Odds and ends – music, friends, family, fun

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Special thanks to el Sturg and his lovely wife for hosting me in the DC metro area.  Senor Sturj and I ventured into the wilds of Columbia, MD for Progressive Nation 2009.  We got treated to Zappa Plays Zappa, Dream Theater, and even a little Queensryche.  It was a great night of music with a dear friend, but I’ll need some time to digest the whole deal.  In short, the Zappa set was brilliant, satisfying and very much what I expected.  It was a treat to see such extraordinary music played so brilliantly.  Dream Theater, quite simply, was an onslaught.  Portnoy might be the best in the business behind the drums.  I’ve seen him before, but not with HIS band.  This show was loud, abnoxious, mighty and awesome.  Like I said, more on that later.

I also received a huge supplement to my music collection via Mr. and Mrs. Sturg.  With the former, I have an opportunity to hear every single show Mahavishnu played between 1972 and 1974.  Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night, etc, etc.  That is a deep collection.  From the later, I got to continue my education in sounds from around the world, as the Mrs. has traveled widely, speaks fluent Spanish and supplemented her considerable music collection accordingly.  I was only able to scratch the surface while being treated to pancakes and fresh fruit this morning, but I still managed to collect many gigs.  It was a good haul; just how good, will take some time to fully realize.

Friday night (still in Philly), my friend Joe had the sense to push me to Johnny Brenda’s, where I always love what I see.  In this case, it turned out top be a band I had already seen, but in a much worse venue.  I previously reflected on these events over at Fretbuzz, so there’s that.

On Thursday we wrapped up a great visit with my dear sister and her hell-ish beast-like offspring amazingly sweet and hilariously funny kids.  Dorothy has some great shots posted at her .mac sight.  I’ve got a few things to add, although most of my stills are from the Bat Mitzvah.  This video (warning: unedited!!) gives a good feel of how things progressed:

With today’s 7-3 drubbing at the hands of the Gigantos, the Phillies have now dropped a disturbing number of games on this seven-game west coast trip.  I wouldn’t worry so much, seeing as their lead in the atrocious NL East is still pretty comfortable, but they will undoubtedly have to play San Francisco and/or LA when playoff time comes, provided they get there.

I guess the last thing worth mentioning is the insane joy I’ve been getting from following Brent Spiner (Star Trek: TNG’s Data; yes, that Brent Spiner) on Twitter.  He has clearly elevated the art form.

AND, last but not least, the new Beardfish record Destined Solitaire is yet another work of genius.  Great music, lyrics, cover art, everything.  More on that later too.

Philly Live! – structured fun down by the stadiums?

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Looks good to me!  We’ve probably lost any shot to do the waterfront right, especially because of the pesky obstruction known as Interstate 95, but down by the Stadiums, it’s a different story.  At $100 million, it’s relatively affordable.  These plans, unveiled today, describe a covered commercial corridor running between the stadiums on the ground currently occupied by the doomed Spectrum.  Let’s see if the city and developers can actually make it happen.  If so, I’ll certainly go spend some discretionary income before the ballgame, eating overpriced food and buying more Phillies gear!

Jeff Deeney add his view of Piazza murders

Nice to see a local author getting his thing going at The Daily Beast.  He’s got more of an insider’s view as to how Rian Thal became the person that she became.  He was able to say no to that glamorous, it seems, because he sensed the danger of ending up dead.  Do some people like that danger, or just not appreciate it?  This is not reality TV, folks, this is REALITY.

Twitter and #racistpool

I’m happy with recent Twitter integration, but not exactly thrilled with how it has come about.  If you don’t already know about the latest shame of the city, here’s an excellent video posted on Philebrity, and The Inquirer has more conventional coveragePhilebrity tracked the progress of the story as it spread outside of the local interest by, in part, reviewing the comments posted on Twitter.  So, as I watched the story spread over the course of the day, I saw how people communicated, a little bit of how the @ and # symbols are used, and how a story can spread exponentially.

Currently, I’m tracking (not the pool story, but) lots of Phillies stuff, some music stuff, a few friends and some political things.  It’s a little like the Google Reader, but I’m able to tolerate higher volume because the content is so light – the fabled 140 characters.  With Google Reader, it’s hard not to get sucked in.  Even if the site’s feed is abbreviated, I still can’t help but wonder what I’m missing.  With Twitter, I’m actually seeing the whole thing, because that’s all there is.

I don’t even know what to call this post

I guess it’s another catch-all.  The holiday weekend is pretty much here, so everything is starting to slow down, and that is perfectly fine with me.  I’ve been enjoying (NOT!) some bowel distress over the past 24 hours, so I’m glad that there’s no work tomorrow.  I prep’d my butt off for an Arbitration on Wednesday and it went south on me because the panel didn’t like my client – they actually said that to me after.  Hours and hours of prep down the tubes.

I’m just about done with Greg van Eekhout’s (like Vonnegut?) first novel – Norse Code.  Despite the title, it’s actually been quite a good piece of fantasy fiction.  If I were in another line of work, perhaps I could have read this book over a weekend, but with distractions and trials, it has taken a bit longer.  Great action, well written, and sexy cover.  What more could you ask for?  As a rumination on Ragnarok, it’s a bit more fluid and entertaining than Neil Gaiman’s American Gods.  The retelling of myth is a bit more fluid in Gaiman’s work, but the van Eekhout has been a more cohesive read.  I certainly liked them both, but in being a bit less ambitious, Norse Code is actually more fun.  Although, I don’t think Gaiman was going for fun.

Company’s coming to mpomy HQ to help celebrate the holiday.  We’re looking forward to Oscar and his mom and dad.  Pictures will undoubtedly be posted.  Also, we’ve arranged a trip to Morris Arboretum to hang out in nature’s beauty with my mom and our guests.  It should be just the ticket after my beleaguered week.

Over at Fretbuzz.net, the insanity continues.  we’ve got Mr. Delaruss now actively blogging, which is great news.  I’ll also try to do little more micro-music because it’s so damn fun.  Maybe Oscar can help with the next composition.

We have also found out that a cousin has breast cancer – which absolutely sucks.  She’s got a bunch of little kids and she’s almost definitely going to have to go through some of the most heinous shit.  But she’s got a great husband (Em’s 1st cousin) and they’re within shouting distance of top notch healthcare.  It’s still going to be a bumpy ride for that family, so we’ll be sending the good vibes that way as the situation and treatment regimen become clearer.

And lastly, I’ll be trying to get Em to watch Virtuality tonight.  It seems like good, low-impact fun before our guests arrive, and I need to take another look before I write up my thoughts.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Double murder… at the Piazza!

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I was no fan before yesterday, when a young woman and a man from out of town were gunned down in cold blood in the hallways of these apartments.  The project is little more than a monument to Mr. Blatstein, the developer who thinks that creating a walled community is, somehow, integrating into the neighborhood.

Well, for the residents of these buildings, this is an horrific story.  For Blatstein and his crew, it’s a PR nightmare, especially since The Piazza just opened.  Was it a drug deal?  Was it a serial killer?  Blatstein’s people have apparently conducted a detailed investigation that has revelaed that this is ‘an isolated incident’.  Wow!  Thanks.  I feel so much better now.  I’ll bet the hundreds (thousands?) of tenants feel a lot better too.

You’ll see in the Inquirer article that the whole thing was caught on camera.  That’s great too.  Were those security cameras?  If so, they were intended to help keep the residents safe.  Which means that the landlord undertook certain measures to protect the safety of tenants, which means… (wait for it) CIVIL LIABILITY!!  Pretty soon some smart plaintiff’s lawyer will own that shithole and Blatstein will be living at the old State Office Building, waiting for his next loan to come through.

The other thing about the security cameras and the murder footage is that Blatstein can show it on the massive TV.  Fun for the whole family.

‘Real Fast’ meets ‘Overdoing It’

Thursday was everything it was cracked up to be.  Arrive at work for conference call on pasta case at 8:15.  8:30 board PATCO and ride to Camden for 9AM hearing in DiOrio case.  Defendant’s motion denied:  YES!  I’m one for one.  Back on PATCO to get ready for video dep in Bensalem, PA.  Get car from Em at 10:45 and scoot up I-95 to Bensalem.  Dr. Stempler delivers the goods in summary fashion (now I’m two for two!) and I’m out the door and on my way back down to Philly.

Sal is waiting in the lobby so I can switch files and walk five blocks to City Hall to handle the Miller hearing at 1:30.  Client and adversary are both there and we wrap up the negotiations without incident.  Papers get signed and I’m out the door (three for three, but who’s counting).

Back to office for about 45 minutes and then back to City Hall for the Abrantes Case Management Conference.  We get a nice short case management schedule (four for four!) and I make chit chat with my adversary about an old case we worked on together.

And now, with tired feet, and desk piled high, I will prep a play list to go with my evening run and then I’m collecting Em and we’re out of here!

Fun day!  Nothing on the schedule tomorrow.  Maybe I’ll actually get something done.