Inauguration Madness

Obama is on the elemental table y'all. When's the last time you'd checked?

We got this shirt for Adam but there were so many good ones to choose from.

This man was selling Obama cologne but was not offering free samples so I'll never know- does Obama smell like Hawaii ocean water or Chicago wind tunnels?

My favorite part came as everyone looked up and the Bush family flew off into the sunset like the flying monkeys in the movie "The Wiz". Everyone around me gave them an appropriate "salute" but all I could feel was relief. Now I could tap my heels and return to California feeling more optimistic.

Still sick with a cold but in high spirits, I assumed that although everyone was jumping in line willy-nilly in front of us, it was not a problem because we were all going to get in. There was literally no security monitoring anything and the line quickened until everyone was running in a free-for-all to the gates, taking over the streets. The gates were locked, so once everyone reached them it became a herding pen with some people weeping, some screaming they couldn't breathe, some mobs chanting "Let us @#$&! in!" and it was almost noon. Cops were upset when even they could not squeeze through the throngs with their billyclubs raised above them. They demanded the gates be reopened and with much ado, everyone ran for the security tables and magnatrons. The security took all of two seconds, much less than at the airport and everyone ran at full force about an 1/8 a mile to the "Purple Section" only to find it completely full and any view blocked entirely. (I found out later that since no security was there to direct people, there were many sections nearly empty but it was bottlenecked to get to them) I climbed up a wall and under bleachers and finally emerged with a view of some trees and the Capitol Building. I could hear everything but not see much of anything.

Now, here's where the tuff get going as the going gets tuff. We took a bus from NW DC to 16th and H St. We walked at a swift pace to 1st and Constitution Ave, which is about 25 city blocks. Once we got there, this line down the tunnel greeted us. It took us 20 minutes to reach the end of the line. It reminded me of the zombie scene in 28 Days Later. Luckily, earthquakes aren't really an East Coast concern, just terrorism.

Here's the Willy Wonka ticket and it was on very fancy cardstock and embossed with some presidential seal for authenticity. On the back, you can see where I was to be located.

Adam gave me one of the tickets and you can see that I am very excited. I'm usually not so toothy a smiler.

We went to see the Beastie Boys in DC. Never having seen them, it was really fun. Even saw some old friends there.

Here's my cousin Ryon in Ellicott City, my hometown in Maryland.

My Aunt ChiChi lives in a cabin by a lake and as cold as it was outside, it was cozy inside.

We visited my family in Maryland, staying with my aunt ChiChi and then my aunt Debbie.

Bonny Neil. Sam and I, not so clear as a Liberty Bell. My thin Cali blood immediately lowered my resistance, so my time on the East Coast was punctuated by endless sneezes and sniffles.

We started our trip in Phili, visiting Neil, Noelle and the Liberty Bell. Also, spent some quality time with their black cats: Barnacle, Pepito and Angus.

Baboushkas!

Went to my friend Jamie's annual "Nana Olga's Borscht and Perogies Thanksgiving" party last Saturday and it was a hoot! Saw some serious baboushkas there! I wore my favorite jewelry from high school and a Russian hat (not pictured). Tonight I am in the throws of packing for a trip to the Inauguration! I had to try on some East Coast outfits because it was 86 degrees today and our thin blood will be a disadvantage in Philly (where we stay w/friends Neil and Noelle and see the Liberty Bell), outside of Baltimore (where we will stay with my family-yea!) and DC where we will probably need to pull an allnighter in the cold because all streets and bridges going in will be closed. I will be wearing one of these snuggly outfits so look for me on TV with the tears of inexpressible joy! I will actually be in the ticketed area thanks to my friends Adam and Kathleen who belong in the eternal pantheon of awesomeness. Sam is writing an article for Vice magazine, so he will be out in the crowds, getting the street beat. Every year I teach my primarily Hispanic kindergarten kids about Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. I always have pangs of regret telling the children about racism when they may have never had any idea of it, since they live in such homogeneous neighborhoods. They are always shocked and saddened. This year was different. In November, I had them vote for the U.S. president in our class (I did not bias them at all, I merely gave them photos and asked if they had seen the candidates on TV). Obama won by a large margin, although a few girls voted for McCain because they saw a female V.P. and said they liked the idea. I missed 2 days of school during the elections due to food poisoning. I dragged my shaking body up to the Korean church and voted nonetheless. I cried when Obama won. I had been a fan since reading an article about his family in Vanity Fair well before he ran and I followed his deft campaign doggedly. The obvious ramifications and implications of his win were not lost on me. However, when I returned to school 2 days later, the kids were SO excited that it blew my mind completely. For them, they were shown that they could be or do anything with no limits. I feel like this is some sort of inverse 9/11 sea change and things will be forever changed for the better for everyone. Of course, I am not alone, DC will be swarmed on Tuesday with believers. Which brings me back to MLK who also brought so many believers to DC to hear about his dream that he might have seen realized had he not been killed in the pursuit of it. I taught about the signifigance of this particular MLK Day, the signifigance of the Lincoln Bible that Obama will be sworn in on, we sang a song and read a book about Obama, we wrote a paragraph about the 44th Commander in Chief and I told the kids to look for me at the Inauguration crying tears of joy with the multitudes. I told them I will be seated and waving a lot to them with my fluffy cream colored coat. Sam and I decided to go before anything had fallen into place. I had written all of the senators, congress people and superdelegates that I thought might send an inspired teacher but to no avail. I had been saying just a few nights ago, that maybe we would get lucky like when Charlie found the golden ticket gleaming in the sewer in the original Willie Wonka movie. We were lucky that the Beastie Boys were doing Obama Benefit concerts and Adam was so amazingly generous. While I am in DC, the substitute will read them the story "If I Were President". They will watch the ceremonies on TV in class and I will be like their "Where's Waldo?". Even if they don't see me, in their wish fullfillment fantasies, they will be convinced that they did. Afterwards, they will draw a picture on baby blue paper of Obama and his family at the White House or of Obama doing his job as President. I can't wait to get back and see their visions of the future.

Tattoo Con

LA Fairgrounds in Pomona seems to hold a Tattoo Convention every 6 months and I've always been curious about it. I decided to go, half hoping to run into an old friend from high school, Corey Miller, who is now on the cable show "LA Ink". He's kinda the "Schneider" of the show (since he is surrounded by females). We sat next to each other in Photography class and one day he came to class with these amazing fingernail tattoos of skulls that would just grow out naturally. When Kristen decided to be Upland High's first punk rock homecoming queen in 1985, I partly attributed her success to Corey's masterly Olde-English/spiderwebbed picket signs. After High School in like '88, an ex-boyfriend got a tattoo in Corey's living room, back before Corey had a shop of his own. When we went over there, Kristen and her punk rock friends looked like they belonged in a secretary pool (down to the acrylic nails) and were like, "You're still into that stuff?" At the time, it was a surprise to me that they were not eternally punky. Corey still has his shop Six Feet Under in the old Upland town square. It's funny, whenever they show Upland on the show, it's implied it is some rural podunk. They even have montaged images of tractors in there. I can't even imagine where there would be a tractor in all of Upland- the citrus industry died there in the early 80's as it became a serious bedroom community. The Inland Empire is an insane, sprawling extension of LA, buttressed by mountains that are unreal in stature and catch on fire often. I expected the Himalayan mountains to make Mt. Baldy look like a knuckle, but quite the opposite. Anyway, I always regretted not having Corey do my first tattoo as he had offered way back when. So, I was wondering what the likelihood of getting on his show would be and was going to ask him if my story was compelling enough to plunk down $100 for the chance. Somehow, I doubt the idea Sam and I had (of getting inner lip tattoos that both say "Zip it" so we could silently argue) would sit well next to firemen getting 9-11 memorial tattoos. I am refraining from commentary on the Tattoo Convention, only to say I was sorry not to see anyone get the dyn-o-mite J.J. tattoo.

Floats and Savage Republic

Today Sam and I went to see the Rose Parade Floats. They are covered entirely in flowers, leaves, bark and seeds.
Now I know people in other parts of the world think that LA is all this...
and this...But you are just as likely to see...the crush of humanity or a bomb squad with dogsNow who would ever want to destroy such an amazing float with a coked out King Kong and octopus and a box of good candy?
Some assume that these guys would want to...
But look at all these people, it could be anyone...
I suspect these wierdos...
or this guy...
or the crazy float driver.
Wouldn't it be rad if Bootsy Collins had been riding in this float?
I would only want to see flower elephants doing tricks.
Michaelangelo was such an overachieving jerk.
Down the rabbit hole-


I feel this rabbit can read my mind somehow. ThunderSnail below!
Sometimes when I explain that I am in a band, this is how I imagine they see it and it is so embarrassing.
One of the things I love about the "Why so serious?" sweatshirt that I bought on the boardwalk in Ocean City, MD is that it is so hastily done that they left the silkscreen registration mark (on my right shoulder).


OK already with the flowers, I get the point.
Lucky for us local yocals, every time Savage Republic go on a European tour, they do a precursor set in Claremont or Pomona, since this is where they originated. They have been one of my favorite bands since the mid-80's. I was honored to play Chinese hammered dulcimer on the last track "Peking" of their last album, "1938". Greg Grunke, the bassist, was unable to tour this time, so Kerry sat in and kept it solid sounding. I apologize in advance for any audio distortion.


Here's some stills-