..on my hands this weekend.

Oh, and I also discovered GIFPAL.

Carry on.

Thank you, Desiray Crunk.

Hey, have you guys seen this yet?

It’s filmed right in our backyard! Or our front yard.. or something..

It just showed up on HULU, so Dorian and I watched the pilot episode last night along with episode two.

It’s fun to see sights we’re so familiar with, but we haven’t seen the cute blonde chick who plays a San Francisco police detective, or Hurley from “Lost.”

I guess they’re out there somewhere though, because they traipse all over San Francisco in the series while looking for prisoners who escaped Alcatraz in 1963 and are running amok committing crimes.

The premise of the show is that the prisoners all disappeared abruptly one cold night back then, and are now reappearing in our time looking like they haven’t aged a day.

Turns out the prisoners themselves don’t know what happened either.

I like this one scene where Hurley/Doc gives the cute blonde detective chick a look that basically says, “Hey, I was on ‘LOST’ and I can’t believe THIS SHIT!”

No really, he did..

So, the show is definitely a mystery/sci-fi period thing that meshes a little bit of LOST with PAN-AM and DOCTOR WHO. It’s fun and more importantly, it takes place right outside our front door. As I type, the real Alcatraz is approximately three miles to my port side.. *points*.. but I don’t think the prisoners all just vanished one night and are now running around our neighborhood.

At least I hope not.

The word around here is that Alcatraz the prison closed up shop in 1963 and just reassigned the prisoners to other penal institutions. In the TV show that’s the cover story and also in the show, like in reality, Alcatraz is a tourist attraction today that’s run by the National Park Service.

But we enjoyed watching the show not only for the good story, but the fact that the characters kept going into buildings we go into and walking by the same panhandlers who we walk by, and jumping out of the way of the same maniacal cab drivers that we do!

If you haven’t seen it I’ve embedded the pilot episode from Hulu below, because I know that your idea of a good time is to come to my blog for the express purpose of watching TV shows. You’re welcome.

ALCATRAZ.. the pilot!

NOTE –  If you plan to visit us here in San Francisco someday and have never been here before, this series is a good way for you to familiarize yourself with local sights and  extremely implausible science fiction all in one shot.

ADDITIONAL NOTE, AND A SAD ONE AT THAT – From IMDB.. “Even though the show is set in San Francisco, and some of the pilot was filmed in the city and on Alcatraz itself, the producers of the show opted to film the rest in Vancouver, mainly because of the much more attractive production rebates than California and the city of San Francisco could offer, much to the chagrin of the San Francisco film industry. “

So like, never mind. Dammit. Friggen’ CANADIANS.

NOTE TO SELF – Always check IMDB first, before spending an hour on a post about some stupid TV show.

She shot one second of video for each day of 2011, and this was the result.

On my birthday she was driving down a street. What was she doing on your birthday?

2011 from hey_rabbit on Vimeo.

Lollygagging in front of the hotel on Market Street with Wilson, Bruce and Max..

Yes, I said “lollygagging.” We were literally gagging on lollys.

If you limit your actions in life to things that nobody can find fault with, you will not do much. ~Lewis Carroll

Who doesn’t love anonymous internet haters these days, eh? Well, most of us I guess, but you have to admit that they can be pretty entertaining if you adjust your perspective.

For example, I posted a video to YouTube a while back that shows some firemen putting out a trashcan fire in front of our building, which I recorded from our second story window.

In the description I said,

“Members of the San Francisco Fire Department bravely tackle a horrendous trashcan fire on Market Street.”“

Which brings us to a prime example of an anonymous internet hater, who recently commented on that video..

This wasn’t horrendous, it was just a diddy little fire, could have been put out using a small home fire extinguisher. What’s so brave about this tiny incident, you should have put a few aerosol cannisters (sic) in the trash box to make it more exciting……

Where were you filming this from anyway, your bedroom window, how convenient, I bet you started this fire just so you could get a video on You Tube…….Pathetic.

Isn’t that fun? HAHA! Obviously I’m not going to waste two seconds beyond the time it takes to delete an asinine comment like this and then block the sender. Life is too short to spend any time at all thinking about it, beyond posting it here for educational purposes.

I’ll answer to this comment here, since I’ve deleted it from YouTube..

Dear SLP (Sad Little Person),

First of all, I’m sorry you don’t understand sarcasm. That’s what it is when I say “brave firemen” and “horrendous fire” in my description, and then you see that it’s a little trashcan fire. It’s to state the opposite of what’s seemingly obvious for the purpose of humor or to make a point.

So, repeat after me.. “SARCASM”.. very good! *pat pat*

On to point two.. we have these little fire extinguishers in glass boxes in the hallway of our building. Sure, I could have grabbed one of those and ran outside to extinguish it myself without calling the fire department. This is what our building manager would have said..

“Are you freakin’ KIDDING ME? You expended one of those for a city trashcan out front? Those are for INSIDE the building, idiot! You are SO paying for having that extinguisher recharged! Next time just call the damned fire department!”

Note – I have no desire to pay for recharging one of the building’s extinguishers when it’s the city fire department’s job to put out trashcan fires that happen on a public sidewalk. I’ve already paid for that in what are called “taxes.”

Ready to repeat after me again? “TAXES!” Very good! *pat pat*

Finally, as to starting this fire “just to get a video on YouTube,” guess what? I didn’t! I didn’t even call it in to the fire department. I smelled smoke so I looked out the window and saw the flames, then I was going to call it in but heard sirens approaching.

During that time I grabbed the video cam and turned it on. Sure enough, someone else had called it in and the video shows the rest of it. Did you notice the oblivious guy in the blue jacket who almost walks right into the stream of the firehose? HAHA! Now THERE’S something to comment on, if you want to go around making out what idiots people are.

“Hey, look at that idiot who almost walked right into the firehose Stream, LMFAO!”

But to say “I bet you started this fire just to get a video on YouTube” doesn’t make it so, and therefore your “pathetic” at the end is completely unwarranted and certainly not true. It’s not in the least bit pathetic! It’s FUN!

Repeat once again.. “FUN!” Yay!!

So now I’m done talking to the sad little person and I’m talking to you readers instead, because you’re all much more interesting than that person, and a heckuva lot smarter too.

I have to say that as entertaining as those type of comments are, I just don’t get them, just as this sad little person doesn’t get sarcasm.

I mean, WHY? Why would anyone go around leaving comments like this? Why do they want to spend their time leaving junk all over the Internet when they could be creating something that helps and inspires people, or at least makes them laugh, instead of tearing them down with idiotic assumptions and erroneous “facts” based on nothing?

Of course, this was just a diddy little comment that was easily put out by using a small home delete button. We’ve had our share of those over the years and they keep coming, but thankfully not by the truckload. But some people have it worse.. much worse.

I saw a post on Tumblr wherein a hater called a young woman all kinds of nasty names and threatened her, all for being outwardly gay. He said that if he went to her school (I take it they’re both high-schoolers) that he’d kill her.

To this, all I can say is WHY WHY WHY? ..ad infinitum.

So many questions. WHY such hate and viciousness? WHY such venomous evil?

Aside from that, it doesn’t even make sense. Practically speaking it defies logic, just as my commenter did when suggesting I should use a small home extinguisher and that I called the fire department just to get a video on YouTube.

In the post the hater called the girl a “sinning bitch” (implying that he agrees sin is wrong) and then threatens to kill her. I’m pretty sure killing another human being is an even greater sin than sexual promiscuity with the same sex, as far as sins go.

So yeah, no logic or sense whatsoever, but that’s the way of these things.

It’s easy for someone like me to diss a diddy little comment about a firetruck video, but it’s not always so easy for a young person to handle something like this.

They cut themselves, they wallow, they’re pushed further into drugs and alcohol and their lives are devastated, simply because they don’t have the life experience to deal properly with idiots. More often than we know, they attempt to take their own lives and are occasionally successful.

To any young people who are getting bullied, I just want to say that you don’t have to take it, because IT DOESN’T MATTER.

It doesn’t matter what someone like that thinks of you. Don’t let their inane opinion sway you, and don’t use their negative energy to sink further into self-destruction.

Here’s a great truth – they don’t have any power over you except what YOU GIVE THEM.

So don’t give them any.

Don’t give them one second of your time or thought. These kind of comments and negativity are what they do, and not just to you.. they suck energy out of victims and thrive on it. They’re vampires, but not in the glamorously gothic sense we see in movies, TV and books. They’re the real deal who don’t feed on blood.. they feed on your soul.

But you know how vampire lore says they can’t get into your house unless you invite them in? We’re talking about the blood-sucking kind when they’re standing on your front porch, but it also applies to these kind when you realize that you don’t have to invite them into your heart, mind and soul when they knock. You don’t even have to answer the door.

Just go about your business and when they realize you’re not a victim, which won’t take long at all, they’ll go away. More will come along because life isn’t in the least bit fair, but as you go along you’ll get better at dissing them.

You’ll eventually learn to care only about what matters, but it’s a skill that needs to be honed with time and experience. You’ll soon see that they’re nothing but diddy little commenters who are simply pathetic, and they can be easily extinguished with your tremendously positive attitude and self-confidence.

The glass box is in the hall, so just grab the extinguisher, pull the pin and squirt. Then go about living your life because that’s all that really matters.

Members of the San Francisco Fire Department bravely tackle a horrendous trashcan fire on Market Street.

My old pal Bryan Carnett visited during the summer of 2011 with his wife, Wynne, for their 30th anniversary.

He’d never ridden BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) before, so we killed some time on the trains while letting Wynne and Dorian sleep in early on a Saturday morning..

It was like taking a kid to Disneyland for the first time, except the mice are smaller!

Sam Austin on Sax in Civic Center Station

Dorian and I didn’t get out for New Year’s Eve this year because she wasn’t feeling well. So after we ushered in 2012 together I grabbed the video cam and took a walk by myself at about 1:00am to capture life on Market Street.

Sorry about the coloring, my cam is kind of old and not great at night shooting in the city.

NOTE — at4:18 an SFPD unit rolling code three almost clocks a guy in a crosswalk. Also, the ending of this video sucks. We can’t all be Martin Scorsese.

…that “7 Minutes in Heaven” is always an average of four minutes long? And in this case with Christina Ricci, three minutes and forty four seconds? And why is the number four spelled with a “u” but the number 47 has no “u” in the four? And why does Christina Ricci snort when she laughs? Does she know that’s adorable?

For the record, we here at The Rhodester Chronicles firmly believe that three and a half minutes in a closet with Christina Ricci isn’t nearly long enough, and seven isn’t either.

Regardless of the snort factor.

We could go an hour or more.

And just so we here at The Rhodester Chronicles don’t come across as total creepers, or a total creeper because come on, you all know it’s really just me, Dave, here is a bonus episode with Jack McBrayer that’s pretty funny because of the squeaky laugh and those gleaming white teeth. This one is four minutes and seventeen seconds.

They are never seven minutes long. What’s up with that?

Luciana Caporaso and Betty White

It’s no secret that we here at The Rhodester Chronicles absolutely adore LUCIANA CAPORASO after having caught her live performance at SF PRIDE earlier this year.

We’re rather fond of that golden gal Betty White too, and dig Betty’s wicked sense of humor and willingness to make a total fool of herself for something she believes in.

So when Luciana teamed up with Betty for a spoof video to promote The Lifeline Program, for which Betty White is the spokesperson, we couldn’t resist bringing it to you right here in all its silly glory. Dayum, Betty can bust some moves!

Here’s the original video and hit song “I’m So Hot,” by Luciana Caporaso, which the Lifeline spoof is based on..

Luciana performing “I’m So Hot” with her nearly-nekkid boys at SF Pride 2011. Dorian and I were at the foot of the stage during this performance..

Aww, are the videos not showing in the feed or email? Click on over to the site!

US Navy Blue Angels

On Sunday we went down to the marina district here in San Francisco to catch the airshow for Fleetweek 2011.

They always show you aircraft that are not the US Navy Blue Angels first, for like two hours, and then they wrap it up by showing you the Blue Angels, who kind of blow everything else away.

That’s not to say the acts that come on first aren’t good.. they’re fantastic.

It’s just that if they were a tasty spread you’d put on your English muffin instead of airplanes, then all the preliminary acts would be margarine (starting with Blue Bonnet and working their way up) and The Blue Angels would be butter. Pure, golden butter from happy cows in California, not those freezing cows standing in a blizzard in Wisconsin.

We went last year and really liked it. So we took a bus to the same spot and arrived right when the Canadian Snowbirds were doing aerial loops and stuff.

The Transamerica Pyramid

These were followed by a solo US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet that showed us all how badass it is by going about 700 mph at fifty feet above San Francisco Bay, turning on a dime, climbing straight-up for about 3000 feet and and then launching a rocket barrage at the Transamerica Pyramid and leveling it to the ground in seconds. Color me impressed!

Then a United Airlines 747 flew really low right in front of us, which resulted in a massive tidal-wave of yawns. It turned around and did it again while the announcer extolled the virtues of flying United but he didn’t say anything about Virgin Air, which can probably fly low too, and show better movies while doing it. They also have the best fare from the Bay Bridge to the Golden Gate bridge that you’re going to find anywhere, especially if you fly round-trip first class.

Coit Tower

Next was a US Airforce F-15 Eagle, which did basically the same kind of things the Navy Super Hornet had done except for leveling the Transamerica Pyramid because there was only one of those, so Coit Tower got blown to smithereens. I actually found this more impressive because it’s a much smaller target and it’s shaped like either a fireman’s nozzle or a fireman’s penis, depending on who you talk too.

Or at least it used to be.

Then some guy did some really cool stunt flying in a shiny red bi-plane without getting killed even once! He was good too, and described what he was doing over his radio which they patched into the loudspeaker system so we all could hear it..

“I’m now going into an inverttteeddddd rooolllllll.. which hassss… about 7 geeeeessss………. ooooohhhh GODDDDDD!!!!! DAYUMMMMM!!!! huh huh uhhhhh !!!!!!!”

When he was done he flew away, then the big show rolled in. It was magnificent! It was powerful! It was MAJESTIC and BEAUTIFUL and there was no stopping it!

IT WAS… FOG!!!

That’s right. Good old San Francisco Bay fog, which has the worst timing in the world because it rolled in from out there on the ocean just as the red bi-plane guy was finishing up his act.

The Blue Angels whooshed in like they owned the damned sky or something, but took one look at that fog and whooshed out again, with their announcer apologetically explaining that there wouldn’t be a Blue Angels show today because it’s “not safe.” It seems those wussys refuse to go head-on at each other at 400mph, 50-feet over the water when it’s in a thick fog bank.

Gosh, they have high standards.

So we got to see almost everything but the Blue Angels, which we saw a little bit of, but only flying in formation and looking down with concerned expressions at the onslaught of fog that was spreading rapidly over the bay and yanking sailing vessels and slower airplanes down to the depths of Davy Jones locker in its icy-cold death grip.

We made a video but it didn’t turn out so great, since it doesn’t have much of The Blue Angels, so here’s my old (okay, she’s not really old) blogging pal Nikki Desuasido with a better glimpse of them doing cool stuff in this video, which was wisely shot the day before we went. Nikki is also more fun to look at than I am, so she gets invited to yacht parties and stuff..

Nice shoes, doll.

A repost from a couple of years ago, but it’s just so damned FUNNY..

HAPPY IN PARAGUAY – by DJO

What happens when people with too much time on their hands dub over old Star Trek TNG episodes with things that it looks like the actors are saying but they’re really not.

We here at The Rhodester Chronicles would like to start your week off with some words to the wise. Those words are “Ooh OW ooh ooh OH,” which loosely translated means, “I am beautiful yet rather goofy.”

We are either tempted to become Japanese vegans, or are tempted by Japanese vegans. We’ll let you know later which it is.

This clip from The Daily Show is dedicated to our pal, Mark David Gerson, who (up until recently) enjoyed sitting in Borders and composing his books, such as The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write and other works.

We understand Mark David is a new fixture at Starbucks. We’re sorry, MDG!

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Our BARNES and NOBLE *cough* affiliate link to your own copy of The Voice of the Muse, if you’re a writer, wanna-be writer or know a writer who has a birthday coming up..

The Voice of the Muse:
Answering the Call to Write

For EVERYONE we recommend Mark David Gerson’s epic fantasy, The MoonQuest..

The MoonQuest:
A True Fantasy

Dear Felicia Day,

We here at The Rhodester Chronicles think you’re kind of hot, but mostly we’re in love with your brain.

We also have a thing for your talent.

Not only that, but we are in awe of your spirit and your drive. We don’t mean your hard-drive, although we’re sure it’s quite impressive. We just mean that element of “go-get-em” that inspired you to do something as funny, entertaining and poignant as “THE GUILD.”

We understand you started it in your kitchen, or something like that. No big studios, no corporate backers.. just donations from fans who already knew what you could do. We weren’t in that group back then, but we sure are now.

Mrs. Rhodester told us, “You’ve got to see this!” But we didn’t believe her. “Meh,” we said. “She’s just some geeky actress chick. Who needs a female Will Wheaton, huh?”

Felicia Day as "Codex" in The Guild

But we caved and watched “The Guild.” Within that first episode you had us, and that’s before the corporate sponsor came along! We were dazed and bedazzled by the snappy writing and goofy characters.

We watched up through the first season and noticed how it all got a little better when Microsoft stepped-in and beefed up the production values for the second season. Wide-screen, higher rez and brighter colors, but the acting, script and talent couldn’t be improved on.

The Guild strikes a personal chord with us, in that Mrs. Rhodester and I are former Second Lifers. We signed-up about five years back and spent nearly six months traipsing around a virtual world as avatars.  I was “Davis Rochefort” and she was “Dorian Deigan.”

Dorian Deigan oversees her Second Life Kingdom from the deck of her cyber-house.

My Lighthouse at sunset in Second Life. Yes, I owned a lighthouse. What? Rent is due? What rent? HUH?

Floating in the air next to my lighthouse. This was really the only time I could do something like that.

When we woke-up we’d joined the ranks of the unemployed and were being evicted from our real-life apartment. Yours truly leased a cab and became a cab driver. We moved into a seedy motel with (are you sitting down?) NO DSL OR CABLE. We had to go to a local Internet Cafe to get our game on.

This lasted for a couple of months.  Every time we went in there we had to vie for a computer among all the 12-14 year-olds loudly playing WoW, which always sounded like a brothel full of elves swearing.

Eventually the cab went back to the company and the brothel full of elves had to go on without us as we moved out of the motel and on to new things.

We also bade Second Life adieu.

She says it’s not entirely to blame and I think she may be right, but it sure had a hold on us for a while, which is why we relate to the characters in The Guild.

So thank you for reminding us that we can laugh at ourselves, and thank you for reminding us that life is goofy. We’ve caught-up on The Guild now, and will be diving into the latest episode of season five that just came out. We dig Codex and the gang, but at the same time we kind of want to slap them around and say, “Get a real life!”

We won’t though because if they did get a real life then that’d be the end of The Guild, and that would just be sad.

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The promo for season 3 of The Guild, “Do you want to date my avatar?” Yes, as a matter of fact, we do..

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The promo for season 4 of The Guild, “Game On”..

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Ready to try it? Check out the very first episode right here, then go here to pick-up the rest of it!

Extra kudos to the cast of The Guild, Vincent Caso, Amy Akuda, Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thorsen and the hilarious Jeff Lewis (Vork), because we guys love finding out that there’s someone who’s actually more pathetic than we are.

I FOUND HER!

Young and gorgeous Devon Jenkin

Actually, a friend of mind did. “Look at this..” he said, as he sent a link to “”Devon Jenkin,” who now goes by Devon Kidd. “It’s the girl from Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’ video!”

Older and gorgeous Devon Kidd

Well I’ll be darned, it sure is.

In 1989 we all crushed on her. I mean all of us straight guys, and the gay girls. The straight girls wanted to BE her.

She was perfect.

“She’s a good girl, loves her mama.. loves Jesus, and America too. She’s a good girl, crazy ’bout Elvis.. loves horses, and her boyfriend too.”

We loved her and her pool, along with her pretty white dress and party balloons. We loved those shorts she wore while chowing down on a Future Dog, and her skateboard and knee-pads later on, when she nervously took the plunge and showed the guys what she had.

We loved her, but hated Tom. How could he break her heart? How could he NOT EVEN MISS HER? HUH?

Had he SEEN her? It wasn’t just the glow, man, really! It was the innocence too, and the naivety. We wanted to put our arm around her and comfort her, offering our protection from those Ventura Boulevard vampires.

Then after the party we’d take her out for a hotdog.

“It’s a long day, livin’ in Reseda.. there’s a freeway, runnin’ through the yard. And I’m a bad boy, ’cause I don’t even miss her.. I’m a bad boy, for breakin’ her heart.”

Jerkwad.

We remember MTV’s Martha Quinn referring to her as “that gorgeous blonde on the skate ramp.” Martha didn’t even know her name! None of us did.

Young-uns need to realize that this was a really long time ago. Not by world standards or as far as the universe is concerned and all of that, no.. it was just a long time ago by pop-culture standards and our individually brief and fleeting lives.

Believe it or not, we didn’t have the Internet back then. We couldn’t Google “girl in Tom Petty video” and get instant answers. We didn’t even have Britney! Well, we DID have a “Britney”.. her name was “Madonna.” She’d made a name for herself by the time Tom’s Free Fallin’ video was made. We’re not sure what she’s doing nowadays.

But we know what Devon’s up to, thanks to that GOOGLE! She still loves Jesus, but now she teaches fitness and sells real estate, and you know what? We’re not in the least bit surprised at any of that. Devon is the quintessential Southern California blonde, still hot and strikingly beautiful, with an aura of sweet warmth and charm that renews every old crush.

We bet she doesn’t miss old Tom in the least. She looks to be healthy and happy, having enjoyed over twenty years of minor pop celebrity. She probably shops at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, and guys like us still stare her to death before finally getting up the nerve to approach her near the yogurt section, saying, “Excuse me, but aren’t you that girl from the Tom Petty video?”

“I want to glide down, over Mulholland.. I want to write her, name in the sky. I want to free fall, out into nothin’.. I want to leave this, world for a while.”

Devon Kidd trades in the skateboard for a parachute on her forty-somethingth *cough* birthday..

Kerli at SFPride 2011 - photo by Dave Rhodes

On Sunday June 26th, San Francisco threw a party in our backyard in celebration of gay pride. These videos tell the story..

VIDEO ONE (14:58) – Dave and Dorian awake to popstar Kerli doing a sound-check in their room, followed by gay cowboys line-dancing to Lady Gaga on their bed.

Then they go down to see the parade, which seems to consist almost entirely of the back of people’s heads. At the parade they meet a guy named Arthur, whose face gets really excited while he’s talking to Dave.

After that it’s off to Civic Center where a San Francisco band called “Stiletto Ghetto” has taken the main stage, while all kinds of people in all kinds of outfits walk around being all kinds of insane..

LINKS - The Dancing gay cowboys are called “The Sundance Bandits,” and along with the country/western venue outside our window they are sponsored by San Francisco’s Sundance Saloon – Mr. Natural teaches music in Haight Ashbury - Stiletto Ghetto can be heard in this clip, so rock their YouTube channel.

VIDEO TWO (14:57) – While taking a break in the room, we get something from GREASE and SHANIA TWAIN, then it’s back down to the plaza to wait in line several months for a beer.

Linda Perry is onstage with her band Deep Dark Robot, followed by The Queen Diva, Big Freedia and her booty bouncin’ babes. Kerli wraps up the clip with “Army of Love” and “Walking On Air.”

Dave discovers that concert speakers ten feet high do not translate well to a hand-held video camera. You will discover this too, so basically we’re just digging the visuals here, right?  Rock on.

LINKS - Linda Perry still rocks the house – Big ol’ booties bounce along with BIG FREEDIA – Kerli kills us with sweet bubblegoth for her moonchildren.

VIDEO THREE (3:48) - Luciana destroys Dave’s mic on the video cam, but we forgive her because she’s absolutely one HELL OF A LIVE PERFORMER.

We return to the room after the whole thing is over and Dave calms the freaked-out cat while miscreants rip up the dance-floor in the bank parking lot.

LINK - LUCIANA’S WEBSITE ROCKS!

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EXTRAS..

Stills of Kerli performing live..

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Onstage at SFPride KERLI performed two hits, “Army of Love” and “Walking on Air.” Here are her stunningly creative and visionary videos to those songs, plus another called “Tea Party.”

YouTube user jbuckenthal was in attendance at SFPride and got much better clips of Kerli performing live. The audio on these is pretty decent..

ARMY OF LOVE

WALKING ON AIR

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RANDOM YOUTUBE find of the CENTURY – Evidently the guy standing behind us at Luciana’s set knows all the words to her songs. You can see Dorian’s hat (with the white dots) directly in front of him through most of this clip, and my right arm on her shoulder (rainbow wristband). At 5:04 is a very nice shot of Dorian’s arm appreciating the song.

Oh, and apparently NOBODY has a mobile device that can handle Luciana’s music..

Thanks YouTube user grytestriped for posting that. And thanks also for not picking my pocket because apparently, you could have.

Some more kick-ass LUCIANA videos..

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Linda Perry and Deep Dark Robot..

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Big Freedia, The Queen Diva!

Today San Francisco is throwing a party in our backyard.

The 2011 Pride Celebration kicks off at noon on Saturday and we have a front row view, having moved to an apartment in the rear of our building. Our window faces out to City Hall, the Downtown Public Library and Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.

More on that to come.

Yesterday, they got things started with the “Trans March,” which is a mini-parade from San Francisco’s Delores Park to 7th and Market. Dorian decided she wanted to be involved, so she caught a train up to Delores and signed-up. I grabbed the video cam and met up with her just after the march crossed Van Ness..

Wait.. who’s FRANK CHU?

Having a desk at a window that faces Civic Center here in San Francisco can be SO entertaining..

This is satire at its best. It’s the very definition of it.

In this report from the Monday June 20th broadcast of The Daily Show, Samantha Bee takes a look at New York City’s recently enacted ban on smoking in Central Park.

All the best elements of satire are at play, as Sam talks to anti-smoking advocates who praise city officials for making the park a much better place while drunks and druggies stumble around behind her and drop to the ground.

What makes it perfect? They weren’t sent from Central Casting – they’re not actors – the crew just set up their camera on a nice day and it didn’t take long to get the action happening around Sam and her interview subjects.

Point made while hilarity ensues. Bravo, Sam Bee!

Eric and Tom in Civic Center Station, San Francisco - photo by Dave Rhodes

How’s that for a headline?

You’ll be seeing it if Eric the singing cowboy decides to go ahead with a suit against the band, Train, claiming that they lifted part of a song he wrote in 2005 called “Tonight” for their hit “Hey, Soul Sister.”

I was on my way back through Civic Center Station a few nights ago when Eric asked me to have a listen to “Tonight,” which he then played for me on his guitar. Yep, there’s a similarity to the end of the Train song when it gets to the lyric “I don’t want to miss a single thing you doooo.. tonight.”

Eric claims that people who pass in the train station point out the similarity when he’s playing his song, asking, “Did you adapt that from “Hey, Soul Sister?”

He says he wrote “tonight” in 2005, and given that Train originates from San Francisco (“Hey, Soul Sister” is from the album called “Save Me San Francisco) there’s every possibility that they’ve heard it, as he’s played it hundreds of times in public.

We’ll point out that there’s a classic song called “Tonight” that was penned by Bernstein and Sondheim for the musical “West Side Story” so the choice of that title may not have been the best idea on Eric’s part, but it’s not the same song at all.

Eric’s “Tonight,” however, bears a striking resemblance to a part of “Hey, Soul Sister.”

He asked my advice. I’m not one for frivolous lawsuits and chasing an easy buck, but I thought of the obstacles he’d face if he ever tried to get “Tonight” published. “Hey, you copied that Train song!” So I told him to just hit up one of the law firms in the city and see what they think.

I told him he’d need concrete proof that he wrote it in 2005. He said he video tapes all of his songs when he writes them and locks them away in-case of anything like this. So far so good.

I told him that as far as I knew he’d have to show that a certain percentage of his song is similar to the hit Train song, but I didn’t know how much. That would be for his lawyer to decide.

I told him that if he just presented his case and played both songs for them, they would decide whether to take it or not based on its merits. If they decide not to take it then try another law-firm or two, but give it up if it goes nowhere. The two songs are not really that much alike, so there’s probably nothing in this.

For the record (and hopefully to stay out of trouble here), I like Train. I like “Hey, Soul Sister,” it’s a fantastic song. I personally think singer/writer Patrick Monahan likely didn’t “borrow” anything from a train-station musician, but we’re all subject to influence. Is there a chance he could have heard Eric’s song and that part stuck with him? Sure. Does it mean Eric is owed anything?

I honestly don’t know, but I don’t think so.

I’ve used jokes and stories from other writers after first rewriting them in an original way, or at least as original as I can get. If anyone wants to sue me for plagiarism, good luck proving it. There’s nothing new under the sun; a good artist or writer just finds a clever way to repackage.

I’m certainly not a lawyer. I don’t want to be a lawyer and I don’t even like being in the same elevator with them. That being said, please know that I advised Eric to hit up a couple of firms in town only because he was going to do so anyway. But I want to ask readers who are a little more savvy about this kind of thing what they think.

I’ve embedded the Train song “Hey, Soul Sister” below but I know Eric won’t let me post his video, so I won’t even ask. Suffice to say that the lyric I mentioned earlier and the music during that part is the only similarity in the two songs. The catchy “Hey hey.. hey hey hey hey HEY” is ALL Monahan’s..