NOT My Going Away Party

DUSTY BUT DIGITAL

Note: I am reinstalling my highschool blog's (RIP) spirit line to this here blog.

---> DUSTY BUT DIGITAL <---

Thank you.

28th Annual BirthdayFest

Hey, remember this birthday?! We beat it!


Our SF posse surprised Laura with an adventure picnic day at the strange and mysterious Albany Bulb. We ate delicious snacks, toasted our dear friend several times, mazel tov'd three of my champagne flutes (grr!), and explored the sights of the Bulb. I don't feel like waxing about it right now so I will just share the vid:

Laura ('s grandma) treated a house full of guests to ice cream and keg at Treat Suite at night. There were Gunther colored balloons - a popular target for the sparklers and firecrackers - and all types of science experiments. The night was a fine example of keep it local = keep it awesome.

photos by Haus Julia, probably taken with an iphone app.

Gimme Fan Fiction

Fangirl back in action!

I took this dreamy DM shot w/my cellphone!

Last Thursday I took myself on a hot date to see Built to Spill at Slim's. I was front and center, all up in Doug Martsch's shoes. I prefer to go to hardcore fangirl shows alone (Neko Case, El-P, etc) so I can get in the band's grill and have a spiritual experience with the other fan freaks. The show met my expectations. The band's sound was consistent and they were generous with their set length. Sometimes B2S makes me want to kill myself because I associate it with the angsty Brian London years. I'm really getting over it though (I think?) and can finally enjoy the music without getting totally emo! YES! I met a bunch of superfan girls and boys up front. One blogged this review and took this vid (he was taking manic notes the whole time). Another B2S fangirl told she me bribed the bouncer with $60 to go back stage at Pavement's Stockton show and hooked up with someone in the band! I can't remember which dude - obvz not SM - but still! Drool! The venn overlap of Pavement and B2S superfans at Slim's that night was pretty large. I caught Katie and some homies at the Phonebooth after the show for an all night party. Can't contain zee fangirl H!


Next show!

Daniela and I spent Sunday night enchanted in a love trance at the Fox Theater in Oakland for the New Pornographers show (hometown favs The Dodos opened!). New Porno reminds me of doing laundry my freshman year of college (not in a bad way). We were really there to celebrate and worship the ONE AND ONLY NEKO CASE. Daniela's homeboy Tom/Jordan's fratbro/manager of the venue graciously hooked us up with VIP bracelets. Nice! We soon learned that we were too hardcore for those seats. We pushed ahead through the makeout tweens and middle-aged bald dudes to get front stage right where Neko was singing with her sweet tambo (see vid below). The Fox, in its fanciness, keeps the audience behind a three foot barrier so it was impossible to paw at the ankles of our leader. Still, the performance was wholly satisfying. The band played a fine show. Neko's mellifluous voice rocked our souls to the core. She is amazing! After the encore, Daniela and I unfurled our fangirl poster ("THESE TORNADOES LOVE YOU") but we don't think she saw it. Bummer! I will admit that I was nervous about getting in trouble with Neko since she had recently scolded a fan at a Boston show and also was a little testy during our show because all of the fans were yelling out her name so much (fyi: Daniela made the opening hoot and was by far the most emphatic). Tom did take our poster backstage afterwards so there is hope that she saw it. NEKO! IF YOU ARE READING THIS! WE LOVE YOU! U DA BEST! THANKS FOR BEING THERE FOR ME! THANK YOU FOR BEING THE BEST TAMBO ROLE MODEL EVER!

Next show!

Fangirl honorable mention: I saw Vermont band Happy Birthday on Tuesday at the Rickshaw. Don't even know them but got all three members of the band to autograph (with custom drawings) both the cover and the sleeve of their vinyl!

Mexico City, Mexico: Round UP

I'm back from another great stay in Mexico City. Our November trip was 100% manic but this round was very relaxing. Diné and I had seen the sights already so there was no checklist pressure, plus the rain and our cozy accommodations at Stella's dad's house for the second half of the week provided less incentive to run around.

As mentioned earlier, Diné, Emily, Wade, and I spent the first part of our visit zipping around with Suyapa, ACORN International's Mexico City organizer. We met with the Research Director of Universidad Obrera de Mexico to talk about remittances and cross-boarder labor (Wade's blog gives a MUCH better explanation). We went to the megaslum of Nezahualcoyotl, just outside of the Federal District, to check out idea's for prospective campaigns (again I defer to Wade). I shamefully drank a lot of Coke. We also went to a fancy fresa dinner party with some kind friends of Emily!

Diné and I soon caught up with Stella and her cousin and relocated from the centro to Papa Giblas' vine-covered apartment in the Benito Juarez neighborhood, not too far from our old Roma spot. I would like to reiterate that I am excellent at navigating the DF subway system and also have a knack for ubication so we were able to schlep around the city with few opportunities for getting lost. Emily and Diné got haircuts from our dear (blowin' up) homies at Goodbye Folk in Roma. Stella, Dine, and I finally made it to a Lucha Libre match at Arena Mexico. Stella and I bought some magic charms at Mercardo Sonora but avoided buying the decapitated goat talisman. Our old friend Ercilia from the Buenos Aires days came from her current post at an ONG in San Miguel de Allende to hang for a few days. We watched the World Cup finals at La B in Coyocan. Ercilia and I spent about 72 hours parading around a picture of Diego "mi rey" Maradona. We revisited some Zona Rosa haunts but the vacation was fairly tame on the whole, save one wild antro night with my homegirl Alejandra (remind me to bush up on my gay club anthems beforehand next time).

I of course took a ton of vid footage to make something pretty. In the mean time here are a few memories:

Nancy's birthday party

Ercilia gives a lesson on how to make agua de jamaica

Delicious quesadillas!

Mexico City, Mexico: Llueve

It's raining perros y gatos aqui en DF. Stella, Dine, and I are keeping busy out of our home base, the house of Stella's dad.

Mexico City, Mexico: Sleepless in DF

exhibit @ Centro Cultural de España taken in Oct. 2009

The East Coaster, Southerners, and Hondureña, with whom I am sharing an apartment, are all sound asleep after our longass day shleping around DF and beyond. But I am on pinche California time! I can't sleep! Cure for insomnia?? Manic, semifruitless ebay searches: "black lace bell bottoms," "vivienne tam buddha dress," "dvf cannabis print," "live through this decal."

Que se yo -

No Mames, Güey

Tonight I'm taking the redeye to Mexico City (no stops in TJ this time!) for a week in my favorite town. I'll be meeting Wade in the morning followed by Dine and Emily on Monday night. Stella is joining us later in the week. We'll be checking out ACORN International's Mexico City chapter and learning about the community organizing on the ground. There will be some fun time to see our friends too.

I've also faced the facts that I'm never going to finish the post I was working on about my trip to DF in November. For this reason I'm just going to publish it so at least it's out there in the ether. Reportback from HALF of my first trip ------> HERE

xx!

San Rafael, CA: Fairbros Take Marin

Andy, Pete, Steve, and I spent Saturday at the Marin County Fair.

Adventures in Tie Dye

Craftiness is a staple trait of my San Francisco life - who needs a TV when you can get high and make things?! It totally helps that my friends are design school grads and are always up for a challenge (see bounty of projects under HOW TO label).

The upcoming de Young exhibit and a sale on XXL t-shirts at Walgreens inspired Katie and me to take on a marathon dying project on Friday night. We ran around for hours gathering supplies then executing the plan. Here is a vid on how you can do it too :

Little Tooth