Monday, May 26, 2008

461



Y'all know how I'm down with the Scrabble. Sunday I posted my all-time best score against a guy who never knew what hit 'em. It won't win me any tournaments but I think I deserve a cookie. And that triple word score on turn 8? Damn.

WoW


Bowling Dance Party!

Where's the video of me? Aw shucks it must be lost.

Memorial Day


Taken at the Buffalo Naval Park, 24 May

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Rally for the Peace Bridge Neighborhood


Not to make this site a depository for press releases, but I think I'll go to this. Thanks to Rebecca for the info.

RALLY FOR THE PEACE BRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD - ONE OF 2008'S 11 MOST ENDANGERED HISTORIC PLACES

Yesterday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced that it has listed the Buffalo neighborhood in the vicinity of the Peace Bridge among the 11 Most Endangered Places in America.

The proposed expansion of the border entry plaza at this location threatens to destroy a vital historic neighborhood, to displace families and businesses, and to impact nationally significant Olmsted parks. Viable alternatives exist to minimize impacts to people and heritage, including other plaza configurations and other locations, but they have not been meaningfully considered. With a coalition of other Buffalo and Western NY organizations, we are calling on the responsible federal agencies to properly analyze less destructive alternatives.

At noon on Thursday, May 22, the National Trust for Historic Preservation will host a public event in Buffalo to mark the announcement. We are reaching out to the community leaders, organizations, and individuals who have worked to safeguard Buffalo's quality of life and its history, our friends and supporters, to ask that you join us at the Picnic Shelter in Front Park (corner of Porter Ave. And Busti Ave.) for a media and public event to mark this listing, featuring Wendy Nicholas, Director of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Northeast Office, and our partners in this effort.

Questions? Contact Roberta Lane at roberta_lane[AT]nthp.org Tel: 617.523.0885

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Auto-Obituary



New World Propaganda to me
May 14 (6 days ago)

Hello friends,

Well, we're down to the wire. We have only 5 days of regular business left, and then we start packing up the store to bug out. Even so, we brought in a few copies of the new DCFC (that's Death Cab for Cutie) for the true believers. Plus a new Bonnie Prince Billy is on the way.

What a long, strange trip it's been. I thank you again for sharing the road with us, and invite you to make a last detour to visit us in these last days, say hi, and maybe reminisce a bit. We still have some fine titles in stock, plus thousands more used CDs have recently hit the sales floor--average net price $4.19! Many odd, cool collectibles have turned up, and we're ready to sell them all (pretty much). The huge 4 x 4 posters? For sale. The CD bins? for sale. The gold records? For sale (some of 'em, anyway) The kick-ass JBL speakers? For sale.

We have a good selection of New World t-shirts for $10-12; our rockin'hoodies are $22.99, and we have a very few knit caps, for $15-ish. Plus a wild assortment of t-shirts new and old, ranging from Wilco to Paramore to Syd Barrett to General Public.

We'd be remiss if we didn't point out that Sunday the 18th will also be Mondo Video's final day. Our best wishes to fellow traveler M. Faust.
Sadly, on Monday the 19th, Buffalo will be just a little bit... less.

On a personal note, I'm thrilled to tell you that I will be hosting a wee radio show on WBFO 88.7 starting the week of May 26th. It will be an hour-long show on either Monday or Tuesday night at 8pm (right after Fresh Air) and I plan to have each episode center on a theme-- lyrical, melodic, historic, we shall see-- please listen, I think it'll be great fun.

Don't be a stranger.
Namaste.

Govindan

British Sea Power/Jeffrey Lewis/The Rosebuds/The Stay Lows

Four bands? Twelve dollars? At the Tralf? This show was good before it even started.

The Stay Lows - Pretty much missed them. Heard good things about it but the singer sounded flat.
The Rosebuds - I think I liked them better than BSP. Catchy stuff. Their merch guy solved a Rubik's Cube on stage.
Jeffrey Lewis - Cut from the same cloth as pre-Bong Load Beck, if you can remember that stuff. NYC anti-folk. Makes his own coloring books, or something. He bootlegs his own CDs and I bought one from him for $6. Want to hear?

Back When I Was 4

British Sea Power put on a great performance. Their songs got into a decent groove after a couple minutes. Near the end I thought "Hey, I should video record the last song." Then a soccer game broke out. It's here in two sections because YouTube has time limits. Can you tell I was next to the speakers?





For kicks, here's another song from the show.


Finally, speaking of rock stars, look at Obama in Oregon. Holy crap.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The Hunt For Linda Stouffer

Near the bottom-right of this page is a hit counter. It doesn't change much. But as the owner of the counter I'm privy to some neat info. Yesterday I got the following visit (bold added for emphasis):

Manassas Virginia United States
b249-138.house.gov (143.231.249.138)
Referring Page: www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS265US265&q=linda stouffer whereabouts



Why do people keep visiting this site for Linda Stouffer info? What does the Federal Government want with Linda Stouffer? Is it because she's against troop increases? Does she know Congress is looking for her? Is she in trouble?

Linda, call me. I'm worried. Are you on drugs again?

Search for Linda

Vote Schrock!

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Vote Schrock 2008


It's never too late to save America

Spring Cleaning

Today I gutted my browser bookmarks. Try some of the new links on the right, especially "Google Helps Me Find The Goods" and WFMU's amazing site. One of my bookmarks also went to the oddity below. Don't play it.

Monday, May 05, 2008

On Tour


You can find this photo and more at Buffalo Rising. I'm in the back and slightly to the right. The 2008 Buffalo Tours docent training finished up this weekend. This year I was declared a Master Docent, and I'm trying in vain not to let the power go to my head.

Stop by the Market Arcade Building on Main Street and pick up a brochure. There are about 30 different tours offered about 500 times this year. As Bill Cosby used to say on Fat Albert, "If you're not careful, you may learn something before it's done!"

Then again, as LeVar Burton used to say on Reading Rainbow, "You don't have to take MY word for it." Check 'em out!

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Tokyo Police Club/Smoosh/Meligrove Band

I just came back from a pretty darned good show at Showplace. All three bands put on great sets. Probably the biggest surprise was Smoosh, ironically performing songs more complicated than people twice their age. The videos below sound lame because of our location next to the speakers. Oh well. Even when muted, the Tokyo Police Club just plain looks cool.



Smoosh:


Thanks for nothing to all the moshers out there, especially the guy who cared enough to heckle the other bands and jump on my feet all night.