Another from the road trip.

Open Studios 2011 at The Hive

Open Studios are coming up at The Hive.
I'm sure all 15,000 of you blog readers (hi, mom) will be attending.

The Hive is opening its doors as part of the East Bay Open Studios event put on each year by the Pro Arts Gallery here in Oakland. They're promoting the event as including over 400 artists in 14 cities in the East Bay, though I suspect Oakland and Berkeley will be the best represented.

So put on your walking shoes (who am I kidding, I know you'll be driving. It's California...) and get ready to eat terrible snacks and see some wonderful art. I'm already starting to tidy up for you.

Another from the road trip.

From last summer's road trip.

Jon Rafman

Thanks to the awesome folks at Fecal Face for the heads up on Jon Rafman's amazing screen captures from Google Earth. See them here, they're truly spectacular.

Discovering what I've already discovered

Oh, the unpredictable joys of iTunes shuffle.

When it's not unearthing various attempts to learn languages (Ni hao, podcast! Wie geht's? Molto bene, grazie.) it's digging up things that I honestly cannot trace. It's like a trip in a time machine to an unexplained and decontextualized pre-Stephanie-Stephanie. And as much as I hate the self-congratulating hipster/artist "look how obscure my musical tastes are" post...

Look how obscure my musical tastes are! Oh, my god, I'm so "alt." In fact, I'm so alt, I've started saying alt again, so eat my shorts. What follows are some of the more random of my randoms.

Abrew's Portuguese Instrumental Trio - "Cabo Verdranos Peca Nove"
Agnes Buen Garnas & Jan Garbarek - "Lillebror Og Storebror"
Amber - "This is Your Night" (haha)
Arto Lindsay - "Prefeelings"
Bembeya Jazz National - "Whiskey Soda"
Billy Joel - "The Downeaster Alexa"
Blondie - "Sunday Girl" (in French)
Bobby Conn - "Never Get Ahead" (video is kid-friendly chica-go-go version)
Chingy - "Right Thurr Remix ft. JD"
Clyde McPhatter - "Lover Please"
Coven - "One Tin Soldier"
David Bowie - "Segue: Ramona A. Stone/I Am With Name" (This song is crazy as hell.)
Die Antwoord - "Jou Ma Se Poes In'N FishPaste Jar"
Dolly Parton - "Daddy Come and Get Me"
Dr. John - I Walk on Gilded Splinters (quite possibly the best lighting storm and cigarettes song)
Heavy Metal Kids - "Jackie the Lad"
Ini Kamoze - "Hot Steppa"
The Ink Spots - "If I Didn't Care"
Joe Diffie - "Leroy the Redneck Reindeer"
Lenka - "Gravity Rides Everything"
Leonard Nimoy - "Ruby"
The Loniest Monk - "You Don't Have To Try"
Marlene Dietrich - "Ja, So Bin Ich"
Marvin Pontiac - "Arms and Legs"
Memphis Jug Band - "Rukus Juice and Chitlin'"
Public Enemy - "Cold Lampin' with Flavor"
Rudi Schuricke - "Capri Fischer"
Vince Giordano and His Nighthawks Orchestra - "Hurricane"
Violetta Villas - "Dla ciebie mamo"


And because it's so great, here's a bonus video of Bembeya Jazz National's "Whiskey Soda." Learn it. Live it. Love it.




As a footnote, screw you, ItUNES, for your expert marketing that makes me capitalize your brand name as you have irrationally decreed it be capitalized. sCRew yoU.