Crossing The Street 101

I work downtown and I commute from Independence to KC via Independence Ave.

I've noticed a phenomenon that begins when I cross 435 and get closer to KC. It reaches it's peak at 10th and Main at the metro bus plaza.

What I observe all day long, every day, is people just casually walking out into the middle of the fucking street like they are strolling across a park.

There are two crosswalks and stoplights a half block away in either direction.

They don't use them.

They don't look to see what color the light is, they don't check to see if any cars are coming, they don't make any fucking effort whatsoever to get across the street as fast as they can.

They don't even take the shortest route, a straight line, across the street.

Oh no.

Thay just sort of amble across at a diagonal, taking as long as possible, disrupting as much traffic as possible, and endangering themselves as much as possible.

But here is the worst part.



They do this with their fucking kids with them! Sometimes with babies in strollers!

What. The. Fuck???

I remember going to great pains to teach my daughter to only cross the street at the cross walks, and only when the light was green, and to still look both ways to make sure all the traffic had come to a stop.



Not these folks. Nope. "Oh, those lights don't mean nothin'! Pedestrians always have the right of way! You don't need no lights or crosswalks. Just step right out there and they have to stop for you. Take your time. No rush. Be cool."

So do I believe that a 7 year old kid could run out in front of an oncoming fire truck with lights flashing and sirens blaring?

Yeah. Sadly, I really do. Because I've seen irresponsible parents training their children to do that very fucking thing, all day long, every day.

A Visible Sign Of Our Economic Collapse

I have seen more cops pulling over more people and giving more tickets in the past few weeks than I have in the past few years!

Every single night I see at least one, sometimes 3 or 4, on the short 15 minute drive down Hwy 24 east of I-435.

Has there been a sudden increase in traffic scofflaws, lead-footing the vertical pedal?

Huh uh.

Here is what's going on.

People are losing their jobs because the unregulated, privatized, "free market" of the last 8 years has collapsed like the house of cards it was.

They are abandoning their houses because they can't afford their mortgages.

Their cars are being repossessed.

They can no longer afford to pay their personal property taxes.

They can't buy anything because they have no income, so sales tax revenue is down.

City, county and state governments are feeling the sting.

Their solution? Lean on the cops to write more tickets! Tickets generate revenue!

So, because people are out of work and government revenues are down, lets send out cops to catch the few people who still have jobs and are trying to get to work on time so they won't lose their jobs.

Pull them over, make them late for work so they are at greater risk for losing their jobs and contributing to the core problem, give them a ticket for some minor traffic infraction which puts even more pressure on their already shaky finances.

Fucking. Brilliant.

But to end on a positive note, here is a great pic and link for The Broderick Crawford 1955 Buick Special

Separated at Birth?

The world's UGLIEST fucking cat.



The Donnie Darko bunny rabbit.



By the way, Holmes Osborne, the actor who played Donnie Darko's dad...



...was my 8th grade English teacher in Excelsior Springs in 1969.

Damn that Tina Turner!

Singing legend Tina Turner is currently on tour after a long absence away from the spotlight, and she's giving the world a whole new idea of what 69 looks like.





Them is some genes is all I can say....


Images: theybf.com

My Feets

About a month ago I started experiencing some problems with da feets which I wrote about here.

Since then, I've been wearing this awesome boot cast.



Which, now that I have the bills, I discover is a $315.00 fashion accessory which my insurance only pays $148.26 of.

But I digress.

Had an appointment with the podiatrist this afternoon with the following results:

1. Stress fracture is on the mend and I can wean myself from the Astro Boy shoe.



2. My plantar fasciitis is a chronic condition and he wants me to do foot stretching exercises for 5-10 minutes everday forEVAH!



3. My dislocated middle toe has probably been dislocated for a couple of years and cannot be just popped back into place. It would require surgery, removal of some bone, insertion of a pin, and me being on crutches for 4-6 weeks. Since my jeep is a stick, that means I wouldn't be able to drive. Since I have no live-in Signifigant Other, that means surgery is not an option. So I just have to suck it.

4. Contrary to what the folks at the Good Feet store recommended, I do NOT need any fancy $300.00 shoes. I need good shoes, not fancy shoes. My podiatrist buys $50.00 shoes at Payless.

So over the next couple of weeks I ease off of the cast boot, work foot stretching into my daily routine, throttle back on the naproxen and the ice bags, and work myself back into regular shoes. Other than showering and sleeping, he doesn't want me barefoot for 3 months.

That was today's medical adventure.

Tomorrow, it's off to the orthodontist to get GTO braces!



Happy Happy Fucking Joy Joy!

GOP in Total Implosion

I laugh myself to sleep every night.

The Rove/Limbaugh/Dobson/Gingrich/Bush/Cheney/Addison crowd are all on the downhill side of history and they are too stupid to realize it. They will never, ever be in power again.

Their policies have failed. The demographics of this country are changing. Their time is over and it ain't coming back.

The old GOP white guys are shoving Bobby Jindal and Michael Steele out front to be cosmetic siding and cannon fodder, but they throw them both under the bus at the first hint of dissent.

"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Over the weekend, Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele called Rush Limbaugh's rhetoric "incendiary" and "ugly" and insisted that he, not Limbaugh, is in charge of the GOP.

But that was two days ago. Monday, after a blistering response from the conservative talk-radio kingpin, Steele told the online journal Politico that he "was maybe a little bit inarticulate."

"There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership," Steele said. He added, "There are those out there who want to look at what he's saying as incendiary and divisive and ugly. That's what I was trying to say. It didn't come out that way."

Steele's original remarks came from an interview on CNN's "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News," which aired Saturday. They came as Democrats, including White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, have tried to paint Limbaugh -- who has said he wants to see the Obama administration "fail" -- as the effective head of the opposition party.

Steele rejected the idea, saying, "I'm the de facto leader of the Republican Party."

"Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment," Steele told CNN. "Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly." iReport.com: Limbaugh and Steele show divisions in GOP

Limbaugh fired back on his radio show Monday, saying the Republican chairman appears to be supporting President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He said Steele appears "obsessed with seeing to it President Obama succeeds."

"I frankly am stunned that the chairman of the Republican National Committee endorses such an agenda," Limbaugh said. "I have to conclude that he does, because he attacks me for wanting it to fail."

But Monday night Steele told Politico he didn't intend to go after Limbaugh.

"My intent was not to go after Rush -- I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh," Steele told Politico in a telephone interview. "I was maybe a little bit inarticulate ... There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership."

Steele told Politico he tried to call Limbaugh after the show on Monday and said he hoped he would be able to talk to the radio host soon.

"I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren't what I was thinking," Steele told Politico.

"I'm not going to engage these guys and sit back and provide them the popcorn for a fight between me and Rush Limbaugh."

And in a written statement issued to CNN, Steele said, "To the extent that my remarks helped the Democrats in Washington to take the focus, even for one minute, off of their irresponsible expansion of government, I truly apologize."

"I respect Rush Limbaugh, he is a national conservative leader, and in no way do I want to diminish his voice," Steele said. "I'm sure that he and I will agree most of the time, but will probably disagree some as well, which is fine."

Steele's Democratic counterpart, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, said he was "briefly encouraged" by Steele's "courageous" remarks.

"However, Chairman Steele's reversal this evening and his apology to Limbaugh proves the unfortunate point that Limbaugh is the leading force behind the Republican Party, its politics and its obstruction of President Obama's agenda in Washington," Kaine said in a written statement."

It's a different world and they have no idea how to adapt. And that means extinction.

The Solar Eclipse

Way back in May of last year, I published a 2 part, rambling, stream of consciousness post that started out talking about New Jersey and my Silver Surfer tie and wound up with a nostalgic reminiscence of a KICK ASS band from my high school days.

But apparently, some of my facts were a little fuzzy. Not surprising since I was pretty fucking stoned on all of that weed and hashish being brought back from Vietnam and Thailand by our returning veterans.

Well, today I got SCHOOLED by someone who has a much clearer memory of those days.

I received an email from none other than Lisa Crawford, the actual drummer for The Solar Eclipse who I completely dissed by not mentioning her at all in my original post. She sets the facts straight!

She's an awesome lady and I am publishing her original email here (only slightly enhanced by some pictures and such), with her permission.

Thanks Lisa! Great to hear from you!

"You are incorrect about Randy Grayson being the drummer for the Solar Eclipse. I was the drummer for the Solar Eclipse when you would have been listening to us do "Vehicle" by the Ides of March.



[NOTE FROM XO: Yeah, if you listen to the words it's kind of a douchey song about a predatory child molester, but goddamn that horn section kicks ass! That is all]

I was actually the group's second drummer from 1968 to May of 1971 when I graduated from Lawson HS and went off to college at CMSU in Warrensburg to pursue my degree in music education.

The group's first drummer---very briefly---was Jimmy Carroll now deceased. He wanted to do other activities in school so I replaced him.

I was the one who could do massively long drum solos on "I'm A Man" by Chicago Transit Authority and "TNUC" by Grand Funk Railroad etc. also "Soul Sacrifice" by Santana as in Woodstock.

We were a regional group playing in Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. And we were definitely not your average little garage band. We played music that we liked not necessarily what people always thought they wanted to hear but by the end of the night all they wanted was more of what we were giving them.

We did about a 15-20 minute James Brown medley to end the night where Remon(Randy) Grayson would go out front and do just about every dance step ever invented during the soul/funk music days. Remon was an entertainer not just a musician.



We were very heavily influenced by soul, blues and jazz. And yes, our horn section could jam!!! JT Lynn as you refer to him was just Tom Lynn then. Martha, his sister, played bass in the group. Their father was the JT Lynn listed on our business cards. He was our manager.

Jimmy Dykes was the youngest member of the group. I believe he was in the 7th or 8th grade in 1968 when I joined the group. Jimmy was basically a child prodigy on the guitar. I can remember seeing him play at talent shows in Excelsior Springs when he was about 6 years old.

The original Solar Eclipse consisted of:

Jimmy Dykes---guitar and vocals, and guitar showman
Martha Lynn---bass and vocals
Tom Lynn---sax, vocals, percussion, flute
Remon Grayson---sax, vocals, percussion and entertainer extraordinaire
Lisa Crawford----drums

In 1970 we added:
Bill Hankins---trumpet, percussion
Gene Craig--Hammond organ, trombone, vocals

After graduation from high school in 1971 three of us left the group to pursue college degrees:

Lisa Crawford
Gene Craig
Bill Hankins

I was replaced on drums by Gary Butler who now plays (Ringo) with the Beatles tribute band Liverpool.

Gene Craig was replaced on keyboard by Robert Paddock who became Martha's first husband also.

I cannot recall the name of the next trumpet player but do know that he was later killed in an auto accident. Lee Watkins then replaced him. The group evolved into just Eclipse then.

Looking back on this group, we were just dammed good for a bunch of kids. I also believe we influenced a lot of people to become more accepting of black music and culture even though Remon was the only black member of the group.

When we would go into some of the little redneck towns we played in sometimes we just weren't quite sure how we'd be accepted but it didn't matter to us. As I said before, at the end of the night they just wanted more.

We were like our own little family. We always prayed before each gig that we would do a good show and entertain everyone. The most import thing to us was the interaction between the band and the audience. There was a great deal of improv and jamming at every show.

Our parents were all very supportive of the group. We practiced and played so much that we didn't have any time left to get into trouble like most of our HS friends.

In recent years, Remon has become a very good drummer.

Thanks for your mention of the Solar Eclipse. I am so happy that anyone remembers us. We were just on the cutting edge of music then. We were playing stuff that no one else was doing.

All of us from the original group and the additional musicians we added in 1970 are still living. Robert Paddock is deceased now. We are somewhat spread out but I am certain that we all still share a common bond and still think of ourselves as musical siblings.

Thank you so very much!!!!

Lisa "Grace" Crawford
Private Percussion/Drum Instructor
Liberty, MO"