Polyphonic Spree (at SXSW on DirecTV)

I'm watching the Polyphonic Spree (live) at SXSW on DirecTV. I've
seen them on Austin City Limits before this. They crack me up, give
me joy... The music is awful but I love to watch the choir. They look
like a bunch of Moonies all swinging and twisting their heads in
unison. I wonder how many get neck injuries. And they never have to
dry their hair. All that tossing around will do it for them. They
definitely have the market cornered for the
women-all-dressed-the-same-head-twisting-in-unison dance form.

And there's a new girl in the front row center, at least since I saw
them on ACL, who's got the best head flip, very sexy. (Is one of the
requirements to be in the choir to have black hair?)

I think it's the Addicted To Love look to it all that I like about them...

(PS. I realized I had spelled cornered as corned. Apparently Blogger's spell check thinks that "corned" is a word that doesn't need to corrected. Interesting. Corned...)

2 good music events on tv this week

I taped the documentary on IFC called Tom Dowd: The Language of
Music. Very worthwhile. Lots of behind the scenes stuff, we see my ex
boss- Phil Ramone. I never met Tom but he sounds like a real nice guy
and smart. Worked on the Manhattan Project!

Also caught the Summerstage 7/16/06 show of Daby Toure. I thought it
might be good and it was excellent. He is the son of one of Toure
Kunda, one of my favorite afro-pop bands ever. Same high pitched
voice, great singing, great percussive and light acoustic gtr! Wish I
was there. Apparently it was a HOT day, about 100.

I also taped the Richard Thompson at Sierra Center Stage that I'd had
on the DVR for awhile. Excellent, although for some reason the DVR
cut off the last 15 minutes or so. I could have sworn it was ok the
first time I saw it.

First signs of spring!

The first signs of spring seen today: an ant in the shower and some
croci outside. I've also heard some bird songs that are probably from
birds passing through. Haven't seen any that are harbingers yet.

I will also have the mellifluous sounds of a house being constructed
nearby all spring and summer and who knows how much longer than that
to look forward to.

Some pics recently taken



The sun setting from inside the house with the tv's scan lines being caught.

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Midnight. More loud music from the Orthodox Jews nearby. Obnoxious
but perfectly legit since it is their holiday. (To hell with
everybody else.)

So it's Purim. The Jewish people in my neighborhood don't mind
playing loud music late at night. They're disturbing the peace. It's
ok because the majority of people around here are Jewish. It is still
obnoxious. And the music isn't very good. Tacky. Just loud.

Washington Week In Review weirdness

During the intro, the voiceover sound was tinny or out of phase, the
roll-ins were fine. During the show, the studio sound was fine, the
roll-ins were tinny or out of phase.

During the intro, the studio video was horrendously saturated. In the
studio, all cameras except Gwen's looked fine.

What was going on?

I watch via DirecTV.

A geranium blooms in February

The last time I checked this geranium I'm wintering in my garage with no heat, it had flowers on it! Here it is today with fewer flowers but seemingly happy. Amazing. It's in the 20s outside and it is flowering and has lots of leaves.

Oh, and I water it about once a month!

Breaking News on Fox

Breaking news on Fox today:

'Anna Nicole's mother wasn't on the best of terms with her.'

hahahahahahahha

Go Fox. THAT's news!

My Orthodox Jewish neighbors are playing some really loud music right now. It is intentionally being blasted outside. Why? I have my windows closed and it is very loud. Their house is maybe a hundred yards away. They are intentionally disturbing the peace with their music. That's rude. (And not the first time it has happened.)

Some video taken 7/15/95 at my old house in Greenwich.

My late cat Bluto, my car, my gardens. No, it wasn't 105 degrees out then. That thermometer wasn't very accurate in its later years.

Friday's Paradecam was excellent. Great quality video and audio and
full motion most if not all the time.

Saturday's has been poor. Lots of blue screens, freezes, audio
dropouts and echoing. Both for the mid-day and evening parades.

Let's hope Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are good.

Juncos appear

I haven't seen juncos until now, when we're having a winter storm!
These fat little black birds. Bunches of them, hopping around, poking
at what's on top of the snow, not much (more snow and sleet). I
wonder where they were until now.

Geraniums are flowering!

The geraniums I put in the garage, which I had heated with the excess from the boiler room until recently (when the cold water pipes almost froze noted earlier), are flowering! I watered them today and voila, there were a few white flowers leaning towards the sunny windows. I was afraid they whole plant had been killed with the extreme cold we've had lately so it's a nice surprise to see it doing so well!

Mardi Gras is coming!

Here are the Bourbocam, Paradecam and the actual parade schedules. Watch!

(Times are New Orleans time which is Central time.)

Apparently the hosts have been cancelled on the Bourbocam and it looks like it's going to be a cold Mardi Gras this year. 40 degrees.

Friday, February 9
• BourboCam: 6:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
• ParadeCam: 6:00 p.m. - Til
Saturday, February 10
• BourboCam: 3:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
• ParadeCam: 1:00 p.m. - Til
Sunday, February 11
• BourboCam: 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
• ParadeCam: Noon - Til
Wednesday, February 14
• ParadeCam: Noon - Til
Thursday, February 15
• ParadeCam: 5:45 p.m. - Til
Friday, February 16
• BourboCam: 3:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
• ParadeCam: 11:00 a.m. - Til
Saturday, February 17
• BourboCam: 3:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
• ParadeCam: 11:00 a.m. - Til
Sunday, February 18
• BourboCam: 3:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
• ParadeCam: 11:00 a.m. - Til
Monday, February 19
• BourboCam: 3:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
• ParadeCam: 5:15 p.m. - Til
Sunday, February 18
• BourboCam: 10:00 a.m. - Midnight
• ParadeCam: 10:00 a.m. - Til

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9
Orleans / Jefferson
• Oshun - Uptown, 6:00 p.m.
• Pygmalion - Uptown, 7:00 p.m.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10
Orleans / Jefferson
• Pontchartrain - Uptown, 1:00 p.m.
• Shangri-La - Uptown, 2:00 p.m.
• Sparta - Uptown, 6:00 p.m.
• Pegasus - Uptown, 6:45 p.m.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11
Orleans / Jefferson

• Carrollton - Uptown, Noon
• King Arthur - Uptown, 1:15 p.m.
• Barkus - French Quarter, 2:00 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14
• Druids - Uptown, 6:00 p.m.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15
• Babylon - Uptown, 5:45 p.m.
• Chaos - Uptown, 6:30 p.m.
• Muses - Uptown, 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16
Orleans / Jefferson
• Hermes - Uptown, 6:00 p.m.
• d'Etat - Uptown, 6:30 p.m.
• Morpheus - Uptown, 7:45 p.m.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17
• Iris - Uptown, 11:00 a.m.
• Tucks - Uptown, 12:30 p.m.
• Endymion - Uptown, 4:30 p.m.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18
Orleans / Jefferson
• Okeanos - Uptown, 11:00 a.m.
• Thoth - Uptown, 11:30 a.m.
• Mid-City - Uptown, 2:00 p.m.
• Bacchus - Uptown, 5:15 p.m.

LUNDI GRAS, FEBRUARY 19
• Proteus - Uptown, 5:15 p.m.
• Orpheus - Uptown, 5:45 p.m.

MARDI GRAS, FEBRUARY 20
Orleans / Jefferson
• Zulu - Uptown, 8:00 a.m.
• Rex - Uptown, 10:00 a.m.
• Elks Orleans - Uptown, 11:30 a.m.
• Crescent City - Uptown, follows Elks

What killed the squirrel?

Saw this squirrel as I put the recycling out today. What killed it? Did it fall from the roof, a nearby tree? Or was it hit be car? It wasn't squished, no blood is visible. It looks like it was in flight before it landed on the ground. (The pic should be rotated to the left, sorry.)

The tap in the background is dripping water (to prevent the pipes from freezing). Was there something in the water, something leftover from something that was poured there in warmer weather? Would something the squirrel drank kill it that quickly? So close to what it drank? How does the posture of the squirrel indicate what it died of?

Close call with the water today

After flushing the toilet first thing in the morning, I realized that
the water wasn't filling back up. Then I realized that I had no cold
water. Fearing the pipes had frozen I went downstairs and closed the
door that separates the furnace (boiler really) room from the rest of
the downstairs, a garage used for storage space. (I had been leaving
it open hoping that the heat from it would keep the downstairs warm
and thus keep the upstairs a little warmer too. By the same theory, I
leave it open in the summer so the heat dissipates. Two effects of
the same theory perhaps...) By the time I got back up stairs, a few
seconds, the cold water started flowing again. I was able to take a
shower, etc.

I see that my landlady has got a faucet dripping outside. I would
think her basement would be warm enough to prevent pipes from
freezing but I guess not. (it is big).

Saw a bird go into the bird house after breakfast.

Ah, winter. 11 degrees outside now, not including the wind-chill. The
boiler is coming on every 7 minutes and making the outside smell like
the back of a bus.

Deer trail

Deer trail noticed. See the straight line in the the middle? I've had plenty of deer walk through the side yard here but I have never seen a deer trail before. The deer wander in this general direction all the time. Why would I only see this path now? Was there a deer that was dragging its feet/foot (injured)? Most deer don't leave a visible trail. Why am I seeing one now for the first time in 4 years?