The Hopp Stop

Oh shit! You found me?! ?! Fine, I’ll talk, but just for a few minutes. Then I have to go cut down some more trees with my teeth before the sun comes up. The cops are on to me and I gotta score my next gig before my family starves.

See, I’ve been hiding out in a beaver dam outside of my rough and tumble home town, Cleveland, for the past six weeks. Dude, it’s freakin’ hard to make a living when all you’ve got is a guitar and an indie label contract! Fuck! I’m just trying to make ends meet. But I’d say I’m doing pretty well, all things considered. When I think of my triumphs, I kind of think of that killer Dicksie Chicks song about how they overcame such adversity and managed to get people to like them again after talking smack about that diablo, George Busch.

I’m not ready to make nice,
I’m not ready to back down,
I’m still mad as hell
And I don’t have time
To go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is
You think I should

In the photo below, you can probably see why there are some real strong parallels between the Chicks and my own situation.

If you’re as sharp as me (not to brag, but I negotiated a killer deal with my indie label all by myself. And I’m currently working on an endorsement deal with the most independent of all snack food producers, Frito Lay), you probably noticed that I’ve had my front teeth surgically enlarged to enable me to cut through tough lumber.

Anyway, some fans wonder why I wear hooded sweatshirts so often. Even underneath sportcoats (like I’m wearing right now). Dude! I freakin’ grew up in the hood! That’s a literary device called symbolism. I never EVER leave the fuckin’ street man. Born and raised, brah. So when you see me in that hood, that’s because I’m true. (Imagine how badly Id kick Tango’s ass in the season finale of I Love New York if I were on that show, and you’ll see what I mean.)

Shit. Here they come. I gotta run, the cops are coming, damnit. See you all at my next gig, if I make it ’till then. To paraphrase my homey DJ Quick, the Cleveland suburbs…are just like Compton! Compton! http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/dj_quik/wy2fonky/jus_lyke.djq.txt

If you’ve been following the news, you’re aware that some Michigan football players have recently found trouble with the law. In the process, they’ve helped rack up some big Fulmer Cup points for Michigan, perhaps the first since poor Larry Harrison. (And I say “poor,” because clearly there’s something wrong upstairs with someone who compulsively masturbates on the front porches of houses occupied by women he doesn’t know.) Thanks to the recommended college football blog Every Day Should Be Saturday for their humorous writeup of the situation. There’s a link in the EDSBS story to the wiki that specifies the point values for legal infractions under the Fulmer Cup.

Lloyd announced that the three Fulmerites are off the team, no big surprise there. Note that Carson Butler was already on Lloyd’s shit list for unannounced reasons, presumably grades. Let’s hope that Arrington doesn’t beat up a random dorm-dweller before he gets his grades in order. I’m not holding my breath on his prospects for getting out of Lloyd’s doghouse.

Also, meant to link to this earlier, but Brian at MGoBlog had a nice summary post on the scholarship gap/SEC recruiting prowess issue.

So tha Rolla and I are having a Beard-Off. We both get shitty, patchy beards, so what could be a better set of competitors? The agreement was that we shave Monday morning and then let it grow through at least Sunday, when we would meet to compare. Hopefully Aaron is actually participating–haven’t seen him since Sunday. Also, I’m unclear whether the winner is the person with the best beard, as defined conventionally, or the best in being the shittiest. I guess everyone’s a winner in this competition.

I also decided that I should document my beard growth. My MacBook has that generally worthless gimmick app, Photo Booth, that I never use, but it allows for easy self-portraits. So here are a couple shots from this morning (maybe I’ll smile next time) (yes, this represents five full days of beard “growth”):

As was inevitable, Mark Cuban has posted on the Viacom lawsuit against YouTube. I’ll try to post my thoughts on the subject and Cuban’s views some time soon.

First off, I thought I would report on our Saturday meal at the Acme Chophouse at PacBell. I’d classify this place as a classic tourist restaurant, in that all it has going for it (relative to the general excellence found in SF) is its location. It’s much like the parade of crap Italian along Columbus in North Beach. Chris estimates the food was overpriced by 50%; I’d agree. The food wasn’t horrible, just nothing special and not in proportion to the price. Also, the waitress was disaffected and unable to look us in the eye and had no knowledge of how to pour wine. In the end, I enjoyed the meal due to the company. My friend Ceballos and his girlfriend Clare are in town on the 24th and we’re headed to Dosa, so I’m pretty fired up for that meal–a real contrast from Acme Chophouse.

Speaking of Chris, he has a large head. But not as large a head as Bruce Bochy, the Giants’ new manager. I love the headline of this Chronicle article: “NEW HEAD MAN: San Francisco’s 16th Manager Owns Reputation To Match His Cap Size.” Which, if you’re wondering, is claimed to be a size 8.

iLounge is a great resource for all things iPod-related (and apparently iPhone-related and Apple TV-related, too, based on their pre-release coverage). They have a 4-part (I think only 4) guide to headphones up that’s worth reading, especially if you haven’t started reading the gospel according to canalphones. I’m very happy with my Etymotic ER-6s, have had them for almost three and half years now. Once the pair inevitably breaks, I’m not sure whether I’ll get another set in the $100 to $200 range, or ante up for something even better. The rational choice is the former.

And to close, here’s some baseball/Michigan football news spotted by Correspondent A.Bo from the wilds of Central America: “White Sox minor-league pitcher Clayton Richard hasn’t been sacked since he was a Michigan quarterback in 2005. That almost changed Sunday. An errant Richard throw struck Sox closer Bobby Jenks in the neck as he was warming up in the bullpen to pitch in a ”B” game and almost sidelined Jenks for the day. Jenks had to be restrained by minor-league pitching coach Curt Hasler.”

Thanks to Gaelen for finding this awesome Muppets clip that explains the pronounciation of the band Menomena’s name. Here’s the poster I bought at Friday’s show, starring Ms. Geddy Lee the Pug (another photo here).

The Sunday Chronicle’s main photo (and main story) was of the usual sight at Ritual (and of course they are both Mac laptops):