Forty Year Old Hippie Gets a New Do

My wife, Delilah, I mean Sherri, convinced me to get my hair cut and colored for my fortieth birthday. Here are the before and after pictures.

Shaky Old Man Keeps on Trying to Skate

First Halfpipe Drop In

Here I am dropping into the 6 foot halfpipe in Half Moon Bay last week. Scary!

Back in New York City

Dad took me to New York to visit Sarah for a week. We flew on Jet Blue, got there late Sunday night, and spent the week exploring the city together. Sarah was a great host and tour guide, showing us how to use the subway, and taking us to the cool spots. We checked out the statue of liberty, Ellis Island, Rockefeller Plaza, and saw some shows. We saw Stephanne Wrembel, who played at the Jazz Standard, and George Clinton and the P Funk All Stars, who played at B.B. King's! Those were both on the same night! Now I know why they call it the city that never sleeps. Later on during the week, we saw the Upright Citizens Brigade which is a comedy workshop. Fred Armisen from Saturday Night Live performed and so did SHAC. We also got to see a film at the IFC theater called The Exiles. It was a whirlwind tour, and I'll never forget it.

Haywired at Pixie Woods

Haywired played at Pixie Woods' annual fund raiser and wine tasting event last month, and I got to jam with Cecil, Karen, and Don in the Toadstool Theatre! They are as good as ever and we played a bunch of fiddle tunes together. It was one of the many highlights of my summer.

COMA on the Radio

Last night, John, Dax, and I were interviewed by Cynthia Lombard of KFJC, Foothill College's radio station. Cynthia asked us about COMA, the California Outside Music Associates, our music, how we met, and where we perform. We elaborated on how Stockton is a hotbed for improvised music, and discussed what it is like to be a part of such an interesting subculture. We also plugged our cd, BIG WORDS, and got to comment on the songs she played on the air. It was a gas. Cynthia also gave away tickets to the Edgetone Summit where we will perform this Friday, July 25, in San Francisco. Congrats to our biggest fan, Rod from the peninsula for winning a pair!

Barrytown

Born to Be Wild

Haven rode to Stockton on his Harley and I got to ride it! Haven plans to ride from Puyallup to Milwaukee later this summer, and he wanted to gauge how it would be by comparison with the trip from his house to here. I would reckon that compared to my trip around the block, it will be a challenging journey. That bike is big! Here's a short video shot by Seth, the shaky young man.

Dropping In

Dropping in scared me for a long time after I dislocated my shoulder a couple of years ago trying it on roller skates, but with the encouragement of Seth and the helpful cement block right next to the quarter pipe at the Manteca Skate Park, I managed to do it yesterday for the first time. Check it. Also check the rock to fakie I did on the plywood and cinder block ramp in our driveway.

Summertime Blues

Some New Footage

Lathrop 3-2-08

Rolling Down

My '65's

You may know about how my poor old red bus got smashed by a tree during the freak windstorm that happened on January 3. Well, I used the insurance to buy a '65 bug, and had the bus engine put in it. Here is Sherri driving it solo for the first time today. She and the bug are the same age, by the way, and they are both still hot!!!

Haywired at Acacia Cafe

Lathrop Skate Park 1-19-08

Seth fearlessly dropped into the half pipe for the first time, and a kid on blades did front flips off the half pipe! It was insane! Check it out!

Riverbank Skate Park

Ethnorchestra

Here is something to behold. Keep in mind that this is happening in Stockton, California people! I am proud to have been a part of this.

If you count all of the garbage in the garage, we win!

Rippin' in Ripon

The boys wanted to change it up a little, so we drove to Ripon to try out their skate park. Before going there, we stopped by Kingpin Skate Shop in Stockton to get Seth some new bearings. Ripon's skate park is way different than Stockton's with a totally different layout and much more vert. It looked intimidating at first, and there were lots of locals showing off and acting annoyed by younger kids getting in their way. We did meet a few 7 to 11 year old kids who were cool and helpful enough to show Seth and Saul the ropes, and offer advise on how to attempt certain tricks like dropping in. One seven year old daredevil flew over the coping and down into the park and back up one of the steepest vertical walls claiming, "It's easy!." Yeah, right. There were a couple of "old guys" about my age on long boards doing some impressive jumps and turns. I hung out with one of them for a couple of minutes and found out he's been skateboarding his whole life. I borrowed Seth's board and rolled down one of the least steep ramps without dislocating anything, so I was happy! The boys said Ripon is way better than Stockton, so we'll probably go again someday.