I’m in Che Kothari’s series of photo portraits taken at the 2004 Om Festival back in June:
Accordion badass!
That photo belongs in an ad for jeans. Or maybe bourbon or whiskey. I
look as though I could kick your ass and dance and play zydeco on your
corpse!
If you want to see more, check out my photos from the 2004 Om festival in photo album or slideshow format, my housemate Paul’s photos and my short videos.
[Thanks to Dan Cochran for telling me about the photo!]
Me at Chris Turner’s book launch.
While at the launch for Chris Turner’s book, Planet Simpson,
I ran into Samantha, who was one of the people who decided to hop into
the Hot Tub Truck when it was parked outside Lee’s Palace after the
White Cowbell Oklahoma concert. It was during this encounter with the
Hot Tub Truck that I booked it for my 2003 birthday party.
(Here are two entries on the event, and you might want to check out the
photo album — there’s an album version and a slideshow version.)
I was feeling inspired after having been contacted by M. Zole, author and illustrator of one of my favourite webcomics, Death to the Extremist. I’ve decided to blog the conversation with Samantha in the form of a Death to the Extremist comic, shown below:
Sam does not look weird in the photo, she looks good. As for Luke Skywalker, here’s a profile shot, and here’s the dry-humping shot [some boy-and-girl-in-wet-clothes groping — may not be safe for your workplace].
I’d been so busy over the past few weeks, what with Wendy’s birthday
and our engagement, that I hadn’t given any thought to attending
homecoming at Crazy Go Nuts University,
which took place this past weekend. On Saturday night at about 6 p.m.,
I went “Oh, what the hell,” threw my accordion into the car, ran a
couple of last minute errands and motorbootied down to Kingston.
A couple of hours later, I pulled into town, where I joined Eldon and
the gang from Science ’94, after which we went to the student ghetto to
check out the street party taking place on Aberdeen street. It turned
out to be a four-block long bacchanal, with the street blocked off from
traffic and packed with people. People began to yell “play something on
that accordion!” (one guy mistakenly called it a “banjo”), I broke out
the rock and roll, and that’s when the fun began. I snapped a few
photos and Eldon snapped more while I played; you can see them in album or slideshow format.
The accordion: social hardware!
The crowd joined in and sang along. There are two videos you can check out:
Every other person seemed to have a digital camera, a
technology that wasn’t readily available during my years there (1987
through 1994). A zillion flashes went off in my face, and I spent half
my time playing “snowblind” and feeling the keys.
I was surprised to find that a number of the students, perhaps ten or so,
came up to me and said, “Hey Accordion Guy! I read your blog!” One girl
clung to my sleeve and tried to drag me to a party until her friend came up
to her and said “Don’t hit on the Accordion Guy! I read he’s engaged!”
Who needs social software when you have a blog and an accordion?
In lieu of attending Bloggercon III, which I can’t attend as it’s
happening on the weekend of my birthday and the
Wendy’s-parents-meet-mine events, let me instead give it this most
heartfelt plug:
“Go to BloggerCon. You never know who you might meet!“
…if I would be attending BloggerCon III, which takes place in Palo Alto (or “Shallow Alto” as Cory
and I called it when we lived there) on November 6th. I’d love to, but
I can’t. My birthday’s November 5th, my annual birthday extravaganza
takes place on November 6th, and that weekend is also the first time my
parents will meet Wendy’s parents. Simply put, I’m going to have my
hands full.
I’m going to a launch party at the Drake Hotel for my friend Chris “Turner” Turner’s first book, Planet Simpson.
Chris is a friend of mine back from our days at Crazy Go Nuts University, where he and I were both DJs at the engineering student-run Clark Hall Pub. He later went to become a freelance writer, submitting some of the best pieces for the late great Shift magazine (a creation of Canadian Gen-X pundit and CBC fixture Evan Solomon) and later, Time magazine. Wendy and I attended his wedding in January.
I have no idea if the party is an open or closed one; if you’re in the neighbourhood, drop by and check it out!
As for the book, it’s quite thick (450 pages!) and attempts to balance popular appeal with scholarly rigor.
Booklsut has this to say:
While the book will hold on to every reader, Turner’s dense academic
feel towards the end may feel like homework, and will definitely place it in
university bookstores for next semester. Some of the chapter subtitles have
a textbook feel, for example: “Journey to the Center of the Simpsons:
Self-Awareness, Self-Reference, Self-Parody, and the perfection of the Postmodern
Aesthetic.” But there is so much to this book that everyone will love
it.
The cultural studies canon has recently expanded to include dissections of
tv shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Sopranos and
Sex and the City. But Planet Simpson trumps them all.
Turner scored a coup (hah!) by landing Douglas (“Generation X“) Coupland to write the foreword. An excerpt:
If this book were to have an alternative title, it would most likely
be, How to Cook for Forty Humans. If that makes no sense to you,
chances are you probably haven’t read this far anyway. If it does make
sense, you’ll understand the treat that’s coming your way just a few
pages from here.
I’m looking forward to sharing a Guinness with Turner tonight. Congrats on getting published, dude!
It’s almost that time. The legendary Joey deVilla birthday party
returns, now enriched with an extra reason to celebrate: my engagement!
Here’s the basic info:
A number of people of asked me, so I’ll state it here: as much as
I would love to have Neil’s wonderful hot tub on a truck back, if my
neighbours from across the street even see
that truck coming down the street, they’re going to call the cops on
me. Besides, seeing Eldon in a Speedo should be a once-in-lifetime
event for anyone. (There is a story about what happened when the cops
showed up last year, and I will tell it soon.)
At the 2001, 2002 and 2003 parties, I have been accosted by one of my lovely female guests (here’s the 2003 story). Since this is also an engagement party and since my lovely fiancee
will be there, this streak is likely to be broken. It was fun while it
lasted, but as an older, wiser gentleman (stop snickering, you!) it’s
time to move on.
Want more details about the party? Contact me.
