you can find me in st. louie

where the gun play ring all day (nanana) (apologies to nelly)

alright this saturday we're kicking off to st. louis, to go dew family stuff and things and junk.

potential list of visitplaces:

1) de arch

2) ted drewes frozen custard (helllllz yeah!) on good ol' original route 66

3) the hill, which is very much like little italy transported to the midwest. they even have (moderate amounts of) formstone! wackadoodle.

4) st. louis zoo. the penguin cave is supreme.

5) potentially a trip to some missouri wineries!

6) there is no rule #6.

baltimore history x: power plant

in 1985 or 1986, my friend asked me if i wanted to join his family in a trip to this cool indoor amusement park in baltimore. i said sure, why de heck not, amusement parks are amusing.

this commercial made the power plant amusement park look like everything it was not: i.e., a place that didn't suck.



there were maybe two cool things there that i recall: a 3-D theater that included moving seats and smells piped in, and a quasi-leninistic-socialistic-realist statue in the entrance.

well fail the place did, to become power plant live, which my wife tells me had an all-ages nightclub for awhile? since moving to town all i've done there is b&n and chipotle. those places do not suck.

be jackson pollock

be jackson pollock

then go to

pollock johnny's

mr. ray, dream weaver

if you were around the dc / baltimore area in the 1980s, no matter who you were, you knew about mr. ray's hair weave. these commercials were proto-viral and almost charming in their nonexistant production values. but the best part was the announcer and his obviously regional accent.

i was thrilled that this clip showed up on youtube ~ the next no-budget commercial i need to find is joe jacoby for theatrevision. that would make both me and thighmaster very happie.

for more mr. ray goodness, peep dis song and lyrics by the junkyard saints.

weekend update update

honfest 2006 was great excepting the anheuser busch dictatorship. beer wants to be free. i'm married to one of the hons above.

trixie little (left) and some of the hampden charm school girls. rock.

st. anthony's festival at the bocce court. i would make a joke about little balls but the guy with white hair and sunglasses would probably have me whacked.

a feeble attempt at photographing some of the rollergirls. my kodak yugomatic whithered in competition to the massive photographic equipment onsite. trixie took her top off (with pasties) at halftime. rock.

weekend update

well here's what's on the docket for local activities this weekend ~ it's by no means comprehensive, it's just what we wanna do.

honfest in hampden, saturday the 10th, 11am to 8pm
the avenue
http://www.honfest.net/
say what you like about it, it's just good dumb summer fun. 95% chance of elvis sightings. and honfest made it into this tres interesting documentary about class consciousness in america. so you can watch that if you want to see intellectuals kvetching about it.


102th annual saint anthony festival, saturday and sunday 10th/11th, noon to 8pm
little italy
http://www.littleitalymd.com/activities.htm
it's freaking classic, you goombah. get served kick ass ravioli by italian lunch ladies and drink wine. and fuhgeddaboutit.


great grapes wine arts & food festival, saturday and sunday 10th/11th, noon to 6pm
oregon ridge park, cockeysville
http://www.uncorkthefun.com/2006/oreg/oregShowInfo.htm
dunno about this one too much ~ i find maryland wines a little on the watery side, but in general wine festivals are interesting for people watching and finding random yard art. if not for a wine festival i would not have a concrete penguin.



charm city rollergirls, sunday the 11th, 5 pm
skateland 8025 belair rd. *turn into denny's* baltimore, md 21236 http://www.charmcityrollergirls.com/
what can i say, i need to see the charm city rollergirls before i die. so if i go sunday i can die monday. planning is everything!

lancelot link and judas priest

as author douglas coupland has noted, as generation x (that's us for the most part) we are primarily linked together by our shared memories of television shows and pop culture. of course, he's canadian so take that for what it is.

documentarian jeff krulik is a maryland boy who seems to have his finger steadily on the pulse of pop culture that is truly relevant. well, to me, anyways.



witness: heavy metal parking lot, a docu in which heavy metal fans wait in the parking lot outside of the capital centre, maryland on may 31 1986 (dat's 20 YEARS ago!) for a judas priest concert. these people WALKED AMONG US...

click here to watch it, it's so worth it,.,.,. (under "parking lots")

check out the bowie accent on the redhead ~ yowza



years later, mr. k deftly interviews the gentlemen responsible for the tv show lancelot link. watch it here if you don't feel like a c.h.u.m.p... (fourth from the top)

what's not to like? i have yet to watch all his documentaries, but everything i have seen is good...