The lemon tree in my backyard produces some very odd lemons. This one was from Feb. 2003.
November 2003 Archives
Fri. Nov. 28, 2003:
1) My National Audubon Society 2003 desk calendar. Today is a very cute Black-Capped Chickadee. We don't have this Chickadee in California, but we do have the Mountain Chickadee. I love my daily bird fix.
2) Thanks for great live and great recorded music:
Manic Hispanic, Roger Wallace, The Clash, Marti Brom, Dropkick Murphys, Real McKenzies, Flogging Molly, Black Eyed Peas, Daniel Lanois, The Distraction, One Man Army, Throwrag, Fabulous Disaster, Dance Hall Crashers, Avail, Kings of Nuthin' and many, many, many more!
3) Thanks to and for all the Barflies.net contributor crew - past and present - Alex W., Julie Wanda, Yvonne, Lucky, Scarlett, Steve, Kevin, Megan, Erika, Tanya, The Ash, Meredith, Erik, Tink, Dawn, Al, Brian, Sandra, April, Cindy, Bridget, Lauren, Liz, etc... I am thankful for all of our friendships and your creative contributions. You have made me a better person and sharpened my own creative output. How can one little editor & artist be so blessed?
1) I am thankful for the Hanen Family bonding time whilst stuck in traffic between Mission Viejo and Oceanside. What should have taken 25 mins. took 2 hours and 5 mins. Yikes. But the Hanen Family is resourceful. Joe had a scratched up plastic wine glass under his seat, I had a chilled bottle of Chandon (Napa - Blancs de Noir) in a grocery sack next to my feet. Joe, Campbell (a.k.a. - Dad), and I drank champagne while driving past San Onofre Nuclear Plant and Camp Pendleton at 5 miles per hour. We laughed, we people watched, we waved at Marines on duty, and I spilled champagne. Big thanks to the Moet & Chandon company for being there during important stressful moments like in Agra, India on Feb. 2, 1943 when my airman Grandfather was able to procure a bottle of Moet to celebrate the telegrammed announcement of his first son's (Campbell) birth in Iowa or on the 5 fwy. with 105,000 other cars going from Orange County to one's Grandma's in San Diego on Nov. 27, 2003.....
Continue reading Giving Thanks IV Or Giving Thanks on the Big Day.
Wed. 11/26/03:
1) My dad, Campbell W. Hanen, has had some form of a cell phone (car phone) attached to his ear since the late 1970s. He is the text book version of an Early Adopter. Today, we were supposed to go to the Harbor House for brunch, but when I picked him up at my brother's house, my dad was chatting on his cell phone, so I was not able to ask him if he was willing to go to Dim Sum instead of western breakfast. Rather than driving to Sunset Beach, I drove us to Little Saigon in Westminister. It was not until the Taro Cakes, 25 mins. later, were placed on the table that he got off the call and asked me what were we doing here.... I am thankful, for the very first time in 25 years, for my dad's phone distraction that we could go to Dim Sum rather than omlettes... ;oD
2) I am thankful for Interscope Records and Terry Wang, U2's Tour Publicist, the best damned PR chickeeta that Brea (SoCal) and Taiwan has ever produced (Terry, you rock!). They sent me the U2 "U2 Go Home - Live from Slane Castle, Ireland" DVD this week. I just watched it. It is very good. It re-reminded me why U2 is the Rolling Stones Plus of my generation without the drugs and scary outfits.... U2 has delivered quality "redemptive" Rock'n'Roll for over 24 years. Thank you, U2!
3) Time off. Four days with no agenda. Thank God.
4) My brother Joe Hanen. Good Man. Gracious. Generous. Thank you.
Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2003:
Today I am thankful for...
1) The weekly bowling gang: Julie Wanda, Tink, Hector, Karl, Lucky, Kevin, and April. Thanks for making me laugh and having fun.
2) The comeback of the endangered Catalina Island Fox. Today the LA Times reported:
A rare fox no bigger than a housecat may be saved from extinction on Santa Catalina Island, thanks to scientists fighting for its survival with traps, cages and a cutting-edge vaccine.In an age when so many endangered-species dramas star lobbyists and lawyers, this little-noticed campaign 26 miles off the Los Angeles coast may actually be a success story — although ever-cautious scientists will not declare victory yet.
What they will acknowledge is that the Santa Catalina Island fox, nearly wiped out by canine distemper virus, is slowly growing in numbers, from only 100 four years ago to nearly 250 today.
2) The fall weather. Rarely do we have seasonally appropriate weather here in SoCal, but the last few days the highs have been in the 60s and the lows in the 40s with a chill in the air. Very nice.
Flock of Goo Goo played the Doll Hut last Friday, and the joint was packed for Flock's amusing and amazing brand of 80's covers. Gabby dressed up as Prince, Greg Antista as Adam Ant, Steve Soto as a skinny tie new wave guy, and Jim Munroe as a drummer....
The Flock of Goo Goo will be playing at Alex's Bar for the New Year's Eve New Wave Prom on Wed. Dec. 31, 2003. Come on down and join us!
For most of the night at the Doll Hut, I could see Jeff and Lisa Holt across the room, but it was too crowded to get to them. Finally, at the end of the night, I got to say hi and get a pic with Lisa.
As the song goes, "Give thanks with a grateful heart." In this week of Thanksgiving, I am going to daily post at least one thing that I am thankful for.
Monday - 11/24/03:
1) The birth of Mike Magrann on Nov. 24th, 1960. Happy Birthday, Mike! I've know Mike since I was 15 and his songs have been a part of my personal in head sing-a-long playlist since 1983, esp. "Manzanar".
2) The Anna's Hummingbird pair who were defending their territory in the backyard of the Doll Hut yesterday afternoon. Just when I thought I was at a honky tonk benefit, standing out in the back patio, smashed along with all the other folks there to see The Blasters, I noticed a pair of hummingbirds racing around our heads. There is a yellow flowering tree growing just outside the fence of the Doll Hut that the hummers were trying to defend from the 50 odd people invading their space and flowers. In all my years of birding, I have never had a hummingbird allow me to get within 5 feet of it, and yesterday both birds stuck around the tree and fence for over 2 hours. I was able to get two clear pictures. Amazing!
3) A good drummer seamless integrates into a band's sound. A bad drummer sticks out like a sore thumb. But a truly great drummer is a joy to watch and listen to. In my book there are three truly great drummers out playing right now:
a) Matt Kelly of the Dropkick Murphys
b) Sally of the Fabulous Disaster
c) Bill Bateman of the Blasters and the Blue Shadows
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of watching Bill Bateman play an amazing set at the Doll Hut. Thank you, Bill.
Perseverance, Fortitude, and Gumption. And the greatest of these is ____________.....
The LA Times' front cover photo caption stated:
Launch Vehicle
Soldiers examine a rocket launcher mounted on a donkey-drawn cart near the Italian Embassy in Baghdad. Attacks launched from donkey carts Friday again raised the question: Can a high-tech army respond adequately to such low-tech threats?
Dear Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, Mr. Rumsfield, and the various executives of Halliburton, Shell/Chevron/Texaco, Arco, Exxon, Mobile, etc,
Dear Sirs: I do realized that you all are damned and determined to make a profit in Iraq, but as the last 24 hours of events illustrate David and his Donkey are taking out Goliath and his corporate overlords.
Please note that 87 Billion US Taxpayers' Dollars will not defeat determined rebels with donkey carts. Please note that consulting Ariel Sharon and the current Isreali criminals... oops, I mean, governement will not help us but dig us deeper in the mire. Maybe you all ought to hire a medium to consult Rabin's ghost...
As an American taxpayer, I would like us to have adequate and working health care, education, transportation, and utilities right at home here in the good ole USA.
Mr. Bush, please remember the words of our Lord Jesus, "To whom much is given, much is required." Also, "A man can gain the world, but lose his soul."
Ms. Jen
Tomorrow is the Day. Get your Sunday paper. Pluck out the Comic section and toss the rest. Opus est arrive!!!!
I did it yesterday. Yep, I did. After month's of thinking about it, after porting Blue completely over in October, today I did it for myself.
I left Netscape. After 9 years of Netscaping faithfully through good times and bad, yesterday I downloaded and made Mozilla 1.5 my default browser and mail client.
Recently AOL made the decision that Netscape 7.0 would be the last version of Netscape, and yesterday I had some trouble with my email and realized that there would be no updates to solve the problem. Given that Mozilla is a great open software / community development browser, as well as being the core of Netscape's browser, I decided to not go to the DARK SIDE and instead continue to fight for the Light by making Mozilla my default browser.
So far, so good. My only two complaints are both in the mail client: No Spell Check and No File Button of which to use to file emails into folders, it is drag and drop all the way.
Cnn.com reports today: Japanese scientists say they've found new whale species
Ms. Jen opines: And then they killed them all. You can find the possible new species of baleen whale packaged nicely at the meat counter of your local supermarket.
Come on Japan and Norway, stop the whaling under the disguise of "scientific research"! If you want to eat whale and see if as your culinary cultural right, then raise it yourself like beef don't hunt out of the wild.
Coming back from my daily bike ride this afternoon, I saw this liquid amber tree a block away from my house. Many of the native California sycamores have been turning brown and losing leaves for a couple of months, but this week the non-native maples and liquid ambers have been turning shades of yellow and red.
Lovely.
Feb. 4, 2003 : I interviewed One Man Army's Heiko Schrepel for Kart Sport Magazine before the band's sold out show at the Troubadour. This photo was taken after the interview was completed but before we returned to the Troubadour.
I would like to extend a hearty congratulations to Dave "The Chairman" Mau and Lora "Lindy Lora" Wilson. Yesterday was their thrid year anniversary.
Three years ago, I threw a benefit party for Scarlett who was going to study in Ireland and needed to raise some money to pay for rent while she was gone. I hired Dave to make his famed MauBBQ, and Lora asked me for an introduction to Dave. And off they went.
Lora returned to California today after a one year career related absence and Dave threw a welcome home dinner party.
Here they are three years later. Yeah! I have hope.
Downtown Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles as viewed from Bolsa Chica State Beach during the October 2002 Longshoresman Strike. The Pacific Ocean south of Palos Verdes and north of Newport Beach was filled with over 65 container ships on this late fall afternoon waiting for the strike to be over and the Port to open.
Erika and I were in a german artist's art installation piece at the MOCA Geffen Contemporary, when I looked down and realized we needed a camera! We went in search of Thomas and his digital camera, I held it down while we turned our back on the guard. Erika pretended to ask Thomas what the german writing on the wall was saying, then we all looked down. Snap!
The guard came over as Thomas slipped his camera back in his bag to inquire what we were up to...
Today at 11:53am, Sugar Plum, my lovely 1993 Honda Civic, turned 199,999 miles.
At approx. 12:04PM, after a stop at the cleaners, Sugar Plum turned 200,000 on McFadden Ave. Go Sugar Plum Go!
Today I went to the bridal shower of a good friend of mine, Amanda Cunagin. It was one of the nicest wedding showers I have ever attended, bravo to Heather Teal, Lisa Lavine, and Arianna Shackelford for throwing such a great and lovely party at Heather & Dave Shackelford's home.
In honor of the celebration Amanda's friend Melissa recited the following poem by Richard Wilbur:
Wedding Toast
St. John tells how, at Cana's wedding feast,
The water-pots poured wine in such amount
That by his sober count
There were a hundred gallons at the least.
It made no earthly sense, unless to show
How whatsoever love elects to bless
Brims to a sweet excess
That can without depletion overflow.
Which is to say that what love sees is true;
That this world's fullness is not made but found.
Life hungers to abound
And pour its plenty out for such as you.
Now, if your loves will lend an ear to mine,
I toast you both, good son and dear new daughter.
May you not lack for water,
And may that water smack of Cana's wine.
Many blessings on Amanda and Andrew!
fortitude n: strength of mind that enables a person to meet danger or bear pain or adversity with courage. syn: grit, back bone, pluck
On Thursday evening, Thomas, Erika, and I went up to MOCA for the free Thursdays. We parked in Little Tokyo and started at the Geffen Contemporary for the "Sitings: Installation Art 1969 - 2002" exhibition.
Murray had raved to me about the Frank Gehry's "Works in Progress" exhibition up at the main MOCA space, but after viewing both exhibitions, I preferred a few of the installations at the Geffen that were so delightful, lilting, and just plain fun that when I got to Gehry's exhibition I wanted to plop in the middle of Gehry's models and interact with them. That would have been a no go. Security is funny that way.
The best of the installations that we were allowed to interact with were at the Geffen: Gabriel Orozco's "Toilet Ventilators" and "Ping Pond Table" and Gregor Schneider's "Dead House Ur."
Orozco's two installations were on the second floor landing, the "Toilet Ventilators" were 4 ceiling fans with rolls of toilet paper at the end of each fan blade trailing toilet paper through the air over the "Ping Pond Table" installation. From the entrance of the Geffen, one would look to the left and see the festive ceiling fans with their streamers, it was only upon arriving up on the second floor landing that I realized that the streamers were toilet paper.
The "Ping Pond Table" was manufactured in a four-leafed clover shape with a lily pond in the middle where the net ought to be. Erika asked security if we were allowed to play ping pond. And we were. And we did. And we had a blast. And we lost lots of balls to the pond, we plucked them out, shook off the water and continued on. A group of students from Point Loma University joined us and we played four way ping pond. Thomas had his camera and Erika took the photos that you see here.
Get thee down to the Geffen and play water ping pond.
I have just finished the final touches on Los Angeles area painter Dan Callis' new website.
We decided to go with a very simple, bordering on the minimalist, website to showcase his paintings and installations. Go on, go look, tell me what you think...
As I was out running errands today, I tuned into the local NPR station and heard Fresh Air's Terry Gross interviewing Wanda Jackson.
She had several hits in the late '50s and early '60s, including "Mean Mean Man," "Let's Have a Party" and "Fujiyama Mama." In the '70s she kept recording music, mostly gospel. She's 65 now and still touring. She's just released her first studio recording in 15 years, Heart Trouble. Guest musicians, including Elvis Costello and The Cramps, join her for several tracks.
I recommend tuning into your NPR station today for Fresh Air or listening to the interview online. Not only is Wanda Jackson one of the most gracious women alive, but she is a pleasure to listen to. Fresh Air plays a few tracks off the new album.
UPDATE: Sigh... I meant to post this over on the Barflies.net Blog, but instead chose my bookmark too quickly without looking... Oops.
Resident House Finch Male and Mockingbird at the top of the frontyard Elm
Late this afternoon, I was pulling up all the dead flowers from the driveway side garden, when I heard and saw a large mixed flock of warblers and bushtits mobbing the backyard elm, next door larch tree, and driveway ficus tree. At first, I thought it was just bushtits, but there were flashes of yellow with higher, louder calls. Migrating Warblers!
The Black Phoebe who drove out the Warblers with the local Hummingbird
I ran in to the house to get my camera. I did was not able to capture any of the warblers or bushtits, but I did photograph the resident black phoebe, house finch, and hummingbird that were trying to defend their territory and run the warblers out of the yard. The resident mocking bird and western scrub jay were holding their usual places at the top of the frontyard elm.
Warbler tries to land on larch tree as House Finch defends his territory
As the flock of approx. twenty warblers bipped and bopped around the backyard trees, I was able to identify Nashville Warblers (!!), Townsend Warblers (!!), and Yellow Warblers, and possibly a Black and White Warbler (not sure on this one). The warblers were intermingling with the bushtits, and moving so fast that I was not able to get any good pictures. Over all it was a delightful 20 minutes.
House Finch
NASA's Earth Observatory reports:
Although the large fires that ravaged Southern California are now under control, they can be blamed for the polluted air that is spreading over the Western States and into the Pacific Ocean. In additional to ash and smoke, the fires released carbon monoxide into the atmosphere as they burned. This false-color image shows the atmospheric column of carbon monoxide, with yellow and red indicating high levels of pollution. The data were taken by the Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument aboard NASA’s Terra satellite for the period October 26-31, 2003.
According to the AP reports on Salon.com and Iwon.com, the California wildfires are on their way to being contained.
From the Salon.com AP report:
Firefighters contained the largest and deadliest of Southern California's vast wildfires Tuesday and made progress against others as the death toll grew to 22.
Rain and snow, with chilly temperatures, have aided firefighters in the mountains in recent days. Many firefighters had been sent home, leaving remaining crews to douse hot spots and watch for new ones.
San Diego County's 280,000-plus-acre Cedar Fire was fully surrounded by fire breaks Tuesday.
The Old Fire in San Bernardino County, the last of the blazes to threaten communities, was 93 percent contained as it smoldered in forest atop the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles.
Elsewhere, the Paradise Fire was 80 percent contained at 56,700 acres; San Bernardino County's Grand Prix Fire was 98 percent contained after burning more than 59,000 acres; and the 64,000-acre Piru Fire in Ventura County was 85 percent surrounded.
Here is a roster of Presidential 2004 Candidate Blogs:
Other Candidates' websites that are not blogs:
And the Greens have not fielded a candidate as of yet.... Tanya, correct me here if I am wrong.