the greatest show I never attended

Jeff Nelson of Minor Treat ;)/Dischord fame is selling a bunch of his memorabilia on the ebay right now.

I was rather amazed to see Minor Threat, the Big Boys, and TroubleFunk on the SAME BILL!!!

WHA>?

Really though, could there be a more DC show than minor threat and troublefunk? I think not. the big boys were just a texas sized bonus I guess.

totally made me wish I lived in DC for just one drum fill...

john sumpter

John Sumpter died on Sunday. As Phil E said, I am getting sick of this shit. Too many good peeps dying lately. John is the third telco guy I used to work with to die from cancer in the past two months.

John was a really great guy. Great strategic thinking, not into any form of BS whatsoever; sincere and pleasant to be around. I always appreciated how he framed the issues in terms of long term strategies when lobbying. He didn't come across as an advocate of a particular position, but rather "here's where the market is trending and here's how to ensure you as a regulator don't tilt the playing field before it gets there". Really a sort of Ghandian world view of lobbying, very passive while being quite active at the same time.

But framing John in the context of work alone doesn't do much service to what a genuinely good person he was at his core. He was well rounded and balanced in a way that was impossible not to respect. I really enjoyed the time I spent with him (in DC, at the PUC, at conferences around the states...), which isn't something you can say about many lobbyists.

my heart goes out to his family and his extended family...

on happenstance and new and old connections

one of my favorite things that happened at sundance was getting to randomly play a show of improvised music with michael krassner and shahzad ismaily while braden king and deborah johnson provided visuals for braden's the story is still asleep.

in one of those wonderful wtf moments - after the performance braden thanked garine torrosian, who i lost touch with about 10 years ago, for source footage.

in case anyone was wondering - both krazner and ismaily are amazing improvisors. i felt (and feel) so fortunate to have been able to play with them both.

sundance, en repose

so, I am back. sundance was and, more importantly, is interesting. the admirable thing is that it remains a place for film not just the retarded press and industry frenzy on the surface. and by film i mean all film. (I feel especially privileged to have been involved with the new frontiers category, where this fact is most obvious)

this is actually not an easy thing, especially given how money from outside the festival makes it harder to run the festival itself. it's strange how much harder it is to run a festival in a confined space rather than the relative sprawl of a city - something I can't imagine sundance thought they'd have to deal with when it all started.

celebrity is a retarded phenomenon, and sundance does a very respectable job ignoring it to focus on what matters. I overheard some people complaining about having to wait in line despite their VIP badges and wanting a VVIP badge, but hopefully they got run over by a truck. the festival has a lot going on and is awesomely accessible to people who plan ahead rather than expect thousands of people to yield to their whim.

I've been to a good number of different festivals over the past 15 or so years and I will confess that sundance rates right up at the top despite my curmudgeonlyness. If I was going to pick two it'd be toronto and sundance easy.

sundance ii

so, having spent some more time at sundance, I can tell you I miss film festivals. and I can tell you that sundance itself is doing a great job staying not only true to themselves but to pushing progressive film making. it's been a real joy to be involved in some capacity. i am going back today after a day's break, sorry to have missed paul miller's show, but happy to be seeing braden king's...

sundance

so, it's been, well, like almost 15 years since I spent time at a film festival. here's what I think:

1) being told the movies you want to see are sold out really sucks.

2) parties are way more fun when there's a power outage

3) a lot of people you might recognize from other places are shorter than you might think when you step on their toes (accidentally or on purpose)

4) park city is strange.

you know, for kids!

LATimes reports that Richard Knerr died at 82 yesterday. You may know him better as the man behind such wonderous americana as the hula hoop, the slip 'n' slide, and of course the frisbee. Jesus. That's a legacy - sure kissinger assassinated Allende, but who will remember that - now the frisbee? Damn, there are even streets named after the damned thing.

Of course there are streets named after allende too.

will someone shut this honkey up?

seriously.

Ron Paul, de facto klansman, homophobe, total asshole, presidential candidate.

"Is David Duke's new prominence, despite his losing the gubernatorial election, good for anti-big government forces?" The conclusion was that "our priority should be to take the anti-government, anti-tax, anti-crime, anti-welfare loafers, anti-race privilege, anti-foreign meddling message of Duke, and enclose it in a more consistent package of freedom."

The next time someone comes to me with a Ron Paul sign I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind and be sure to stand way far away from them when the revolution comes.

Oh, and a big thank you to Google for having employees who contributed the most to his campaign.

in case you were wondering here is the article sent to me by a former ron paul supporter.

hookers for jesus

all I can say is "jebus, the pathos"

"I picked that name because it is catchy. Most Christians might think I am selling my body. But I say that because I am trying to hook people on Jesus. I hook them for Jesus. I go into the casinos and I sit at the bar while the girls are selling their bodies and I talk to them."

so, most folks know I really, really don't like vegas. but the hookers for jesus are pushing me over the edge - I can safely say I hate it now.

just in from the department of moronic expression

"true conservative change"

thank you, mister Romney.

unexpected points north

so when you get a call that says "hey, we're driving through your town and wanted to invite you up to our 300 acre estate above guerneville" you don't say no. that's the deal.



go for it, I say. and while you're there, eat like kings, or queens. or both.

highlights include 5 kgs of chanterelles, some great late night photos, lots of great food and conversation, and vistas that were pretty much everything you could want in a vista.







but really, why not cap it off with a nice sunset?