BRUNCH WITH THE BUDDHA

This past Sunday turned out to be an interesting day. Woke up, late as hell. I was supposed to meet a friend as she was going to let me tag along with her to visit her Thai Buddhist temple in Berkeley. It was a beautiful warm day and aside from the admonishment I received for not being punctual, we were off to a pretty good start. Met up at the Civic Center in The City and jumped on to BART(for what I thought was going to be my last BART ride due the impending strike an all). My friend, who's an ace cook, stayed up all Saturday night preparing a feast especially for the monks at the temple. She needs good karma and so do I. So between her cooking it and me schlepping it, hopefully we'll scrape up enough good merit to get us though these dog-shit days of health care woes, never-ending Middle-East wars, and a tits-up economy.

(Wat Mongkolratanaram - Thai Buddhist Temple)

The Temple has been in Berkeley for about 25-odd years and every Sunday they host a huge Thai brunch where you can get a hefty plate of tasty Thai food for very little and sit and eat in a sunny court yard. It's kind of like a weekly church spaghetti feed in which the proceeds help keep the temple running. It's only open for three hours between 10 am and 1 pm. I couldn't believe the size of the crowd and I was told that this was a slow day. I also learned from a temple member that they used to have longer hours but a few years back, but when the neighborhood started gentrifying a few years ago, the neighbors started bitching. This in my opinion is tantamount to moving next to an airport and complaining about noisy jets! But hey, that's gentrification, even in the People's Republic of Berkeley! That is what happens when croc-wearing, stroller-pushing yoga moms move in and start organizing. By the way - I have nothing against yoga, moms, crocs, or strollers. Oh bloody f-ng hell, I think you get the point already.

Since I came with my friend, I didn't actually eat the food from the brunch as I was given the honor of eating from the pot luck brought by the regular temple members. Despite feeling like a like fish out of water, the Thai people were all nice and treated me warmly. I sat on the floor with them and dug in to the colorful looking, home cooked fare: spicy beef stews, yellow curry chicken, Thai omelets and a bunch of other good tasting dishes. Later, my friend took me into the small prayer room where she taught some young children and myself how to make an offering and a prayer. I'm not a big believer in the supernatural and that sort of thing but I went along for the experience (kind of like sitting and standing and kneeling and standing again at a Catholic mass; you just follow everyone else and hope to baby Jesus and all the chubby little angels that you aren't the last one moving!). I made my prayer for world peace but I also added a special rider prayer that I can get my samsaric ass, along with my family, back to Los Angeles as soon as f-ng possible.

Afterward, I shook a can of sticks until one fell out. Using the corresponding number from the stick, I matched it to my reading. I have to admit that what it said about me was frighteningly accurate and my friend, who is all too familiar with my personality flaws, had a right good laugh. So, after feeling slightly clowned by the buddha, I gave my offering in form of some good-ol' American greenbacks with the hope that some of my karma would be transformed, or at the very least, that the monks could use the money to buy some cool new shit at Costco. But that, however, was not the end of the journey.

ANOTHER HIATUS, ANOTHER RETURN...

It's been awhile since I spent any time blogging but I'm back again. Sometimes you just need to sit back and let life happen for a while. And while I haven't been sitting back much, a lot of life has been happening.

A few days ago, I returned from a little jaunt down to Southern California. It was an extremely rushed but fulfilling trip. My wife, son and I tried to catch

up with as much friends and family as possible and sadly , as to be expected, we were not able to meet up with everyone. I did however get to finally experience the Mexican/Korean fusion at the Kogi Truck (Twice- once next 4100 on Sunset in Silverlake and second, in downtown the following night - underneath the skyscrapers with dotted lights along with warm weather and traditional Chinese music playing from an open-air concert nearby- what a fantastic evening!).

In San Diego, We "stalked" a former employee of ours to new her job at a fine and very busy Mexican restaurant in Old Town where I had some amazing shrimp (ranchero style). It turned out to be a profound moment for me to see her again, as I had to abruptly close the business and leave San Diego last year and I was unable to say goodbye as properly as I should have. But seeing her again and knowing that she had accomplished so much since we last saw each other, made my eyes well up. This was a young woman who worked from day one all the way though the closure of the store - the first employee I hired who turned out to be a great manager and a trusted friend. Now it's well known that I'm a pretty cold and unsentimental bastard but I found it difficult to hold the emotion back. It took just that one moment for all three years to come back and smack me right solid in the gob. And whenever I get a little sad, I just turn to food which in this case included dipping the most savory homemade flour tortillas into the ranchero sauce. Hey, we all have to find ways to cope, right?

The following night also proved to be a great meal as some of my old friends, some family and new friends met up for some hardcore Korean BBQ in at the medieval-looking Chapman Plaza in LA's Korea town. The meat just kept on coming and coming: brisket, kalbi (Short Rib), teji kogi (Spicy Pork), and pork belly (uncured Korean bacon)! Along with all the banchan (side dishes) and beer, we all had a great time. So much so that after the feast, we moved the party over to the Cafe across the plaza.

Food, friends, and family - the three F's - that was essentially the theme of our return visit to Southern California and while we were exhausted, we enjoyed every bit of it. Of course no visit to Los Angeles would be complete without being pulled over by LAPD - and even that turned out to be pretty cool.

WHAT A NIGHT!...WAITING FOR THE EWOKS!

I went to class downtown last night and it was indeed hard to pay attention. I kept looking at the nytimes web site on my Blackberry. I couldn't believe that Obama won so early. Right before we returned from our break, CNN called the winner and we could all hear the horns and people screaming. I couldn't wait to leave.

As I walked to the BART station, my heart raced, my jaw ached, and my spine tingled. I felt like I was high on stimulants (not that I uh...have ever had any experience with that) I felt such emotion...positive feelings...and if you must know, I'm a pretty negative bastard. But FINALLY, FINALLY there was something to feel good about.

Not only are Cheney and Bush leaving the White House, but at last we have a leader that is well how should I say...some one who is an ACTUAL leader! Barack Obama is an intelligent, positive, and yes, a conservative thinker who has shown he can remain steady and serious in the face of adversity and criticism. He survived the old girl Hilliary and old man McCain along with his Bush campaign team. This swift victory was a mandate. A mandate that should tell all the Republicans that if they want to lead this country again, they ought to shit-can these cartoon character candidates who act like the folks "next door." If I want to borrow milk or sugar I will go to the folks next door but if I want some one to take charge of this country, then I want the best and the brightest. This country is facing its greatest economic downturn in over 70 years: I don't think a "breath of fresh air" is going to be able put out that burning house.

Yes I was excited last night. I stopped at the Napper Tandy pub on the way home and threw down two pints of Guinness. I didn't know anyone there and I didn't say much but I just drank, sank in the festive atmosphere while I was texting and calling friends. One drunk guy about my age stood next to me and slurred, "Do you really think this a historic moment..hah?". "Hell Yes!" I told him,"Most definately!" then I said, "I feel like the rebels just blew up the goddamned Deathstar and that I'm waiting for the fucking Ewoks and fireworks!"

He hiccupped and turned to his annoyed wife. "Did you just hear this guy?" he pointed to me and lurched forward, "he said the Ewoks....just blew up the...ahhh....Deathstar....ah....". He then left and stumbled off to the restroom.

I found a seat at the bar and watched young Mission hipsters dancing, kissing and laughing underneath the sounds of Abba's "Take A Chance On Me" blasting from the juke box; a muted Wolf Blitzer pointing to ridiculous graphs and charts on the mounted TVs. It was truly a surreal moment: I never thought I would enjoy listening to fucking Abba! But more importantly, I also thought how fucking awesome it was that America had decide to take its chance with Barack Obama. Let's go!!!


¡Sí se puede!

¡VIVA VENEGAS! A Concert Review...sort of

Julieta Venegas
El Presente Tour
The Warfield
San Francisco, California
Saturday, October 11, 2008

So I made it to the Julieta Venegas "El Presente" tour concert and her performance was, as expected, incredible. I bought tickets from this cat from Craigslist who wanted to go to the Carlos Santana show in Santa Rosa. So I got 4 tickets and dragged my wife (kicking and screaming) and my friend, Antonio, and his wife to the show. We grabbed some Italian at Noe Valley Restaurant on 24 St and jumped on the J to get to the Warfield. I really enjoyed my veal piccata.

After dodging the aggressive panhandlers on Market Street, we made our way into the Warfield. Our usher, it turned out was this short Latina girl that works at the library. I immediately recognised her because I distinctly remember her dismissing author Chuck Palahniuk as being repetitive while I was checking out his latest novel, "Snuff". Anyway, it was slightly ironic because I, myself, used to moonlight as an usher at the Warfield back in the day. So anyhow, we ended up with decent seats. Antonio and I went to the bar and drank some Coronas as we discussed the economy and also what a fat disgusting piece of shit I've morphed into. Slumming isn't best word to describe me but it the first that comes to mind.

I wasn't aware of an opening act but the librarian/usher told us there was. Indeed, it turned out to be Julieta's former band member and Tijuanese, Ceci Bastida, the ex- front woman of the now defunct Tijuana No! I thought she put on an earnest set along with her stripped down band playing her trademark rock-ska style; her last song was a cover from her band. While we were gone and shortly before the opening act, the people in front of us got into a heated argument over their seats. Our wives, who stayed behind, recounted the story of how one woman called another woman a "fucking bitch", a screaming match ensued and almost became physical. It even descended into a class-ist and racist incident with one darker skinned Latina woman yelling, "Just because you have light eyes doesn't mean that you're better than us...you fucking bitch!". So much for liberal San Francisco. The ushers were completely inept, they finally offered some other seats to the people and later kicked the squatters out.

After that, My friend and I went out for more Coronas and when we go back to our seats. The main attraction started and then...two drunken, super-fan fucktards sit right in front of us in the now disputed seats. One was a guy and the other a woman. I don't think they were a couple, but more like a Latina version of "Will and Grace" ;actually closer to Jack and Karen(Okay- clearly, I know way too much about that show). They were as loud as they were obnoxious -she says, " oh I don't know this song!"- He says, "oh yes you do girl!!!" My wife was really pissed because they blocked our view. My wife and I breathed a short sigh of relief when the ushers cleared them out and brought back the family that had the tickets for the seats in the first place, only to have these two knuckle heads sit right behind us. They were singing...so horribly and so loudly that I couldn't hear Julietta Venegas' voice and they were kicking our chairs. I was so pissed off as I was really looking forward to enjoying the concert. I mean the last concert I had been to was the fucking Wiggles for chrissakes in 2003! These two pendejos were really dropping a gigantic mierda on my evening. I know it's a concert but if they want to sing loudly and dance, shouldn't buy tickets for the floor instead? I know the folks that sat behind them were really upset. Every time I heard their big bocas, I became crankier and more frustrated than John McCain.

The saving grace was they had to leave for a bit, I think the girl probably had to blow chunks because they were gone a for while; long enough for me to hear Venegas belt out her latest single "El Presente" without their loud, slurring mouths. However, I was determined not to let them ruin my night and overshadow Julieta Venegas - she was awesome. Despite singing with a sore throat, she put a fantastic show along with her full piece orchestra, which gives a strong new flavor to familiar songs. She spoke a little but not too much, I don't understand Spanish but I picked out the words "latinos", "world", "changes" and "vote" and my friend explained to me, after the show, that she was basically saying that as Americans we need to get our asses out there and vote. No arguments here.

Venegas came out in a mint green dress and sporting a china doll hair style; she looked and sounded great. I dig the way she looks squeezing out the tunes on the accordion or strumming her guitar that's almost as big as she is. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera because I didn't know if I was allowed to. I tried to snap a few photos on my Blackberry but the results looked worse than photos of UFO sightings. She sang all her hits, including one of my favorites, the newly arranged "Lento" and gave the crowd what they wanted, and of course she couldn't play everything I wanted to hear...but I was more than content. Finally, the crowd went crazy when she came back for her encore with "Andar Conmigo". She's a class act, all the way!

We all had a great time, even my wife, who initially didn't want to go. We all made it home, thankfully without incident, and my only regret was not bringing my camera. JULIETA AND HER ACCORDION RULE!

As a side note, you can hear a recent interview with Julieta Venegas (in English) from PRI's The World, heard on NPR. Her inspiration for the playing the accordion is surprising.