i love joe strummer

I always forget how much I love everything he ever created. Somehow listening to his tunes the past couple of days has been saving my sanity at work, which is still quite weird.

Johnny Appleseed is the one with the most "juice" right now. Brings out that kick-ass confident eight-year-old in me.

But I also appreciate his ability with language (poetry!), his humble attitude, his sense of humor.

Check out these lyrics, for example, off the Global A-Go Go album:

Bhindi Bhagee

Well, I was walking down the High Road
And this guy stops me
He'd just got in from New ZealandAnd he was looking for mushy peas
I said, no, we hadn't really got 'em round here
I said, but we do gotBalti, Bhindi, strictly HindiDall, Halal
and I'm walking down the road
We got rocksoul, okra, bombay duck-ra
Shrimp beansprout, comes with it or without - with it or without
Bagels soft or simply harder
Exotic avocado or toxic empenada
We got akee, lassi, Somali waccy baccy
I'm sure back home you know what tikka's all about - what tikka's all about
Welcome stranger to the humble neighborhoods
You can get inspiration along the highroad
Hommus, cous cous in the jus of octopus
Pastrami and salami and lasagne on the go
Welcome stranger, there's no danger
Welcome to this humble neighborhood
There's Balti, Bhindi, strictly HindiDall, Halal and I'm walking down the road
Rocksoul, okra, bombay duck-ra
Shrimp beansprout, comes with it or without
So anyway, I told him I was in a band
He said, "Oh yeah, oh yeah - what's your music like?"
I said, "It's um, um, well, it's kinda like
You know, it's got a bit of, um, you know."
Ragga, Bhangra, two-step Tanga
Mini-cab radio, music on the go
Um, surfbeat, backbeat, frontbeat, backseat
There's a bunch of players and they're really letting go
We got, Brit pop, hip hop, rockabilly, Lindy hop
Gaelic heavy metal fans fighting in the road
Ah, Sunday boozers for chewing gum users
They got a crazy D.J. and she's really letting go
Oh, welcome stranger
Welcome stranger to the humble neighborhoods
Well, I say, there's plenty of places to eat round here
He say, "Oh yeah, I'm pretty choosy."
You gotBalti, Bhindi, strictly HindiDall, Halal, walking down the road
Rocksoul, okra, bombay duck-raShrimp beansprout, comes with it or without
Let's check it out
Welcome stranger to the humble neighborhoods, neighborhoods
Check out all thatPor-da-sol, por-da-sol
Walking down the highroad

Michael Tolliver lives!!

Armistead writes another love letter to San Francisco! How exciting!!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/11/DDGVKQBQGR1.DTL&hw=maupin&sn=005&sc=257

little beach

A couple of times now, I have taken Lulu out to a very tiny beach near my house. So few people go enjoy this little park. It's a shame, but it's nice to have the place largely to ourselves.

In penance for letting Lulu off-leash, I bring out a plastic grocery bag and fill it with trash I find on the sand, in the rip rap and seaweed. I hope for fascinating flotsam or jetsom worth keeping, but so far no big finds, just sea glass.

Now that Lulu is a swimmer, I had the wonderful experience this morning of tossing a piece of driftwood out into the gentle surf and watching her go eagerly out to get it. This dog is just divine.

All the walking I'm doing with her is also reaping good benefit too.

Swimming! Egret stalking!

Today Lulu finally made the leap from wading to full-on swimming as she went for a tennis ball in the canal at Point Isabel. So exciting. Oddly, none of the folks hanging around there were the least bit friendly about my excitement. I have really had a culture shock coming from the fabulously friendly Allston Park in Napa to the markedly reserved souls at Pt Isabel. I'd say about one in every 50 people actually returns my smile or 'good morning.' I seem to be breaking some protocol. Too bad, cheer up you East Bay people, relax and just say hello, it won't kill you. Maybe someday the attitudes at Point Isabel will match the setting and features, which are extaordinary and energizing.

Soon after Lulu started swimming, she spotted and gave big chase to an egret. An egret! Lulu was in heaven and I was a little worried she'd have such static in her brain due to bird lust that she'd follow the dang bird out into the ocean. Luckily she heard me and swam back, albeit quite reluctantly.

funny? sad? logo kerfuffle

A tempest in a teapot? You decide. The new, controversial logo for the 2012 London Olympics is gaining many critics.

More Lulu

bff

According to doggie day care, Lulu has a 'bff' (best friend forever) in Matilda, another all-black young energetic dog who started at Every Dog at about the same time as Lulu.
Very cute. This morning, the Every Dog staffer told Lulu,
"OK, Lulu, Matilda's already here and she's got your whole morning figured out for you, let's go!"