— Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 @ 11:36am
We realized that the Montréal International Jazz Festival is scheduled from June 25 – July 6th. That festival is actually the biggest jazz thing in the World, which means that finding vacancies in the Montréal Bed ‘n Breakfast scene is going to be pretty sketchy, at best. And, naturally, that’s close to the best time, for us, to do this trip. Oh well, what can you do?
Meanwhile, I’m back on Facebook. I have all of the ‘applications’ and ‘games’ blocked, so I can use the site to stay somewhat in touch with the outside world, without being annoyed-to-death by that other stuff.
I’ve gone and gotten myself in another pro bono web site thing. I’m “fronting” web server space for a web site dealing with my old friends, the band called The Nils.
But wait, there’s more! I also grabbed their current site, which was on one of those freebie sort of sites, wherein you sign up, and get a cookie-cutter front end in which you fill in the blanks (for the text) and upload files like music or images. And get this, the entire site (not just my friends’ small part of it) has the style info embedded in every HTML tag. That is so 90s it’s awful.
So, I’m separating the mess, and then putting the site, with the same look-and-feel, back online in a properly formatted, standards-compliant (not to mention modern manner.
At least this is a project I volunteered for, rather than one in which I was corralled into what was supposed to be a professional, business venture for which I ended up being stiffed as far as remuneration. (To say nothing of financial losses, on my part). People kill me, sometimes.
— Monday, May 3rd, 2010 @ 11:23pm
Lesla came home from work today, and said, “You’ll never guess who’s on tour and coming to SF!” I was still sorting ‘ideas’ mentally, and she said, “Roky Erickson, and he’s coming to the Fillmore.”
I’m a big Roky Erickson fan, and the show is in 17 days (the 20th of May), so I am seriously excited about all this. Roky is this amazingly gifted singer/song-writer who sang with The Thirteenth Floor Elevators back in the Sixties.
I know a bunch of singers who have their own ‘cults’, and they’re part of a large ‘cult’ of Roky fans. He’s the real, unadulterated, genuine Deal. No doubt about it. His band coined the term “psychedelic” when asked to identify “what kind of music” they played.
Lesla’s birthday is coming up late in the month. That’s going to be cool. And we’re popping down to LA next Monday, for 4 days (and part of a 5th day, I think), so Les can do the National Cable Convention (yes, as in TV/broadband, etc.).
That will be okay. We’re driving a rental car instead of flying. I’ll have the car during the days when she’s trapped at the convention, and I’m looking forward to seeing my old Hollywood hangouts/stomping grounds, while we’re there.
In 2 weeks, if all goes well, Jeff (Lesla’s nephew) is coming up here to shoot some video footage of me as I discuss my relationship with the now-defunct band, The Nils, and other serious stuff related to them and the death several years ago of their leader/singer/songwriter/guitarist, Alex Soria.
I tried doing the video with Les, and alone, using the video feature of the new Nikon D90, but the video part of the camera is really not what the doctor ordered, and the project was becoming way too heavy (difficult). So, I got the idea of Jeff.
He’s graduating from university in late May, but jumped at the chance to come up here for a weekend and help me get this together, so I can deliver it to Niko, up in Montréal, before it’s too late. Niko is putting together a DVD of several interviews, recorded footage, and other things dealing with The Nils.
Lesla and I are also driving down to Monterey to be there when Jeff graduates. I had met him here at the house, in Berkeley, and saw him again when we went down to San Diego for Thanksgiving last year. Jeff’s a great kid, straight A’s, and an artist. He was the very first guy I thought of when I decided to bring in someone “together” and let me concentrate on being coherent and focused for the actual “interview.”
I got my US Passport Saturday, so that is out of the way. Lesla and I are going to Montréal for a week in late June. We need to find a bed and breakfast (there’s tons up there, but this is the high season, so we have our work cut out for us. We need to find a place, then she needs to get the vacation time set, and then we need to get tickets. I’m very excited to see Montréal, and a few friends that I knew there for 30 years (more than 30 if I factor in two extended visits back here in the States).
Meanwhile, I still haven’t received my Medi-Cal Card from Alameda County. I was notified about SSI 9 weeks ago, and the Medi-Cal (health care) is automatic, according to the the Feds (Social Security). The County is just plain dumb, at this point, telling me they don’t have my current address when they login to Social Security. SS, for their part, has been mailing me (at my current address, of course), since early February. They agree that the County is not being logical or ‘good at what they supposedly do’, so, the Feds are on my side here.
I have half a dozen Yelp restaurant ‘reviews’ to do, phone calls to make to several guys in Montréal,
Technorati Tags:
music, Roky Erickson
— Monday, May 3rd, 2010 @ 2:55pm
It took a full night & day to fix this blog, after having moved it from my old domain. I will try to contribute on a daily basis and make an attempt to update some of the links on the two right sidebars (columns), also. It’s been a while.
I think I’ll add a link to my Yelp reviews, later. I’m about a half dozen reviews behind on that thing, also. I’m thinking I see a pattern here. Well, anyway, there you go.