My Top Ten Favorite Cities

My travels are limited (the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Italy), but thus far, these are my favorite cities, and why:

1. Portland, OR (Pioneer Courthouse Square and pretty much everything else)

2. Denver, CO (16th Street Mall and LoDo)


3. Venice, Italy (No cars!!!! A total dream for me)


4. Seattle, WA (Love everything, except the perpetual drizzle)

5. Savannah, GA (Public squares everywhere, oh and a cool cemetery)

6. Charleston, SC (Great downtown--shoppes, restaurants, historic buildings, homes)

7. St. Augustine, FL (Narrow, winding streets)

8. Charlottesville, VA (UVA campus, history, architecture, site planning by Jefferson)

9. Richmond, VA (Hmm, okay, pretty much just Bill's BBQ)

10. St. Petersburg, FL (Some great architecture, brick roads, and pink streets--that's right, pink streets!)

The Parking Lot as Civic Space: The Collapse of the Public Realm

Admittedly I've been witness to a number of disturbing trends recently, including (but not limited to) beautiful people wearing trucker hats, sporting the porn stache, and wearing mom-jeans; and all irony free, beautiful people mean business. Who needs irony with cheekbones like that?

But in seriousness, I can handle the cosmetic crap. A far more grave, sinister, black, horrid threat exists (and if I can accurately be labeled as anything, it's an alarmist). Ask yourself these questions:

Where were you the last time you bought a box of girl scout cookies? Were solicited for spare change? Were approached by a Mormon missionary?

If you were me your answer to all three would be "a parking lot." What the hell happened to the street, the park, the square as civic space humans were welcome to inhabit? Oh dear, the end is near. Plug it in, pack it up. What would you do for a Klondike Bar? Stop using your car and start using intuition?

Some days this whole arrangement is just exhausting. Two weeks ago I was asked for spare change twice in one day, in different parking lots. The guy in the morning got the shaft--I only had 15 cents in cash; the guy in the evening did much better--I'd made change at the post office and had five bucks. He was carrying a toddler--whether for real or a prop doesn't matter.

What does matter is the disconnect between fellow citizens--our public forum consists of bitumen, line striping reflective chemicals, wheel stops and towing signs, motorized vehicles, shopping carts complete with dispatch and holding cells, the guy in the orange vest, cameras may be monitoring this property for your protection, landscaped mulch islands teaming with empty miller high life and big gulps, with pigeons and seagulls there to dine. Country meets city, ah, the good life. We're all so deserving.

The Top Ten Shows I've Attended

The Format is as Follows: Band(s), Location, Date, Reason (Enjoy!)

10. The Descendents, Portland, April 1997, I want to be stereotyped!

9. The Skatalites w/ the Toasters and the Mad Caddies, Portland, September 1997, Appetizer: ska, Main course: ska, dessert: ska.

8. The Bouncing Souls w/ Flogging Molly, Seattle, November 2001, Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! (With some bagpipes on top).

7. The Specials w/ Buck-O-Nine, Portland, June 1996, At the time, my two absolute favorite bands.

6. Of Montreal w/ The Fiery Furnaces, Ybor City, December 2008, Music + theatrics = Now that's entertainment.

5. Sonic Youth w/ The Amps and Bikini Kill, Portland, November 1995, Again--Kim Deal (plus, Sonic Youth had my ears bleeding from the feedback by the end--an early Christmas gift for any 15-year-old).

4. Rancid w/ AFI and The Distillers Salt Lake City, Spring 2001, Cruise Control!

3. The Stokes w/ Hello Amsterdam, Salt Lake City, September 2006, Completely flawless.

2. The Faint w/The Show is the Rainbow, St. Petersburg, October 2008, Amazing energy--danced the night away.

1. The Breeders w/ Lutefisk and Paleface, Portland, May 1997, I love Kim Deal!

The Top Ten

I'm horrible at this blogging thing, so instead I've decided to just make top ten lists. I was never adept at keeping a diary either, so this could have been predicted.

Instant Friendship, Just Add Sandwich

For My Fair Feathered Friends, Jekyll Island, Georgia


Instant Friendship Equation: p+s=bf
Where p=person, s=subway sandwich, and bf=bird friends

Instant Friendship Recipe
Surrounded by conditional friends,
Under the impression I'm generous,
Under the impression I care,
Instead, I stare,
I start,
They jump,
Epiphany
I'm not the expected bankroll.
They fly,
Closer to the waves.
Instant friendship recipe,
Bring a sandwich to the beach.

Caffeine is the New Cranberry

Recall how cranberries found their way into virtually every fruit juice mixture? It wasn't enough to just have apple juice, or grape juice--the good folks of Oceanspray and Dole saw fit to throw in some cranberry. Apparently its what consumers wanted. I've noticed a new trend--a "cranberry" that is finding its way into a variety of foods and beverages. Caffeine. Energy drinks, Crystal Lite, Snickers, and even oatmeal. That’s right, oatmeal.

Snickers Charged

There are Snickers bars that contain 60 mg of caffeine; they are called Snickers Charged and they have a boat load of them at Big Lots. And I bought some. I'm satisfied...and awake.