Friend Rock

Over the weekend I got a chance to hang out with an old buddy from Seattle who was in town for his first tour. I miss my Pacific NW friends, mostly for their sense of humor. Something about a lack of sunshine that brings out the Woody Allen in us all. My poor roommate was not too pleased with the drunken laughter emitting from our living room at 4am. Usually I'm a great roommate, I swear.

The friend in question's new album features artwork from my his brother - Darin Shuler. His stuff is absolutely amazing. I wonder what I should commission him to create? My roomy and I already have a portrait of us hanging above our couch...

http://darinshuler.com/

Before the friend rock, an adventure out of the city was long overdue. We packed the sunscreen, sandwiches and trashy mags and headed for Bolinas. Unfortunately, the wind was not on our side. We stayed for about 30 minutes before admitting defeat, attempting to enjoy the view and ignore the sand storm. We decided to finally check out the German Tourist Club, a pub tucked away in the Redwoods that I've been hearing about for years. http://www.touristclubsf.org/
The clubhouse was built in 1912 by a group of German Nature Friends and has been there ever since. They're only open to the public a few weekends out of the month, but we lucked out. Drinking and playing dice counts as an outdoor adventure, right?


Ok - I know it's time to stop subscribing to Rolling Stone. It's been on a fast decline for YEARS, but I've held on this long mostly out of habit. When they start running features on American Gladiators named Breaux that's when I have to say no to his pink 'breaux hawk.' Same with the Simpsons. I have a feeling much of my mass consumption is done out of habit. Speaking of consumption and its driving forces, in the same Rolling Stone issue I came across a very disturbing McDonald's ad. The ad features a creepy hipster-esque cartoon character who resembles Ron Jeremy named Paul. Paul is the Original Dollar Millionaire and tells us a bit about himself - "I pretty much live in the moment, most of the time. Like when I signed up for a credit card to score a free T-shirt. Didn't need the card, but that shirt was callin' my name. Especially because it was laundry day." At first I thought the ad was a joke. Apparently there have been a ton of disturbing McDonald's ads over the years. Interesting piece on this topic I came across: http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/electronic-publications/stay-free/archives/24/mcdonalds-commercials.html
I miss Ronald. Then again, I've always had a thing for clowns.

They all float down here!