3/9 - The Phoenix

Has risen from the ashes. Funk Shui dusted off its business cards and playbills and knocked out a two-hour set with all-new cover band material. We had a blast; whether we sounded tight may be a different story. By the end of the evening, we had landed two gigs, so apparently things weren't all bad. My new guitar carried the evening, though I'm still not used to playing a Les Paul-type guitar. The pick ups are fat and beefy, in a completely different league than any Fender I own. I haven't even changed the strings on it; I'd hate to see how bright the attack is on the strings when they're new. Anywho, I hope that now, we can play the park again, play some bars and restaraunts and make a little spending money. Check this out and tell me what you think!

Took my elder son to the zoo. He's loving African animals right now so everything's African safari here at home. Heading to Oakland, then, he thought he was on the savanna, which was really cute. He brought his stuffed animal "Elefant-e" with him to show the little toy its real-life family. Then the gig. Today, church with a massive headache and an hour's sleep lost; today, errands and yardwork. I did get the chance to finally pick up Warpaint, the latest by the Black Crowes. My love for that band needs no explanation; I've been faithfully following these guys since college. They're everything a true classic rock band should be. I'm only four songs in and already I'm thinking, 'boys, it's glad to see you back', since this is the first album in almost eight years and several lineup changes. In typical fashion, the artwork and packaging suck, with no liner credits and silly, nonsensical and pointless "artwork". Lions had terrible sleeves, Three Snakes and A Charm offered hardly anything as well. By Your Side was okay but too glossy and overproduced and the double album released a couple of years ago lacked any sort of explanation of the history of two shelved albums other than, "it was time" sort of thing. Only the band's first three records have anything resembling great artwork and packaging. Then again, who cares? This band cooks. So hard, in fact, that tickets to their show at the Fillmore next week are unattainable. Bummer; this will be the first time in quite a while that I'll have to miss them.

Barack Obama won the Wyoming caucus this weekend, picking up a t-shirt and a dozen cookies. When will we get past this religious adherence to federalism only when it works to protect ridiculously small Republican-controlled meaningless entities like Wyoming? Fresno has more people in it than Wyoming and yet the dumb state has three heads of representation in Congress and the Electoral College. For a half-million residents, it's a pretty darn good deal. Consider that with California, with forty million people and fifty-five members in Congress. Do your math and you'll see that fair representation is a myth, just as much as the importance of the right as the popular vote, as Democrats are proving yet again with the disastrous Florida and Michigan delegate situations. By the way, where's the story about why Florida's being punished? Anyone raising a stink about the Democratic primary being moved to January without DNC permission by a Republican-controlled state government?

Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Best of
Richie Havens - Mixed Bag
Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall
Tift Merritt - Another Country
Joe Lovano - Joyous Encounter