We’re through being cool

All through the 80’s I was a huge live music fan and I got to see some awesome shows. GBH, Dead Kennedies, The Dicks, The Dead Boys, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Johnny Lydon w/Public Image Limited, Big Audio Dynamite, Psychedelic Furs, The Dickies, Oingo Boing….the list goes on and on.

As I mentioned before, Devo has had a profound affect and influence on me since my first exposure to them in 1978.

My first opportunity to see them perform live came in 1982 at the Cullen Auditorium.

The Cullen show was actually two shows. One at 7:00 and one at 10:00. I was at the early show. The late show was raided by the police and shut down early. I’m pretty glad I missed that one.

I’ve seen them live one time since then with bandmates Joe and Greg. I can’t recall the year. Probably early 90’s.

Imagine my delight when I learned they were touring again. I am the proud owner of two tickets for their August 19th show at Reliant Arena. Interestingly enough the Psychedelic Furs are opening up the show. This promises to be a geriatric trip down punk rock memory lane.

I just hope this doesn’t end up being a cheezy promo for Disney’s Devo 2.0.

Microsoft’s next killer app

The potential of Microsoft Live Labs Photosysnth is mind boggling.

From Live Labs:

Photosynth takes a large collection of photos of a place or object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed 3-Dimensional space. With Photosynth you can:

walk or fly through a scene to see photos from any angle;
seamlessly zoom in or out of a photograph even if it’s gigapixels in size;
see where pictures were taken in relation to one another;
find similar photos to the one you’re currently viewing;
explore a custom tour or see where you’ve been; or
send a collection to a friend.

Check out the video tour that shows the basic concept.

Can you just imagine merging this with something like Google Earth?

An ebullient evening

The happy couple

Cynthia and I celebrated our anniversary over dinner and drinks at Sambuca Jazz Cafe in the heart of downtown.

I have had a few opportunities to visit Sambuca and have always been very pleased.

On this night we enjoyed our respective adult beverages of choice, gin and tonics for her and vodka martinis for me. They were mmmmmmmm tasty!

Our meals were indulgent and decadent. I enjoyed a lovely dinner of rare lamb chops with garlic mashed potatos and asparagus while Cynthia savored some lovely veal served with mixed vegetables.

We had mentioned to our abundantly attentive and wonderful waiter that we were celebrating our 13th anniversary and when desert arrived it had a personalized message written in chocolate…

Lucky 13

It was a lovely evening of delicious food combined with delightfully intoxicated reminiscences punctuated with laughter and a real sense of joy that is the result of spending so much of ones life with such a suitable and compatible partner.

2006 Houston Press Music Awards Showcase

Our showcase performance for the 2006 Houston Press Music Awards will be at Pete’s Dancing Marlin at 5:00 PM on Sunday, July 30th.

We hope you can join us for this event.
If you have not yet voted, there’s still time!
You can also cast your vote at the event.

We play for about an hour and there are many other great bands to see that day.

You gotta love the write up in the Houston Press:

“Traditional folk music for the 21st century” is the stock-in-trade of these sea salts and Zappa- and Devo-loving buccaneers. Regular denizens of the Continental Club complex, these fish can also be found flying in allied bands such as Beetle and Light Rock Express. Their stated goal: “To find a way to keep enjoying the music business”; their dream is an “animated appearance on The Simpsons.” (We can see it now: They’re playing on the docks, and the Sea Captain introduces them thusly: “Arrr, this be the yarrest band thar be#201”) Feel free to request “pop songs from the ’60s and ’70s” at their shows, but don’t holler for “Danny Boy” — you might get a harpoon through your midships.

Year 14 of a life sentence

Cynthia

Today Cynthia and I celebrate our 14th anniversary.

She is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
And I am not just saying that because she reads this blog on her lunch break.

There are literally no words adequate enough to describe how happy and how lucky I feel for getting to share my life with such a glorious woman.

Thanks to the all night flower stands over on flower row near downtown I was able to have this waiting for Cynthia when she woke up this morning:

Roses

One dozen red roses with one yellow rose to accentuate the 14th year of this relationship.

I love you Cynthia! Happy anniversary!

The times they are a changin’

I really don’t want to be one of those old guys who goes on and on about how things were done when I was young. Yea, I wax nostalgic about things like the first digital watches or my old Tandy TRS-80 I had back in 1978. But that doesn’t prevent me from revelling in a dual core Apple laptop and buying a new cell phone every few years.

Heck, I have even rid myself of all but my most collectible vinyl and happily load my iPod with music way younger than I am.

But there are some things that you just shouldn’t mess with (besides Texas). Especially in the name of product marketing.

It appears that Parker Brothers has decided to “update” the game of Monopoly. Not only that, but they are teaming up with Visa to do it.

No more paper money! Oh no, now you get a mock Visa card and a little machine that allows you to transfer money to and from the bank.

Chris Weatherhead, brand manager at Parker games, which makes Monopoly, said: “We wanted to design a more relevant version of Monopoly to reflect modern society.”

That sounds like a load of hooey if you ask me (pardon the old man-speak). If anything, it’s just one more way to put advertising in front of consumers.

According to the news article you will still be able to buy the “antiquated” cash version.

I haven’t been this bothered about a board game since Electronic Battleship.

You should not need batteries to play the classic board games. It just ain’t right!

Via Engadget: Monoploly ditches cash, goes plastic