so I can learn.

The pitch is "In just one remodel job with the kitchen cabinets you will save 40 percent so you can make that back right away, everyone is redoing their kitchens like your neighbor down the street".

Can you say peer pressure to be like the Johnsons?

See the savings already? So the joke about 40 K makes $6500 reasonable , right?

Elsewhere it could be as low as $4000 for two years ( this is not revealed, but that darn internet on their computer told me afterwards).

Then just $198 a year for the next 8.

I think big remodel purchases happen in 10 year cycles. Thats a guess BTW.

Next we are moved on to a personal demo of a catalog of LazyBoy furniture ( or something similar) and carpets.

That did not thrill me either.

I wanted the goods, the real sheets, the catalog in front of my face, the hard numbers.

Once again I am denied. No books or catalogs for me.

I love dealer parts books and catalogs. They are not complicated or difficult for me.

Only the holy Members get to see them.
The personal demo done, once again we are partnered again with our early entry sales agent buddy.

I'm sorry for the single mom, but I just can't help her. It was her bad luck to get me this eve. And I think bad luck for all the other agents that night. Maybe one couple bought in. Still that is $6500.

At at 200,00 claimed members, that is $1,500,000,000 or 1.5 billion dollars they have racked in.


So she asks me what else I need to know before deciding tonight.

I'm reminded tonight is the only night I can decide.

I mention Panasonic indoor fans, the whisper quiet model for the bathroom. Something that I know from my research from the night before.

But, I came in without specific items to compare. All the info I need is on my laptop at home.

I had asked about or tried to on the phone pre-arrival on how to prep. But was again denied and told all questiond will be answered at the demo.

When I asked about comparing attic fans from Panasonic ( the best known brand offered) they asked for the part numbers. I said, uhh, OK I could find it in the manufacturing catalog in 2 minutes.

They would not allow me to look it up myself. It was all proprietary and limited to members.

Hmm, they didn't trust me yet. I was very bummed.

I had told my sales agent that I ate rice tonight and she told me she had two kids.

I sadly felt the ties of trust unwinding.

I gave them a rough number and excellent detailed description. I said the model ends in 20 and there is 30, and 40 model and quite a bit more. It should be easy to look up. So I was wrong about the 30 model.

www2.panasonic.com/consumer...000005702

or
www2.panasonic.com/consumer...000005702


Ok, the Direct Buy Agent ( boss of my sales partner) asked me to go look it up on the net on this computer in the lobby.

Wow, the service is underwhelming me, and the moist happy connection with my agent is rapidly fading away.

I did the Panasonic look up solo ( I can type google), got the numbers ( with prices), passed the slip to agent ( she did not have paper or pen) then googled Direct Buy for the first time.

She took off to get me the numbers from the Members only book.

I was really looking forward to her numbers.

Ooopsie, google lists the answer to my query: "Reviews Direct Buy"

www.google.com/search

Right there on their computer, my worries are confirmed.

The Big G is never wrong. Well that isn't true either.

Ok, I was certain at that point getting with the program at Direct Buy was a bad idea.

Besides I did not have $6500 to blow on saving more money.

Yet, I just loved using their computer and leaving the info up on screen in the lobby for others to read.

Many a listing on the web and description of how people got suckered into the "one time only" chance to sign up. Then get late deliveries, wrong deliveries, pay a 8 percent handling charge ( never mentioned in the video), hassles on deliveries, huge hassles on returns, and more.

The big catch is that post presentation they tell you many times ( as well during the video) that this is the only chance to sign up.

A once in a lifetime ( or 7 years ).

Which is a really bad sign. If you can't sleep on a decision of this much money, you should not be doing it in my book.

Unless you have all of the research done up front. And are really really certain with comparisons etc. But then you have already slept on the decision cause you spent so much time doing research.

Right?

Its a scam.

Anyways, no one seem to notice what I've left on screen.

And the Google campus is literally less then a freeway exit away. Google will kill these guys. I hope.

So I am steered over to another area to chat with my special sales agent and her boss agent for more info.

On the way I am offered water. I say "thank you that would be nice".

The funniest thing is in the just watched video, Direct Buy representatives slammed a big name warehouse place without naming it ( can you say Costco?) with a direct price comparison on some big flat screen by some no name manufacturer.

Direct Buy was of course much cheaper.

What water did they offer me? Kirkland bottled water.

Kirkland is Costco's inhouse brand. I loved that touch.

I say drink the Kirkland water, it is much better for you.

There was more with me seeing brochures for cabinets (without prices), a chat with the franchisee owner.

Plus me asking several times for the Panasonic prices. Not getting the prices. Just claims they will get them in just a minute.

The franchisee sales lead guy (i've been with the company 11 years) kept asking me if I believed in the "Savings" ( much like do I believe in the "Word" just like some church I was brought up in and since left).

I was getting kinda scientific and saying but I need the "numbers" and the "facts".

I kept replying I needed the facts to make a decision. And I simply did not have them. It was amicable and he was really smooth.

So even after looking up the prices and manufacturer part # and giving it to them, they never gave me their price on the Panasonic fan.

And I know I asked for their prices at least 5 times.

And I left.

And left the kirkland water bottle (half drank) on the receptionist table.

Maybe others will see my subliminal warning and not confuse a good, positive brand of membership store with a bad one.

A couple final thoughts.

Where is Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping when the people need him?

Maybe we could go down and have a session out front.

I think there should be a consumer protection law ( I know Texas has one but likely not spelled out as well) , that the buyer is told on signing the contract by the sales person that they have three days to cancel the contract. The buyer has to verbally repeat that fact to the sales person. As well as sign a well marked separate area and line in the contract that they know they have three days to break the contract.

But a sucker is born every minute.

But I can dream.

The SRL benefit for Todd Blair was a great success

Sorry I was too busy last night to hang out, I and missed so many friends while stuck in the ticket booth.

A lot of money was raised. Not sure how much but a bunch. Thanks all to came and contributed.

Big time thanks.

Being trustable with the cash has its drawbacks. I got stuck with the door / cashier gate while the fun of the auction and Extra Action was going on.
So I missed out on three hours of seeing folk.

Before that I was filling in gaps setting up the silent auction room since some details had not been thought out and only became obvious just before the event. So we improvised and all made it work.

But everyone did their best and the event got pulled off.

Over 700 people came to event which roghly means at least $7 K at the door.

I have no idea how much the auction brought in, but there was $27,000 in art, services, and objects donated. Mark Pualine told me he thought we made as much as possible.

Which is super.

I was there from 7 pm to 4 am.

The damn Zamboni ( for floor washing) broke down so the all the floors had to be manually washed which Mike Dingle, a good guy from CCA (name unknown), and myself mopped the floors at SOMARTS.

Multiple times.

Another pal stepped up and dealt with the silent auction room cleanup. Whom was not an official volunteer. Just did the right thing.

Four people that I think worked really hard and really respect.

Its good to work with people like that. When the crunch comes I know who to call and who not to call. And I know who I will not work with again. Cause they just make the work painful and last much longer cause they lack the focus or ability required.

And who needs that?

Opening for Toychrestra with the Cranks on Thurs !

At the Luggage store in SF on Market.

I'm really excited about this show.

I think its been 4 months since I last performed in a Crank Ensemble show. Course there has only been one show since Maker's Faire.

So the exciting news is that the Crank Ensemble is opening for Toychestra, one of my fave avant garde fun groups.

If you don't know Toychestra check out toychestra.com/
for sample tunes see toychestra.com/sound.htm

I saw them years and years ago in the 90's and really dug them and was inspired by them.

The odd thing is that I was just in Leipzig, Germany ( for Bimbotown, a long running machine art warehouse party) and met the sound engineer that did the recording of Toychestra's album in Leipzig.

At the time I had no idea we had a gig coming up with Toychestra ( but did know of them) . .

Small world.

Come on down, it should be quite fun. You'll love the use of the toys.

For those that do not know of the Crank Ensemble check out either:
www.myspace.com/crankensemble
or
www.infoflow.com/larnie/cranks/

kevin


Toychestra/Crank Ensemble
Outsound Presents Luggage Store Gallery New Music Series
1007 Market St.
@ 6th Street
SF
8pm: Larnie Fox's Crank Ensemble
9pm: Toychestra

The Crank Ensemble is a San Francisco-based performance group whose musicians create rhythmic and repetitive patterns by using handmade crank-operated machines. The instruments are constructed by artist Larnie Fox; each has a mounted piezo (contact microphone) to amplify its sound. The ensemble of cranks creates layers of sound, resulting in a range of a sparse new-music style 'plinking' to melodic loopiness and hardcore noise. The Crank Ensemble has performed at numerous local spaces/events such as the Luggage Store, the LAB, the Hemlock Tavern, 12 Galaxies, at 21 Grand as part of the Edgetone Music Summit, Godwaffle Noise Pancakes, and at the 2007 Maker Faire. www.myspace.com/crankensemble


Toychestra is an all-women musical ensemble that plays toys. Some are actual instruments like toddler-sized pianos and xylophones and drums. Others just make great sounds, like the pink zoo train or Boo Megaphone or the acoustic, multi-sonic Activity Center. Still others are used for percussion, like the washboard, Don’t Wake Daddy, and woodblock. Toychestra performs original compositions ranging from stark to upbeat, from percussive to melodic, to ambient, avant-garde and kitsch. Venues include galleries, clubs and schools. Highlights include 'Juvenilia' (S.F., Fall 2000) and “Bay Area Now/Under the Radar 1” (Fall 2005) at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the collaboration with Dan Plonsey and Fred Frith (S.F. Bay Area, May 2003-May 2004), the group's five European tours and the recent 'Musiques et Jouets' festival (Cite de la Musique, Paris, Winter 2004). The group has five releases, three on Lyon’s S.K. label.
www.toychestra.com

Accompanying the bill will be short videos by participating musicians, as well as a short improvisation with the two groups.


November 29, 2007
08:00 PM - 11:00 PM

Cost:
$6-10 sliding scal

Location: Map Weather
Luggage Store Gallery
1007 Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94103

I am legit at last, and my drive is bigger then yours!

So the Mac OS 10.5 came out. I, for once, bought it first day out.

But this caused a few issues.

My crucial programs stopped working (Interachy) or I ran out of space.

So I backed everything up via the cool new Time Machine.

Then dropped in a 250 gig drive into the Macbook Pro.

I got it for cheap in San Jose from Jason ( x124) at Microland.

BTW Fujitsu lies about their 300 gig 2.5 inch drive.

It isn't really available to punks like you and me. Yet.

If you are looking for a replacement 2.5 drive the fujitsu uses far less power then any of the others I looked at. And It really did look at all the power geek specs like spin up, sleep, spin down, etc. The various hard drive firms use their own scales for noise so i you can't really compare that via PDF spec. My new one seems to be pretty quiet.

And I would avoid Western. Apple just had a soft recall on a bunch of them.

I've had the machine for exactly a year so I guess it was time for an upgrade.

So I cracked open the laptop, installed the drive ( after 20 flippin screws), signed the deep interior with a sharpie with a big FU to Apple for making it so much a hassle vs a Dell, and reassembled it.

Dell laptops ( the high end) are two screws, pull drive, slide in new one. Reinsert screws. Just did this last week for a pal.

Next, I reinstalled 10.5 ( required for a new drive despite Time Machine), rebooted, then the installer gave me an option to restore via Time Machine ( which worked really really well and was muy smooth).

Love it. Nearly easiest reinstall ever.

Almost everything worked.

Ohh, except for that very crucial pirate version of Adobe Photoshop. Oh yeah, and InDesign. oops. And Dreamweaver. And Illustrator. Ahh fuck. Those bastards at Adobe got me at last.

I've been working them for 20 years without a fully registered copy ( mostly). However, I have made some firms I work for pay for a copy in house. I have no excuse for my immoral behavior beyond poverty, and desire to play without paying.

Time to go legit.

Being an occasional designer for cold hard cash this was a problem. Kinda big. Need those wares to work for me.

Its tough to charge to change a web site when your tools are locked up. Or limited to a 30 day run and the run has run out.

So I started going all goofy online with the plastic.

I bought the latest rev of BBEDIT from Bare Bones ( I was at version 6 ( a " borrowed backup" copy my license was last legit at version 4, now they are up to 8.71 or so) plus the latest rev of Interarchy. The old rev ( legit and registered) was fine until it broke in 10.5.

I've really been meaning to pay Bare Bones for years ( really) since they are good folk, however in my defense I have sent them cash last year since I do own a legal paid for copy of Yojimbo which I use daily. So I have kicked down to their bottom line in the recent past.

I actually did these two apps right after upgrading to 10.5.

With an ftp app and barebones any non-flash site can be improved.

I could use just BBEEDIT for site fixes, but I like to be safe with my uploads and downloads of clients work.

I even bought Missing Sync work with my loaner Treo 680. Shout out to MK ( yes she is a Palm employee) for the loaner!

Missing Sync has a few 10.5 glitches. Or at least one conflict on startup. Need to chat with the Missing Sync founder about those software issues, since I knew him back in the BMUG days or yore. Doubt he will take my calls. But you never know.

And the Palm 680 burns the battery in less then 2 days. And I don't like how one scrolls down names in the default view. Take forever and is actually sorta worse then my old Moto 557. However, at least I can easily charge the 680 and the calendar , camera, etc are all nice.

Still I think my January birthday may call for a Jesus phone from the mothership.

So Friday did a tricky upgrade to the Adobe Web Suite.

Don't ask how, but I qualified for the $599 deluxe Web tools upgrade.

The box came in yesterday. Weak packaging. Weak booklet. I want the old school big books that use to come with your purchase.

I installed most of the full package late last night. But Photoshop and Dreamweaver would not install. There was some crud floating around in my system from old demo versions.

Can you say crucial issue? Why did I buy these bundles again?

It was late getting home since I was over at MK Ultra's helping her with a install on her powerbook. That went fairly well ( and in fact she did the reassembly GO MK!) , but lets just say that trackpad flat cable and connector is something to watch out for on a 17 inch. Seriously.

My Macbook Pro ( hate that name what was wrong with Powerbook? ) is actually easier and better designed internally despite less space in a 17 inch. Despite 20 fuckin screws.

This am, I found some oddball Adobe technote on my install problem, grabbed the suggested cleaner application, which ran a line prompt app ( PHP script) from Adobe.

The script has 4 levels of safety ( kinda funny) such as: "Backup all apps and content on your drive before proceeding" ha, ha, ha; and "type GO is you want to continue".

End of the day? It zapped all the crud from old installs out of my Library / System Folder. As well as the apps. But thats OK I've got the installer CD!

I miss the days of just tossing your prefs files.

So anyways at 38 ( nearly 39) it all works. Nearly all my wares are legit copies.

I can now go back to work for various web clients. Even do a bit of flash for my cool new Berlin client ( www.thewhale.eu/)

Without stress.

I am legit in all my Adobe warez for the first time ever. It feels kinda nice.

OK, so I'm missing one piece ( and I'm not doing video but would love to play in that space).

Next purchase is InDesign CS3.

Its a semi-bargin at $199 and I do need it.

But I'm tapped for this month.

Back to drywall fun on Thursday at the Richmond house.

Was this the most inane post ever?

-kevin

Volunteering to clean up the oil mess in the Bay, how to

So caught a great power point presentation from a state bureacrat today in Richmond on what the state agency does in reposonse to past and current spills.

Not.

The key facts:

If you see more then 6 birds oiled up call: To report oiled wildlife: 877-823-6926
If you only see one or just a couple don't bother they want the big groups.

Its a perfect example of the grad school policy directive #1: mini-max.

Minimum effort , maximum return.


Ned less to say the PP did not please the public.

The public was pretty upset they could not just go out and start saving the day.

OSHA requires a minimum of 4 hours of training in order to handle the oily beaches. If not 20 or 40 hours.

No training is set up yet.

There is a renegade cleanup movement that Chicken John posted about. So if you want to help now that is the way.

>from chicken john
Command central is Sports Basement in the Presidio.
People are meeting at 10am Saturday morning. There will likely be efforts on Sunday as well.
Go to www.zunasurf.com/oilspill/ for complete info about cleanup efforts so far and what to bring wear etc.


The event was billed as training and Maureen brought me along to see if we can help out the bay.

I went right after learning how to set and grout tile at Home Despot.

The crowd overwhelmed the room, into the hallway behind, and the side outside area.

Basically after 45 minutes of BS slides someone else came talked ( a biologist), who is actually responsible for the beach closures.

Her reasoning was solid. It was to protect the birds fouled by the oil. Apparently beach folk scared oiled birds back into the water and many died as a result, or were much tougher to capture.

Heres the deal.
Apparently if you rescue a bird, there is only a 4 hour window to get it to the one place in Nor cal for treatment and washing. Otherwise the bird is toast.

So the training was mislabeled.

It should have been listed as an info session.

They took our names (after the long horrid stupid power point presentation) , and most of the public filled out forms and you might get called in 2 weeks.

But they ( the various agencies) did not tell anyone that during the meeting ( I discovered afterwards via a pal), and it took 90 minutes to get to that point.

A near total waste of time and potential resources.


-kevin

Shots in the Hood

So if you really want a police response shoot a police (Corrections) aide.

Its really sad that the only time the cops really seem to come out in force is when one of their own is shot.

My neighborhood ( Richmond) was swarmed with cops yesterday afternoon when a rookie was shot ( and is in critical condition) at Contra Costa college. He was shot by a car thief.

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi

I've heard shots before in Hunters Point, the Mission, Dog Patch, and yes even in Palo Alto. I recall when I called in a drive by in Palo Alto the cops did not believe me. The next day they dug out bullet fragments from a neighbors house.

But I've never seen a response like this with helicopters ( yes multiple), cops with full assault rifles, and more.

It was kinda freaky to be kinda advised by a motorcycle cop post shooting "there is a man armed with a gun loose in the neighborhood."

They actually locked down the neighborhood. Which was a first for me.

I really hope the rookie survives and the rest of classmates learn that being a cop means you are special.

Five police agencies were involved in the manhunt.

I wish every shooting had this kind of response. I think there would be far less shootings.

BTW the guy apparently got away.