Ceiling fan, Tower Cafe

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I think this dress is just slutty.

We went to see Urinetown at Cosumnes River College's River Stage last night. It was the best non-professional musical production I've seen in Sacramento.

Found inside a customer's piano: a tiny skateboard, a penny, a prom photo, and a sheet of Lion King stickers.

I tuned for Morrissey yesterday at the Bob Hope Theatre in Stockton. The keyboard player had an old Yamaha CP-70 as part of his rig --- an early electric piano that had real hammers and (very short) strings. Very hard to tune and impossible to keep in tune for very long. The keyboard setup included several synths, an accordion, a trumpet, and a trombone.

An ethnic instrument

This clown-cow was inspired by the public cow sculptures in Chicago.

Standing next to Oscar at Franklin High.

Here is a picture of us from Denver. You're inside Maryann's car and we are sitting outside near the Amtrak terminal on the riverfront.

John Skinner Band at Folsom Community Center

I played with John Skinner this afternoon. Shelly Denny demonstrated his ability to balance a bottle of water and bounce a pencil into a cup.

Today I saw a friend on the way into Crepeville. "This is chicken rice day," I said to him, meaning that Saturday is the day they serve their wonderful chicken rice soup. But he thought I said Chicken Rights Day.

Today I tuned for Jim Brickman at the Fox Theatre in Stockton. It was really unusual in that I tuned before they had even started setting up the stage. It was completely empty and silent.

The Dick

The Denver professional soccer team plays at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, popularly known as "The Dick."

It's vital

A Jenny Holzer piece at the Denver Art Museum and a sign in a Denver light rail train.

Jennifer and the soap bubbles

Jennifer playing with a video piece at the Denver Art Museum.

This customer's last name is Knight so of course he has a suit of armor in the living room.

Rachel gets a job

Rachel got a summer job working for Debra McGuire, a costume designer who has worked on ER, Crossing Jordan, Friends, and many other TV shows and films. We're excited!

This cheerful guy is a cardboard cutout standing outside a park in a new tract in southeast Sacramento County. Sure makes me want to live there.

This pizza from Wolfgang Puck Express is the best airport food I've ever had. Pizza Hut can just go home.

The Amtrak station in Denver has its own informal lending library including board games.

This looks like the field for an as-yet-uninvented ballgame.

An extremely personal rest room at the Denver Art Museum.

At the Denver Art Museum, here's a painting of an abandoned drive-in movie, with real drive-in speakers making the sound of a lonely prairie wind.

This tunnel was on the way to the light rail station in the Denver suburbs.

If you see a tornado coming, get next to Jennifer.

I had my first rehearsal at Franklin High today. This poster was one of many in the courtyard.

I've been meaning to bring my lizard to the coffeehouse, but this girl beat me to it.

The parking lots at the City College tennis court were blocked off by Cyclone fences today... which I think means that they are finally taking out the tennis courts. I hope they build new ones somewhere else on campus!

The girl is wearing Spider-Man on her back. Is it a backpack? America, help me here.

We were walking up the stairs from the parking lot to Downtown Plaza. Jennifer said, "I'm always afraid I'm going to run into some homeless person sleeping here." Then we saw this vodka bottle.

While waiting in front of a bank, I contemplated this patch of grass over what in winter is a skating rink.
In front of the bank stood a security guard wearing a turban; I tried to hide the copy of The Satanic Verses I was carrying. (I think after all he was a Sikh, not a Muslim.)

A lovely wreck near 19th & X.

I was playing with the Ron Davis Big Band at Zigato's and my old friend Shelly Burns was singing with her husband Bill in the next room. Watch and listen!

A box of 200 Marbs

There is a great article in The Economist this week about Stephen Colbert. Read it here.

Another picture of Lisa Sandoval, who is the head of drama at Franklin High. She recently became the first Franklin teacher to be honored as Sacramento Teacher of the Month.

My high school friend Jon Dichter, who now is a piano tuner and hot-jazz guitarist, asked me to do a cartoon of an army of gypsy jazz guitarists parachuting in to save the world. This is a close-up of the guitarist's face on my monitor.