I’ve been wanting to do this for oh, so long.

Novocaine for the soul
You’d better give me something
To fill the hole
Before I sputter out

ANYWAY. It’s been awhile, mostly it’s been kind of crazy around here. Not really crazy so much as HOT and just, well, SUMMER. It seems that summer sort of takes away from introspection. Summer and introspection don’t really go together, do they? Plus my apartment is a little sweatbox and I can’t hang out in it for too long. Though, it has sort of cooled down a little.

Summer. It seems as if time really accellerates when summer comes. There is, well, just so much going on, and it makes everything fly by. I highly recommend writing a blog, since you can actually go back to weeks or months or years prior and see what the hell you did. Did I spell accellarate right? Fuck.

Summer is sweat, the crack of the bat, the feel of something cold on your tongue when you are hot, sand in the bathtub, too much energy, not enough energy, not enough real sleep. Because sleeping in the heat is way hard, of course. Corn. Summer is also, corn.

I think I have been spending too much time at the Vine. But it is really fun down there.

And tomorrow I am going to see Muse at SOMA. I have mixed feelings about this show, but only because I truly hate SOMA. How about this: SOMA IS THE WORST LIVE VENUE IN SAN DIEGO. There, now I will get at least fifteen google hits a day. It is really an awful place to see a show, but I really want to see Muse, even though compared to The Eraser Muse’s new record Black Holes and Revelations sounds sort of superfluous and overambitious. ME: the new minimalist. All because of Thom Yorke!

Well, it can’t be anything but good since I am so scared of it. I do love that crazy Muse.

The other night I dreamed about a friend I lost about a year ago, because of a stupid misunderstanding and also, the cruel manipulations of someone else. I can’t believe it has been a year, and it is weird that I dreamed about him now. Mostly because I have had time to get over it, and with the shit that is going on in the world today, I just have to say: there is no room, or reason, in the world for this kind of meaningless bullshit. Seriously. We should all just concentrate as much as possible on the positive as we can right now. There is absolutely no room in the universe for any kind of negativity. Did I spell negatevity right? Fuck.

Today is the 5th anniversary of www.slowtrav.com and the Slow Traveler’s Community. Trish from Baton Rouge put together this little collage of us all hanging out in front of the Sorrento webcam. Crafty!

The Slow Travel Community is AWESOME. For those not in the know, Slow Travel is travel utilizing vacation rentals (like villas and apartments) instead of staying in hotels. Also, Slow Travelers take it SLOW. Like, two weeks in one place. For lazy people like me, Slow Travel was a way of life before there was ever a name for it.

The creator of www.slowtrav.com, Pauline Kenny, has really done something remarkable – she has somehow created a place that not only brings people together, but keeps them together. I have made SO many friends through the message board, www.slowtalk.com.

I already posted this on slowtalk today, but here it is again. I am on a couple of music message boards and recently I posted an invitation for some Radiohead fans to come by and eat some food here the day before the first Radiohead show. Someone accused me of being a murderer and a rapist! As if! I’ve just been to so many cool Slowtrav gatherings that it didn’t even occur to me that inviting strangers over is weird. At least on Slowtrav, they know I am not a rapist, just a drunken slut. (Just kidding. Maybe.)

Ruth and I could not have written Chow! Venice without the Slowtrav folks. Well, we could have written it, but we might not have sold any, or at least it would have been harder. They are a very supportive group. They also like to drink wine and party. I feel very honored to be among them.

So, Happy Anniversary Slowtrav! Because of Slowtrav, a gazillion journeys have been more colorful and way richer. And for that, we are all very thankful, because an enthused traveler is a citizen of the world and a better person all around. Plus they are better lovers. Right? Right!

Today is my four year anniversary of living in Ocean Beach.

I still love it here. I mean, I REALLY love it here.

In my life, I have been in love with three places: San Francisco, Venice, and Ocean Beach. And I have lived in all three. My love affair with San Francisco lasted a long time, but it was sort of crash and burn with Venice. I still love Venice, but not like I did. It was probably too intense to keep that one going.

But Ocean Beach is different. Ocean Beach’s call is sweet, easy. Never exactly intense. Damp on the skin, but never very cold. It’s a small town inside of a big city on the edge of a vast sea. It’s really awesome here. I swear.

Today I did what is easy to do in Ocean Beach – nothing. Nothing by the sea. Now I am going to eat Macaroni and Cheese and Ice Cream to celebrate my anniversary here. Thank you, Ocean Beach, for letting me in.

Foggy here in OB, really, really foggy. It reminds me of what I grew up in, what I mostly knew as summer for much of my life. But it is warm and also, it is not summer yet. Also there are super tall and skinny palm trees on my street that wave to me every time I come home. So it is all good, even with the fog.

I came home from an evening at The Vine and was totally ecstatic to find that Bradley posted the recent Mogwai show in Boston on his blog. I LOVE Mogwai and am entirely bummed that I have not been able to see them on their recent tour. This is killer stuff. Check it out.

Tomorrow. Team Harold will prevail. Go, Harold, GO! Ya’all know what I am talking about.

A is for Awesome.

Today was a rollercoaster. I have been a little freaked for the past few days, because of the whole Radiohead-touring-these-small-venues thing. As in – can I get in? You can always get a ticket but it is so much nicer to get a ticket, and not get scammed by dickheads who are buying FAN CLUB tickets and immediately turning around and selling them on ebay for eight times the price. Please, don’t get me started – I almost have an ulcer from the past 24 hours as it is. And yesterday when I tried, in vain, to get tickets to one of the New York shows, despite being in the Ticketmaster internet queue right when it opened, it totally freaked me out. I’ve never been shut out of a show before.

Yesterday was awful. I was beyond bummed that a lot of real fans in New York got shut out and seconds later all these tickets went up on ebay… it was sick. SICK. I have sold tickets on ebay before, don’t get me wrong… but they were always tickets I got then couldn’t use. The one time I made a huge profit (P.J. Harvey at the Belly Up a few years ago) I felt so guilty that I almost gave the dude the tickets for free. So now I just sell tickets I can’t use on craigslist, at face value. Anyway.

I’d already made a pact with my Sigur Ros buddy David that we would each try to get tickets, for all the shows in San Diego and Los Angeles. But then I didn’t talk to him, so I wasn’t so sure he was still into going with me. Then last night at about nine, my cell phone rang, I answered it, and on the other end was live Sigur Ros. David was in Boise, at a show. I called him this morning. “You’re in fucking BOISE?” I asked him. Homeboy is seriously into Sigur Ros and hung out with the band last night so he was pretty happy. “Did I wake you up?” I asked him. “Well I am totally tired and hungover but I have to get the RADIOHEAD TICKETS” he said. “OK you get Monday and I’ll get Tuesday and I’ll call you back at 10:15” I said. Then we hung up. Then I called him back. “If you get Monday fast then try to get Tuesday!” He was like, CHILL. THAT IS OBVIOUS. I was sort of going a little crazy.

So it went down pretty fast, I was sitting here neurotically hitting refresh until 9:59:50 (and that is when they went on sale – I swear it) and I scored the tickets for Tuesday. When I got back in to try to get Monday, all the tickets were sold out. I called David, and he had got the Monday tickets but couldn’t get Tuesday.

A few minutes later Mark called. The first thing I said was “Mark I can’t take you.” What a friend I am. Well really, I am a really great friend. But nothing comes between me and Radiohead. Sorry bud.

After all that trauma and excitement I should have been flipping out, but I wasn’t, I was merely ecstatic. But then I went to a Kentucky Derby Party in Mission Beach (KAMB – all of them – were there) and of course I threw down for the racing pool because I love to gamble. It was a random pick, and for some crazy reason, I got Barbaro. That was AWESOME… I knew as soon as the race started, that Barbaro and his jockey with their apple green outfits were going to bring it in… I walked out of the party richer, I walked out of the day richer.

True love waits, in haunted outtakes. I fucking love Radiohead, and I am so, so happy right now. Truly.

That’s a teaser. The best photos are below.

Five more days gone next week and then I will be home for a long while.

And in June, Radiohead is coming. Tickets go on sale Saturday, so I won’t sleep well Friday. I’ll be going to both San Diego shows, obviously, but it would be nice to get a ticket at the regular price.

I have been traveling so much that I have forgotten what it is like to be home. I love this time of year, when the days start to get really warm, but there is a mist on the horizon. I can’t tell you, seriously, I can’t tell you, what it is going to be like to sleep in my own bed tonight. I had this idea on this last trip, to take a picture of every single room I sleep in when I am on the road. But then I only took one picture. I could always take it with the TV on, to be reminded of what I have watched. Last night it was A Place in the Sun and then Top Chef. I remember, because it was last night. But where was I when I did take a picture? And what the hell was I watching?

I think it was San Luis Obispo. It’s all sort of a blur.

Anyhow if I ever retire from the wine business I think I will set up shop as a portrait photographer. Check these out:

Have you ever seen a better looking kid than my nephew Ryan? Plus he is a born actor:

We represent, the Lollipop Kids. I will never, ever be able to look at this picture and not crack up. He is so freaking awesome, I can’t even tell you.

I am home! There is nothing like getting back home to OB.

It was kind of a busy trip, and pretty fun, too. I’ve got to get down to The Vine to get my fix but in the meantime, FEAST YOUR EYES ON THIS.

Jason Mecier is a genius. I am so happy with my new purchase. Now, all I want to do is lay on the couch and look at my new picture.

I drove home, fast, from Sacramento. To break the monotony of 300 miles on the Interstate 5 I played “Crown of Love” by Arcade Fire over and over and screamed the lyrics as loud as I could. Finally I made it over the Grapevine, about to collapse from hunger and screaming, so I stopped at the In N Out Burger in Santa Clarita. Here, I learned something new. I am not really into In N Out and could never understand why people like it so much. Also, the fact that they put those scripture thingies on their cups kind of turns me off. But, I’ve now learned how to make In N Out taste good. You have to be hungry enough to eat plain ketchup. Also, it helps to chase it with a glass of Sangiovese. But mostly, be hungry enough to eat plain ketchup. Then, In N Out burgers taste like flaked Dungeness crab topped with shaved white truffles and melted imported farmhouse butter. I’m serious. Check it out.

After a strange and unsettling week, I am now hanging in my old hometown torturing my nephew by trying to get a photo of him smiling. He smiles when the camera is not in view, but as soon as he sees the camera, he gets all sour and perplexed. He is not a photo whore like his auntie. Not yet, anyway.

Coming back to where I grew up is always weird. There have been so many changes in twenty years that it always makes me sad and sort of horrified when I visit. But today, it didn’t seem so overbuilt and ruined as it has seemed to me before. Maybe because it was so green and lush out there that I didn’t see all the houses. Or maybe it was because Colleen was with me and seeing it through her eyes, it didn’t seem so bad. We went to the new Ritz Carlton which looks like a cheap copy of the Hotel Del Coronado without any of the charm. We had a drink in the “Conservatory.” Wondering where Professor Plum was. The service was crap and the wine was sort of off, and the music was horrible. One wonders what the big deal is.

But it has been that kind of a week. Sometimes I just don’t want to leave OB. Being here with Jay, Carrie and Ryan is great though. It just took a while for me to release my arms from their pharoah-like grasp across my chest. Ryan is movie-star handsome and also, totally brilliant. I would have trudged across eight thousand Ritz lobbies to spend just a few hours with him. Tomorrow, San Francisco, where I will eat way too much food with all my old friends and will also gaze, for the first time, at my Britt Daniel bean and noodle portrait. I’m feeling all nervous and jittery just thinking about it. In a good way, not in an arms tightly crossed way. Throw open those arms, and receive your new bean and noodle, baby. It doesn’t get much better than that.

This is the first Christmas in many years where my little family is not hanging out at my Grandma’s for several days. Since Jay and Carrie brought Baby Ryan down at Thanksgiving, Mom came out for that, instead. So this Christmas, I am kind of on my own.

Kind of. Today, me and my brother Tom are going out to my Grandma’s for lunch. This evening, I am going to a birthday party (with a tropical theme!) Tomorrow, I am going to a Christmas dinner, and then another party. Thankfully I have both Monday and Tuesday off to recover.

I also have to watch all the movies I love to watch at Christmas. I already watched Auntie Mame. Tonight I’ll watch Meet Me in St. Louis. Tomorrow morning – as I do every Christmas morning, I’ll watch Babette’s Feast.

Last night I watched Mostly Martha. I really love that film. I think I will add it to my list of movies I always watch at Christmas, even though the story of a wounded kid and an exuberant Italian guy breaking through to the closed-off heart of an uptight German chef isn’t very Christmas-y. Neither is Babette’s Feast. They are both films that make me feel happy and human and make me feel like celebrating. Babette’s Feast always makes me cry at the end. ALWAYS. I love movies that always make you cry, no matter how many times you have seen them.

Happy holidays, or happy weekend, to all my readers, and even to the one-times who type “super sexy” into a search engine. Have fun!

Type, into Google’s search engine, “the most awesome website in the universe.” Then hit search, or even “I’m feeling lucky.”

As Napolean Dynamite would say, yesssssss.

Sorry Pauline, I know your website is way better. You just need to use the word “awesome” a lot more.