I've been taking advantage of the free wifi at my neighborhood cafe for the last week, to the extent that I've practically moved into the place. Despite the myriad benefits of such an arrangement, there is one drawback: Using the bathroom requires packing everything up and carrying into the facitlities with you. Argh.

Well, it could be worse, but all three of the finalists for the Wisconsin State Quarter are pretty lame. If I had to chose the least lame, it would have to be the guys with the canoe.

Spent my last day in San Francisco BBQing on Baker Beach. That's quite an illiteration.

Anyway, we observed an unbelievable amount of activity passing by: At least one large sea-lion, a body-surfing dog, some WWII vintage aircraft including a Japanese 'zero' that played dogfighting games with the others and repeatedly charged the beach evoking an immenent strafing... a coast guard craft that kept hurling sailors overboard to practice life saving.... a coast guard helicopter that darted perilously close to the Golden Gate Bridge ... one outbound cruise ship and 6 enormous inbound container ships...

We were waiting for some sky-diving Elvis', but that never happened.

I'm pleased to see that Squat & Gobble is still turning out my favorite breakfast - the unbeatable #6 bagel on poppyseed. I think I might have to go back for seconds. Also unchanged is glorious Haight Street. The same wasted old bums staggering everywhere. I even witnessed a rare SF expression of violence the other day - when the bums fight they don't physically attack each other - rather, they knock over eachother's shopping carts sending bottles and cans everywhere. What a mess.

It is, however, a stunningly beautiful day here in San Francisco, and bumfights aside, you have to love the place. Time to get outside and enjoy it.

...and the woooorld's your ashtray. Easy to say. Granted I spent last night slumped over the blackjack table at the world's cheesiest casino listening to one of those "so bad they're still bad" coverbands do Stevie Wonder etc... On the other hand, in between the gas stations and strip-clubs, somewhere near the quicky-mart lies a secret Reno which thrives as an antidote to the cheeze n' sleeze. 'Old Southwest' (photos to come) is a beautiful and mellow oasis of professionalism and reason amid the chaos, plus they have a damn good frozen custard store. The ashtray has flowers growing in it around here, and any would-be Reno detracters ought hold their peace.

But, still, not even David Hasselhoff can match the sheer power of the Peppermill's Fireside Lounge... a sight we must all behold at least once in our lifetimes.

Greetings from Cincinnati airport... which I just discovered is actually in Kentucky. Because all the payphones are out of order, I had to pay $5 to use this business center place... for only 5 minutes. I made the phone call I needed, now I have about 2 minutes left. Thought I'd get my money's worth and post a completely meaningless message.... gotta run.

A famous New York magician, David Blaine, is in London now sitting in a box hanging over the River Thames, attempting to stay there with no food for 44 days. He's performed similar feats in other cities, to the delight of generally supportive crowds. In London, however, it only took a few hours before gangs of rowdies showed up and, among other things, hurled eggs at the box, tossed leftover fish and chips, banged drums all night long, and in the most enterprising case, stood on Tower Bridge and hit golf balls toward the sleep-deprived Blaine.

Is it celebrity envy? Or just a classically sarcastic reaction to a rather useless stunt?

Anyway, I think I'll wander down there today and check it out...

This is pretty cool - a group called "Culture Cloud" is putting together a collection of weblogs for the Angel neighborhood in London. They're supposed to be topical to a certain building or place, and they're accessible via a map-interface online as well as on free kiosks that have sprung up around the neighborhood. Anyway, they asked me to write a diary for them on the "southern edge" of the map, since that's where I live. So we'll see what this evolves into.

Anyone who's ever spent time in St. Louis has probably encountered the legendary "Beatle Bob". Probably the most devoted music fan in the world, Beatle Bob is a very odd character who appears at practically every single live music event in St. Louis every single night, often going to several shows in an evening.

He wears a suit and a "beatles" haircut. He dances manically, thrashing his arms and legs around and spontaneously spinning in place when the moment hits him. There's always a bit of a circle around him in the crowd as people back off to stay clear of his flayling limbs.

In St. Louis, if Beatle Bob shows up at your gig, it means you've made it.

Anyway, after years of mumbling obscurity, it seems Beatle Bob's ship has come in: Guided By Voices has devoted a song and video to him. Not a bad song either! Have a look!

[real audio video link here] - click on "My Kind of Soldier"

[more about the legend]