It has been a good Summer....

SPIN

Gotta hand it to Karl Rove & the Republicans for spinning a story about a high school kid getting knocked up into an uplifting example about the sanctity of life.

I stand up and applaud.

Stonehenge ho!

While visiting my good friend Anne-Lise I decided to drop by & see Stonehenge since she lived just minutes from it and she had never been to it either (it's just like I never visited Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty despite living 13 years in New York).

In fact we didn't really know how to get there. Following the map we headed west, just when we thought we were lost we noticed a pile of rocks to the side of the road. ''hey, is that Stonehenge?''. They are a lot smaller than I imagined. Also unexpected were the sheeps roaming around it. Who are these mysterious sheep? Are they the eternal guardians? Have any archeologist interviewed these sheep? Have we noticed any strange sheep formation during full moons? As a total coincidence (or, is it?) the cover story on National Geography screamed the headline ''Secrets of Stonehenge revealed''! I eagerly bought a copy only to be disappointed to learn that we have no more idea why these pile of rocks are here than why people support Bush.

Back to my original purpose for the trip which was to visit Anne-Lise & her husband Simon in the woods. When I say woods I meant WOODS. They live in an area called New Forest which is a large area created way back then by William the Conquerer for hunting. Anne-Lise & Simon had just moved into a new house which had no address, when writing them you're suppose to just write their names and New Forest. For you see very few people live out here. There are tons of deer, hare, tens of thousands of phesants (which Simon leads groups to shoot) and wild horses. Right, wild horses. On our way out of the forest to the pub we had to repeatedly dodge wild horses because they don't seem to follow traffic laws.

Simon, who is actually a Scotsman, is straight from central casting as a British gentleman farmer. Complete with tweed vest, leather cap, boots, pipe and a dog from a long blood line of champion retrievers (he showed me the family tree). Simon is a one-man machine of self sufficiency from building his own house to slaughtering his own pig to make bacon (showed me the paperwork he had to get approved from the wonderfully named Dept of Moving of Pigs). Simon promised to take me hunting hares the next morning but unfortunately we stayed up all night drinking whiskey and the hares lived to see another day.

Meeting Tori Amos

Had a chance to meet Tori Amos at San Diego Comic-Con (I took the picture with my friends Tiffany & Sam from Amazon). Tori was at the convention to promote her new book COMIC BOOK TATTOO - which is a 480 pages behemoth with 50+ artist interpreting her songs. It is the most impressive art/comic book I've seen so far this year.

The first time I heard Tori Amos was when she performed her acapella version of a Nivarna song on the local Seattle radio station. She was on the show to promote her concert that evening. By her famous strutting the piano style is well known & well copied, but back then (this was probably 17 years ago) I had never seen anything like it and immediately fell in love with both her music and especially her live performances. In the ensuing years I've seen her many times, including the legendary Radio Music Hall nights. I've also collected most of her bootlegs covers (it is her habit to cover artists such as Bonnie Tyler and Aerosmith during encores). ANYWAY - check out the book - it's mucho fabulous.

Rian the little boozehound

Father Hayes sez ''it's not what it looks like''

Atlanta Ho!

Down in Atlanta for a few days. Got a chance to hang out with one of my favorite person on the planet - Crystal. She is an indie rock mom extraordinaire and a fine hair stylist to boot. We caught up on old times while checking down Atlanta's young & drunkeness scenes.


Then it was off to visit my other ''favorite'' person in the world - Matt at Fat Matt's Rib Shack. For under $10 you get a full plate of ribs slowed cooked all-day by a 300 pounds African-American. Comes with baked beans & white bread + sweet tea. The cashier had no teeth. The tender & aromatic meat falls off the bones at the slightest touch and the flavor lingers in your mouth. The homemade sauce is tangy and just a hint of spiciness. This is why I don't eat BBQ north of the Mason-dixon line & west of the Mississippi. Only in the south.