I Heart Hummers...a Civil Disobedient Excursion

heh..been a while but...just had to pass this along...

Pynt and i were walking along Superior Street a few evenings ago on our way back to my place for an evening with the Simpsons. We were approaching the intersection of 10th/Superior/London when the light changed, allowing a minivan, followed by one of those GODAWFUL H2's, and a few other vehicles to go. Given my disdain for the garish presence of those things, I decided it'd be clever to excercise my right arm and...one, two, three...flip it the bird.

I didn't think too much of it when the guy driving the thing pulled into the parking lot of that medical center that sits on the corner, because Pynt and I had gone off to watch the cars down on I-35 for a couple of minutes. When we made our way back to the sidewalk (a couple of minutes later) the Hummer was still sitting in the lot. When the guy saw us, he pulled back out onto Soup Street. Doesn't go past us, like he should. He stops the 'car,' which causes a few cars behind him to have to stop as well. The guy rolls down his window and says "What's the problem, DUDE?"

"This is my problem" was my reply, pointing at the vehicle.
"What's wrong with it?"
"You're driving it!"
"What's wrong with it?!?"
"You're drving it!"
The altercation didn't go farther than that, but ended up with him using the canned "It's American Made," and "Get a job" retorts as he was driving away...I'd like to think he went home and cried about the whole affair. Had the convo progressed any further, I was going to point out that what he was driving was an expensive unnessecary piece of crap.

Now, I have also been thinking about the karmic ramifications of my actions that night, and other than infringing on his right to own one, and being a general nusiance (and perhaps conscientious voice) to his seemingly carefree existence...I can think of none that would adversely affect my life, other than the outside chance of meeting him in a bar one evening and having to defend myself from his bruised ego.

thoughts? Am I so wrong???

Free Range on NPR

Hey! Here's the Free Range Film Fest on NATIONAL public radio -- perfect with my sat morning coffee

WTF?

What the f^@k are you people doing after the Free Range Film Festival on Friday night? I WISH I could make it that night, but I'm working, so I can only make it Saturday. Still, I get off at 11 Friday and would like to participate in some post-movie madness. Where's the scene?

send me your linkage.

I was just poking around the music links on the right sidebar there and realized they need some updating. So leave your links in the comments and I will be sure to include them. This also goes for the Culture, Blog and Vlog sections.

Thank you very much.

above photo by Joe Cunningham

More press about that farm movie thing.

City pages article about this weekend's film fest by PDD's very own Godsey

Nicely done, Mr. Godsey.

Odd Request

Are there any nicknames for Duluth/Superior that I don’t know of? I'm stuck on the following list:

Duluth/Superior:
-Twin Ports

Duluth:
-Zenith City
-North Shore

Superior:
-Souptown
-South Shore

PDD segway gang

In liew of *fire lounge, I say we all go and rent some of these hummers and terrorize the touristas. Next monday night(evening)? I dont know what the cost is...oh, better yet.. rent 'em then hit happy hour at luce' toss back a quick couple of whiskey dews and buzz the lakewalk...*fire and his video...yeah baby...get 'er done! Anyone on board??

Message to Amy.

Hey Amy.

The comments seem to be down so I will send you encouragement this way. Go buy the book "Easy Way to Quit" at Barnes and Noble. It really helped me quit.

Call me if you need any support.

london rawks.

Free Range Film Festival

Free Range Film Festival version 2.0 is only one week away. Mark your calenders.

If you browse the calender you might notice a couple of my films. No more 320x240 viewing, I'm on the big screen baby!

Seriously, this is an amazing event so, get out to the farm!

"Keep your riches, gimme a Budweiser!"

To my infinite delight, I discovered this morning that my girlfriend's record collection includes "Trackin' up the North." The album was put together by KQDS radio in 1982 in collaboration with Grandma's Saloon & Deli. It features a rare Replacements song, "Lookin' for Ya," as well as a track by Chameleon, a band that included none other than Yanni.

The bands on the album all participated in the "KQDS Miller High Life Rock to Riches Talent Search Contest," which is why the Replacements track ends with a defiant screaming of the title of this post.

The Last Starfire Lounge

Six years of good times has come to an end. If you don't know what this means, I can't explain it to you.

That's all folks!

After a wonderful run of 6 plus years I am pulling the plug on Starfire Lounge. In case you have no idea what that is let me explain. In 1998 after Random Radio was shut down by the Feds I approached Tim Nelson about doing a DJ night at the Brewhouse. He was hesitant at first but eventually gave me the green light. So every Thursday since then me and another DJ have plugged in our turntables and CD players and iPods and played whatever the hell we wanted.

And so now it is coming to a close.

This Thursday will be the last installment of a wonderful adventure. There will be nothing special, no cake, no speeches just some good music. If you have ever been a part of the Lounge and want to spin one-more-tune let me know and I will pencil you in.

Thanks for all the good times and I hope to see a few of you out there this Thursday.

Strippers Busted In Birthday Bash

JULY 11--A cautionary tale of pleasure's pitfalls comes from Jacksonville, Arkansas, where a trio of strippers is facing criminal charges for the onstage beating a male patron with a wood paddle and a leather whip. According to a Pulaski County Sheriff's Office report, truck driver Keith Lowery told investigators that he was handcuffed to a pole at the Sensations club and set upon by the dancers during a June 17 visit. Lowery, who was celebrating his 31st birthday with pals who paid $25 for his ceremonial birthday whuppin', said that he was injured when the 4:30 AM stunt went too far. He claimed that he "begged" management to stop the paddling/whipping, but that his plea was rejected. After a bruised Lowery contacted cops, three dancers and two Sensations managers were arrested and charged with a felony count of obscene performance in a public place (the strippers also were hit with a misdemeanor battery count).

juice here

Hey! Come Hear Some Ladies.

Mary Bue | Lindsay & Mary Mac | Jerree Small

Beaner's Central | 324 N. Central Ave.
Tuesday, July 12 | 8pm

Robotic Guitarist

"Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created a mechanical guitar playing robot, named the Crazy J. The guitar player is composed of two mechanical systems that interact to play a range of 29 musical notes. A plucking mechanism with six independently controlled picks is mounted over the body of the guitar and a fingering mechanism with an array of 23 fingertips is mounted over the first four frets of the fingerboard."

Finally, no more ego driven flake outs, no more arcane song structure to support extruded fret board finger mashing, no more incremental small loans from the band fund to pay for 9 volts and 6 packs, no more lame attempts to steal the bass player's girl/boy toy, and no more "conan the luteist" posing sessions. Full story here.

"P" is for Profanity

Friday, July 8th, 10:15-11:00pm, Norshor Theater, Duluth
at the Eyes and Hands Festival
$8/day, $12/weekend

Allen Richardson: Mr. Nice
Jim Richardson: Cookie Monster, Timmy, Sam, Rick, The King of England, The Professor
Jill Holmen: Timmy's Mom, Trudy, slide whistle
Steve Perry: The Lone Gunman
And if the Scotsman dared to show his ugly face he would be played by himself, Devin 'The Scotsman' McKinnon, and he better bring his posse if he knows what's good for him.

At last...

The time has come for Judge Judy's ascension to the U.S. Supreme Court.

(Sure, some naysayers'll tell you that Judge Joe Brown or Judge Larry Joe have good chances, too, but c'mon. Judy's clearly the front-runner.)

Changes-Ch-Changes!

House of Donuts-Closed!
Molly's-Closed!
Buena Vista-Closing!

any more?

In case you didn't see it.

Blah blah blah blah Blog. PDD made the DNT yesterday. You could read about it right here or you could make a sweet PDD post. You make the call.