An ILE thread asked posters to list their interests (a banal topic, sure, but people's answers can occasionally be revealing). I shot for a list of 20 things and here's what I came up with:

01) animals (cute ones like anteaters and iguanas)
02) music (at this point more of an instinct than an "interest")
03) technology
04) urban planning/land use (& history thereof)
05) graphic design/typography
06) interior design/textiles
07) photography
08) 20th century architecture
09) thrifting/scavenging
10) food
11) travel (& history/advertising/marketing thereof)
12) language/grammar/semantics/etymology (though not as much as i used to be)
13) learning How Things Work
14) obtaining secret knowledge
15) trying to find sensible workarounds for Being Oppressed By The Man
16-20) elliott gould

Let's end the week with a couple of obscuro U.K. psych mp3s from a Deram/Decca singles comp called The Psychedelic Scene. Deram was an offshoot of Decca, specializing in post-Invasion psychedelia and mod, as well as northern soul. Later on, Deram put out records by the Mo-Dettes, Kylie Minogue, and Bananarama, but The Psychedelic Scene focuses on late '60s artists, mainly with a grandiose, orchestral bent (unlike the raw noisiness of contemporaneous U.S. groups). The two songs below, "Bird Has Flown" and "Meditations," are pretty representative of the compilation as a whole. I'm also gaga over the Al Stewart track, but since I just posted "In Brooklyn" here a few weeks ago, I won't clobber you over the head with more Stewart. Unless you'd like me to. Because I'm on a big Stewart kick lately.

The Societie - "Bird Has Flown"
Felius Andromeda - "Meditations"

crepe
Originally uploaded by stockholm cindy.

How is it possible that so few people know about the Flickr Chowhound group? Consider this a bit of free advertising, and for good measure, here's my picture of tonight's dinner, the Vietnamese crepe from the confusingly named Dao's Tai Pan's (446 N. Wilmot Road, Tucson). As you can see from the pic, the dish was presented beautifully, and the crepe itself had a gorgeous texture, but the fillings (a few shrimp, sliced beef, a LOT of bean sprouts) were what the Iron Chef judges call "delicate" when they're being euphemistic. The sauce served alongside was nice and made the "delicate" claim more of a real compliment, but I still thought the dish was lacking something. Subtlety can be a great thing, but the flavor should linger on your palate (and in your mind) after your plate has been bussed away.

From the Department of Retarded State Laws:

I was at Fry's supermarket tonight, about to buy a bottle of $2.99 Boone's sangria (because the poor need to get wasted as much as anybody), when the cashier told me that my New York State non-driver ID wasn't a valid form of identification in Arizona. If it were an NYS driver's license, that would be okay (even though the only, and I mean only, difference between a license and a non-driver card is that one lets you drive; in New York they both require the exact same number of ID "points"). And any Arizona-issued form of ID is fine. But apparently, if you're not an Arizonan and you can't drive, and you don't carry your passport around with you wherever you go, no drinky for kitty. The funny thing is, back when I had an NYS learner's permit, I was told that a learner's permit doesn't carry the same amount of weight as a driver's license or a state ID card. So when the permit expired, and I realized that I wasn't gonna have a car any time soon, I went and got a non-driver card. End of story... until now.

The official spiel on this:

What are the acceptable forms of identification?

(1) A driver's license from any state or Canada provided it includes a picture of the licensee, (2) an Arizona identifications card issued by the Motor Vehicle Division, (3) an armed forces identification card, and (4) a valid passport or border crossing identification card issued by a government, or voter card issued by the government of Mexico which contains a photograph of the person and date of birth. ALL MUST BE UNEXPIRED. [A.R.S. 4-241(A)(1 - 4)]


I dunno man; I like Arizona and it seems like under the right circumstances this'd be a great place to live full-time, but the fates just don't want to throw "the right circumstances" my way.

Today's mp3s are from Stiff Records' 1979 Akron Compilation, celebrating the best of you know what from you know where. Devo needed no help in this regard so naturally they're not on this, but lots of others are. The Waitresses and Rachel Sweet weren't famous yet ("famous," anyway), the Rubber City Rebels had yet to be produced by the Knack's Doug Fieger, and Chi Pig were many many years away from being featured on The Nomi Song's soundtrack. Some of these tracks are on the charming side of mediocre, which I mean as a compliment. All those '70s also-ran bands you hear on comps like this have a very dated quasi-commercial (but poorly produced) powerpop-punk sound, with songs that aren't quite as well-written as they're striving to be. (This is a hallmark of Stiff releases in general, with a few obvious exceptions.) That said, here are two that really grab me.

Chi Pig - "Apu-Api (Help Me)"
Jane Aire & the Belvederes - "I'm an Actress"

Modular housing is BACK and there is nothing newer. Sunset magazine and Michelle Kaufmann Designs present the Sunset Breezehouse.

On the Sunset Breezehouse

* Thanks to walls of glass that fold to one side, the Breezespace completely opens to one or both courtyard gardens, making the Sunset Breezehouse’s flexible living spaces feel twice as large.—Michelle Kaufmann, Architect
* The Sunset Breezehouse represents indoor-outdoor living at its best—a subject that has long been identified with Sunset. The flexible glass walls of the Breezespace can close for an intimate breakfast or open for a grand evening gathering.—Peter Whiteley, Sunset Senior Writer
* Our objective in developing the Sunset Breezehouse with Bay Area architect Michelle Kaufmann is to provide a contemporary, outdoor-oriented, architect-designed modular home with wide market appeal. It’s a reinvented, sustainably built, Gen-X version of the modern Eichler atrium-production-house of the 1960s.—Dan Gregory, Sunset Home Editor

We are taking orders for the Sunset Breezehouse, available immediately in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho and Colorado. Your Sunset Breezehouse will arrive by flatbed truck, 90% complete, approximately 6 to 9 months after order.

Mid-June favorites:

1) Campbell's Chunky Tantalizin' Turkey Chili With Beans (what kind of loser eats "no beans" chili anyway?), in the can, served cold.
2) cantilevered architecture
3) hiking out past the city limits
4) Big Lots! (a discount store with class, sorta, plus they have cheap cast iron skillets!)
5) this dinosaur

The fellow on slsk who was sharing Dave Bixby's 1972 Ode to Quetzalcoatl added "Christian Loner Folk" to the folder name as a parenthetical description. I still don't know anything about Bixby other than that he was a dope fiend (go figure) before finding Christ, and the songs on Quetzalcoatl are post-conversion.

I've been on a mild "'70s Jesus hippies" kick lately; there's the same post-apocalyptic comedown quality that's on all the folk records of the time, but some of the Jesus music is especially morose, not like today's "haha you blue-state pussies, WE WON (*burrrrrrp*)" cheerleaders for Team Goodbook. No, actually, with Bixby being a loner and all, it's not surprising that Quetzalcoatl is pretty solipsistic and self-absorbed -- if he were coming of age in the '80s instead, surely he'd be cutting his musical teeth doing covers of "Sanitarium" and "How Soon is Now?" at open mic nights.

With a little less outright misery, this'd be a ringer for shoegaze -- I've always said that the Beach Boys' "'Til I Die" could be interpreted smashingly by someone like Slowdive, and Bixby's record has a similar vibe, a quiet desperation, better to evaporate than to explode, etc. It distinguishes itself with vocals that tend to drift from sleepy emo-folk into an old-timey warbly Van Dyke Parks quality, and an emphasis on (quite pretty) solo guitar playing rather than production and arrangement.

A couple of mp3s to whet your whistle:

Dave Bixby - "Free Indeed"
Dave Bixby - "Morning Sun"
Dave Bixby - "Secret Forest"

Little Cafe Poca Cosa

poca cosa
Originally uploaded by stockholm cindy.

Today's lunch (and by lunch I mean "the only food I'm eating all day except for cold drinks and maybe a Clif bar later"), the barbacoa plate from Little Cafe Poca Cosa. Corner of Stone & Alameda, Tucson.

HaRav Gedalia Dov Schwartz, our Av Beis Din, is of the opinion that tagalos does retain its dairy status, and therefore a dairy Slurpee should not be slurped by those who’ve just finished a roast beef sandwich.

The Chicago Rabbinical Council addresses all your concerns about the kosherness of Slurpees.

sunset

sunset2
Originally uploaded by stockholm cindy.

THIS is why I moved here. Now stop asking me.

You Are... Ride.

You are young at heart and full of energy. You are
talented but very modest. You are happy go
lucky and care free. You have learned to take
the good with the bad and you just accept life
for being what it is. People tend to be envious
of you, That's only because they don't
understand you and they just want some of what
you have. There's no task too hard for you and
you excel at pretty much everything you try to
do. You have a playful personallity and a
beautiful inner soul.


what Creation Records band are you? (complete with text and images)
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Pilgrim Travelers, "Straight Street"




Present-day "Straight Street" in Damascus: Blinded, Paul was taken to a house on the "Street Called Straight," where he was cared for by a man named Judas (Acts 9:11). This street was the east-west decumanus of Roman Damascus.