One of my old bands (Hippie Go Lucky) got conned into doing a gig this weekend. A private party. Small gathering.

We’ve rehearsed three times in the last few months, which isn’t much considering we haven’t played in two or three years, and I haven’t touched my bass more than a handful of times since then. I’ve pretty much hung it up. My hands cramp up after just a few songs and it’s painful to play. And I can’t remember how half the songs go.

But, okay, I’ll do the gig this weekend. We’ll see how it goes…

Here’s a clip of the last time we played, years and years ago. You can see why we’re not famous.

You know, it’d be pretty progressive for a city to promote “alternate vehicles” simply by making one or two parking spaces on each block FREE, reserved for motorcycles, scooters and bicycles.

Sioux City doesn’t do that.

I’m hearing a lot of people complaining that the Democrats are blocking offshore drilling. “If they’d just let the damned oil companies drill we wouldn’t be paying four dollars a gallon for gas…”

Here’s the deal. The Democrats aren’t necessarily against offshore drilling, or even drilling in Alaska if need be. The thing is that congress has already given the big oil companies nearly EIGHTY MILLION ACRES of land to drill on. That’s 80,000,000 acres they already have rights to use. But the oil companies aren’t using that land, and are demanding that congress give them yet more land. All the Democrats are saying is if the big oil companies aren’t gonna use the land we’ve already given them, they need to give it back before we give them any more land…

1. When did people quit pulling over for funeral processions? How rude… Oh, and if for some reason you should happen to decide to PASS 45 cars, 30 motorcycles and a hearse from behind, don’t change your mind halfway through and simply join the processional. And if by chance you DO find that you just sort of accidentally joined a funeral processional, please just pull over and get the hell out of the way. There’s really no need for you to follow us to the cemetery…
2. If I should happen to get a tattoo, what do you think I should get? I’m not really a “skull ‘n crossbones” kinda guy. Maybe a happy face or something…
3. Did you know that if you’re holding a flag you do NOT salute when the order “Present Arms” is given? You’re supposed to simply stand at attention with the flag in your right hand. Under no circumstances, not even when the newspaper photographer is taking your picture, do you salute with your left hand. I know, I know… it sure is tempting. But don’t. Just don’t.
4. I used to think I was indecisive, but now I’m not so sure…
5. Some friends of mine are thinking of buying a laptop. Does anyone have any good/bad experience with a certain brand? Any advice I can pass along?
6. I like this cartoon. My buddy Tom turned me on to it… Duck is a professional freelance photographer, you see. www.whattheduck.net

   
   
   

Ceremonies

This last weekend I took photos for my buddy’s funeral in a small town about 25 miles from here. The weekend before I took photos for a different buddy’s wedding in that same small town.

I liked the wedding better — I didn’t cry as much.

Both ceremonies were about bringing people together. Both celebrated life. Both reflected the natural cycle of things. I haven’t had a whole lot of time yet to reflect, but the two events really seemed to have a lot in common…

The three small words are back, true this time. My friend George died this morning.

Margarita, meet tummy.

Doggie Delight

Well, so far Animal Control has been called at least twice to check out the neighbor’s two attack dogs, but they haven’t shown up yet. Evidently someone’s gotta get gnawed on before the city will pay attention. Vicious Dog #1 got out of the fence again yesterday morning. Of course no one had the remote control for the shock collar that’s supposed to keep the dog under control… It took ’em a good fifteen minutes to find the pooch and convince it to go home. Fifteen minutes where it could have easily found a small child to snack on…

Oddly enough, the City Council is today (probably at the very moment I type this) deciding whether to outlaw pit bulls in city limits. I guess what they’re thinking of doing is making every pit bull owner register the dog. Any dog found running loose without registration will be put down immediately. No new pit bulls will be allowed — within 15 years or so, the city will be pit free.

I hope they do it. I don’t want the neighborhood kids to grow up fearful of dogs. Respectful, yes. Fearful, no.

Dogs, Revisited

Remember a while ago I posted about the pit bulls in our neighborhood? Hey, guess what? The same little dog (Sandy) that was attacked then was attacked again! Only this time by the Rottweiler mix, Pepper-Ann. Sandy was in the doggy hospital with multiple puncture wounds and a broken jaw. Pepper’s owner (who also owns one of the pit bulls that attacked little Sandy dog not too long ago) also had to have stitches in her hand and arm due to the attack.

Are they getting rid of the dogs? I mean, two attacks in two weeks, the little dog almost dead, the owner with stitches… But no. “Oh, they’re just so lovable, we can’t bear to get rid of them. They’re like family.”

No, they’re like attack dogs. Sorry. Get rid of ’em before the kids get attacked (yes there are three kids living with these dogs, and many more neighborhood kids in the area).

Update: I just talked to the neighbor lady. “Oh we’re going to get rid of the small dog,” she told me. “The two big dogs are staying. They’d never hurt anyone, they just don’t like the small dog is all.” She then went on to show me the bite wounds on her arm where she’d been bitten. “The vet told me to put Pepper down, but I just can’t. We’ll just get rid of Dad’s dog instead.” (The small dog isn’t hers, you see. The guy they call “Dad” lives with them. Sandy’s his dog. The guy takes the little dog everywhere with him — the two of them are true companions, inseparable. At least when the little dog isn’t busy getting eaten by the big dogs…) I asked the lady what she was going to do when the big dogs attack one of the neighborhood children. “Oh, we’re getting a shock collar so we can handle them better.”

Work

I’ve cut back to part time at the print shop. I just can’t afford to work there any more. If you want to know why I’m stepping back from my day job, just e-mail me and I’ll explain it all to you in excruciating detail.

Garrison Keillor…

…has lost my respect. Go read THIS if you want. In short, Mr. Keillor (of “Prairie Home Companion” fame) went to Washington D.C. on Memorial Day (the day of the annual Rolling Thunder rally when hundreds of thousands of bikers, mostly veterans, go to visit the Wall to pay their respects) to visit an art gallery and got bent out of shape because there were *gasp* VETERANS there.

“Somehow a person associates Memorial Day with long moments of silence when you summon up mental images of men huddled together on LSTs and pilots revving up B-24s and infantrymen crouched behind piles of rubble steeling themselves for the next push. You don’t quite see the connection between that and these fat men with ponytails on Harleys.”

Well, Mr. Keillor, most of those fat men with ponytails you saw WERE the guys huddled together in a firefight, visiting Washington DC to pay their respects to their friends who died in combat. I’m sorry they got in your way as you were in DC spending Memorial Day looking at a picture.

If anyone cared about the war dead, they could go read David Halberstam’s “The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War” or Stephen Ambrose’s “Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944 to May 7, 1945” or any of a hundred other books, and they would get a vision of what it was like to face death for your country, but the bikers riding in formation are more interested in being seen than in learning anything. They are grown men playing soldier, making a great hullaballoo without exposing themselves to danger…

Again, I have to say, Mr. Keillor, that most of the bikers you saw that day are not grown men playing soldier, they ARE soldiers, and they HAVE exposed themselves to danger — because our country asked them to. I’m sure, too, that reading a couple books about “the war dead” makes you more of an authority on the subject than those who left friends on the battlefield. These men and women held up their right hand and swore an oath — and fulfilled that oath. Whether the U.S. government used these men and women wisely is a debate for a different essay. The point is that the United States needs a military, and these people had the strength of character to fulfill that need. They deserve our respect, not your snide comments.

I’m sad. I used to listen to “Prairie Home Companion,” and I’ve seen the show live on two different occasions, but it’ll be a long time before I can listen to it again without remembering this episode. Grrr.

You know, de-regulation sounds all fine and dandy… until people start dying in mines and the banks start closing.