Who Wants To Be An Innkeeper

We've had a string of house guests this summer. Good fun. At least until you start using cardboard boxes to sleep at night. We've got a basement full of 'em in case anyone needs a place to crash.

What's that Smell? Oh That's Cleveland.

Doesn't it have a pleasant odor? Well, I seem to think so, but raised in Buffalo I can't help but like Lake Erie and its odiferous cities. We spent a few days and nights in the city that rocks.











Josie and Conor fancied the guest suite with towels tied ina bow, champagne, and a copy of the Buffalo News.






We shopped at a big farmers market in an old train station. Cheap, Plump, and Fresh.














































We saw the Legend, that is, the Legendary Grandmaster Flash who was DJ and Master of ceremony at a block party as part of the Igenuity Festival. The festival was about science, technology, and the ingenuity of social animals. As such, Grandmaster Flash dropped some knowledge about the birth of his musical archtectonics, the mining and engineering of break beats...












We checked out the Cleveland Zoo which was big and full of animals and (as all zoos do) made me sad.




















Damn, we did a lot...and learned that Cleveland really does rock... and it smells a little too.

8th Annual Third Eye Open

Come to Buttonwood Park, New Bedford this Saturday to enjoy live hip hop arts and artists with people of all ages and backgrounds.

Performances by Melle Mel of the Legendary Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five Groundbreaking Crew, Busted Fro, & very real and raw talent from NewB

You can hit the courts at the b-ball tourney. Bring the kids. Bring the older folks. It's a community-family affair

Put on by the Youth. This is the Open.

GET DIRECTIONS HERE

Check out a DVD trailor for the Movement, a documentary film from the 7th Annual...

...and a tv news segment on 3rd Eye.

J.P. Jawn

Playing in Jamaica Plain on a lazy Sunday.
More photos.












Have you been injured in an accident?
Call 1-800-TONY-BLUE.

Jeremy & Jess' Joint

We checked out their new pad this afternoon, a few stones' throws from Rozzie followed by lunch at the Real Deal for some serious sandwiches and sweets. Peep the rest of the photos here.

Beacon BBQ Revival

Most of the original gang is back, plus a few newbies

Beacon House Guests

Antonio, Jenny and Amina are back in Boston! And it's not just a visit. Melissa and I have the good fortune of hosting them 'til they're back on their feet here and it's more fun than a barrell of monkeys.






Antonio's faster at hot hands but I've got a fat ring to turn his hands black and blue. Good times.







Amina's not playing hot hands yet but she's got plenty of other games to keep her busy.

Digging Holes

The other day we woke up to the sound of a crane cracking through the street and the smell of donuts (from the cop detail). The crew dug about 8 holes on our street and many more throughout the neighborhood. Shortly after digging, they haphazardly filled the holes back up again with asphalt. Later that day, a smaller crew came back and redug some of the earlier holes to refill them again. They've been back at it the last two days. No idea what they're working on other than job security.

Blue Room

Changing colors to change our mindset from tv room to sea side cove.

Boston Welcomes Philly Grunts

Pat and Steve of Grubstake, the crafty rock duo based in the City of Brotherly Love, made a crash pad out of our apartment this past Friday. They came in late, swung guitars drunkly and smashed what they could. Pat said their manager would take care of the charges. Turns out they don't have a manger. Anyway, by Saturday all was forgotten. They're rockers trying to be stars, I reasoned. Besides, who needs trinkets and china that can't withstand a simple guitar lashing.

...:::you can check out and download Grubstake's new album for pennies here:::...














So we skipped over to the new ICA for some contemporary art, some of which was inspiring like the giant, looming spider and a lot of diCorcia's photographs. Other stuff I wondered what the curators were smoking when they reviewed it, like the room with a projection of multi-colored light on the floor and the burnt wood hanging from the ceiling on fish wire. I guess that's what contemporary art is all about. I clearly just don't understand the stuff I don't understand. maybe I'll try an experiment. Take an artful poop in a bucket to explore the disposability of humanity in our market-driven, consumerist society, and to expose the realization that beneathe the having of things, the authentic self festers and one's ontological self-awareness withers into oblivion. If you know of anyone interested in showing my poo, please contact me.

In any case, the ICA building is fantastic--really worth it. And our company was great. You guys are welcome to trash our apartment in rockstar fashion anytime.

Is it poison ivy?

Doing some weeding the other day and found this sucker growing. I'm no plant expert, let alone poisonous flora, but as a boy I did learn: Leaves of three, let them be. But what about if they're in your backyard?
So do you think I need some good weed killer?

BBB Train

So you think you know Jewish music. Maybe for you it's about cantorial and synagogal music. Maybe you're a Shlomo Carlebach fan (I'm a fan of his beard). Maybe you dig on Debbie Friedman. They ain't got nothin' on the Balkan Beat Box. These guys blend mizrahi, klezmer, jazz, reggae, and hip hop in an electronic gypsy hybrid circus. Maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

Check them our for yourself.

Little Debbie Living Tax Free

Occasionally my internal clock functions better than the digital devices. This was one of those mornings. The storms must have knocked out power in the middle of the night. I slept like a rock until, well until, I didn't anymore. I woke us up on time to head up north of the river, Gore Street in East Cambridge to be precise, where we greeted our dear friend Deb who was carrying bagels in one hand and coffee in the other. Fuel for weekend-warrior furniture movers, a hobby I've been focusing on recently. Deb's outta town, off to New Hampshire as of today, which is a big deal for us since she was one of the first people Melissa met when she moved to Boston. They lived together and have remained tight for the past nine years. She's moving for a very good reason--it's always a joy when your friends find love in the right places. Mike's a stand up dude, and a stellar snowboarder with an interest like me in carving and riding fast, so they're certain to be getting regular calls from me come wintertime to hang out in the White Mtns.

the darfur wall

This is the Darfur Wall --- 400,000 numbers
One for each person killed in the Darfur genocide

Since 2003, over 400,000 people have died in Darfur. Millions have been forced from their homes. What has the US and the international community done to stop the genocide? For that matter, what have I done?