fall in minnesota

joyce momont

in memory

joyce momont

joyce momont, committed red ribbon ride crew member and volunteer died thursday, october 19 due to complications from multiple myeloma.

the above picture was taken of joyce and myself at the closing ceremonies for the 2004 red ribbon ride.

joyce was one of the most amazing and pure souls i've ever had the honor of knowing. we first met on the 2002 twin cities->chicago aids ride where she was a crew member and i was crew director. then 77 years old; i was blown away by her never-ending energy and passion for the cause. she continued to crew for the inaugural red ribbon ride in '03. due to multiple myeloma she was unable to continue to crew the ride for the next few years, but that didn't stop her from being the most dedicated of volunteers. every wednesday she was in the ride office stuffing envelopes, processing checks, organizing supplies and generally keeping the rest of us on our toes.

this past summer i had the pleasure of getting to know joycie in a completely different way. she agreed to speak to the riders and crew at the closing ceremonies of the 2006 red ribbon ride. during our conversations regarding what she would speak about, i learned about her daughter (who committed suicide), her acceptance of her son andy's coming out and subsequent hiv diagnosis, her complete joy when her son met, fell in love and married his partner kim.

when so many people would choose to view these occurrences as hardships or failures, joycie chose to take the experiences and go forward. she was an ardent supporter of glbt issues, a fighter of hiv/aids and a deeply religious women who believes that god put her on earth to do good work and to honor all people.

joycies trademark was her purple sequined hat. that hat was worn whenever she was doing work in the glbt & hiv/aids community. i remember seeing her once at a benefit for minnesota aids project; i hadn't expected to see her, but across the room, i saw that hat sparkling. her other trademark was her smile. i can honestly say in the 5 years i had the honor of knowing her, i never once saw joyce without that amazing smile.

one of my proudest moments was watching joyce speak to the riders, crew and friends and family of the ride, with andy and kim on either side of her. the support and love that that family has is one we would all be lucky to receive.

to joycie, with love - you will always be the heart and soul of the red ribbon ride and my life is better having known you.

once again, under the needle

yup, i did it again, and i am surly going to hell for it (nevermind of course, i don't believe in hell)... yesterday, phase 2 of my sleeve tattoo began. 3.5 hours of ink time (including a bit where i feel asleep during the tattooing) and my sleeve is finally taking shape.

to refresh your memory... here is phase 1 of my sleeve. the symbol is the 8 auspicious symbols of buddhism. these symbols are extremely personal to me and i was wanting to find something to compliment the symbols without detracting from them or pulling focus.

we (trevor, my tattoo artist and i) went down a number of different paths before we hit on this one - simple use of asian imagery for wind/air mixed with lotus flowers & cherry blossoms. when we started phase 1 (the symbols) it was important to me to make sure there was a lot of movement in the banner (the victory banner representing the victory of one's body, speech, and mind over negative obstacles). phase 3 of the sleeve will actually go above what you see now and will be tibetan prayer flags flapping in the wind.

the bulk of phase two is monochromatic. i wanted the symbols to pop.... everything here is grey shade work with the exception of the lotus flowers and cherry blossoms which will get color on monday.

color me one very happy boy.

untitled

i do feel it's important to note that i'm not just being irresponsibly flip by posting such an image. i firmly believe we are closer to this than i ever thought america would be. we once were a proud, honest nation committed to trying to make the world a better place. now we're just the bully in the playground willing to do anything to get it's way.

it's a sad state if you ask me.

fascism; the word has been bandied about quite a bit in the good'ole blogosphere, but what does it really mean - and are we there?

according to wikipedia: Fascism is associated by many scholars with one or more of the following characteristics: a very high degree of nationalism, economic corporatism, a powerful, dictatorial leader who portrays the nation, state or collective as superior to the individuals or groups composing it.

hmmm on a number of fronts it would certainly look like we are getting close.

you see yourself as a leader / may my thoughts be with you

if you try to divide and conquer / we'll rise up against you

we know only the strong will survive / but the meek will inherit

so if you've got a coat of arms my friend / i suggest you wear it

john mellencamp / we are the people

battle of the bands

holy shit..blog of the day

from www.citypages.com:

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

9thWave is a Minneapolis production manager blogging about hypothetical married-to-Prince questions, the attractiveness of UPS drivers, and underwear fetishes at Stage Right ... Stage Left.

green politics

simply put we need more people running for office like otto

president or shrubbery?

brian over at cheapblueguitar.com found this... it's brilliant.

i've been thinkin' about you baby...come live with me

honest to god/buddha/krishna/allah nothing makes me quite as happy as new music. sliding that silver disk into the slot, or dropping the needle in the groove, or hell - even clicking on "buy song" and then wrapping the headphones 'round my ears and taking in the new tunes - it seriously turns me on.

twilight singers (referenced previously here: sr...sl/twilight) is the band of one of my favorite songwriters; greg dulli. mr. dulli used to be in a band called the afghan whigs which pretty much rocked my world. the singers, while not a "rock" band in the truest (or most obvious)sense of the word still rock my world. dulli & company have an uncanny way of wrapping a turn of phrase around a slinky bass line or driving drums or harmonic organ. more lowkey (even at their loudest moments), and certainly more electric (and eclectic) than the whigs - it's been a fuckin' blast to watch greg & co. on their musical journey.

october 10 marked their latest e.p. release "a stitch in time". this 5 song disk features such alt-rock luminaries as mark lanegan (formerly of screaming trees) and joseph arthur joining the fun. the e.p. opens with the sublime 'live with me' originally written and performed by massive attack. that's one of the things i really love twilight singers - they're not afraid of playing with other musical genre's, in this case turning an electronic tune into a killer blues rock exploration.

i've had this thing in my ears non-stop all day today. i've just burned the disk (purchased legally of course from itunes) and i'm gonna crank it all the way home when i leave work in a few. seriously fuckin' happy. the music is great, greg's voice is urgent and sexy and dangerous and the band sounds better than they've sounded in ages.

i was gonna fly to n.c. to see cb to see the band live in a couple weeks; but work calls and i won't be able to make it - now i just gotta talk cb into a weekend trip somewhere else to see one of my top ten favorite bands rip it up live.

"...your mind don't need to know, the blind are lead below, but baby when we close our eyes you feel the lover start to sympathise..." sublime/ twilight singers

big crying mess.

yup that's what i am after watching this video. damn sweet moment.



after watching the video go here to read the article: redeyechicago.com/proposal

picture of the day

so on friday i had the entire day to myself in chicago - i bummed around the city, took an architectural boat cruise, went to the museum of contemporary art chicago; just generally hung out in a city everyone seems to love (except me).

now that said, i had an exceptionally good day just pokin' around and taking in the city. maybe chicago ain't as bad as i think.

i fancy myself a bit of an architecture geek and on that tip, i gotta give the windy city props. this is my favorite pic that i took on friday, i love the old meets modern vibe and the clean line of the skyscraper mixed with the historic nature of the church.

update / rant

ok, have not said much lately cause mostly i've just been busy as fuck traveling all over producing shows and sales meetings (you know your traveling a lot when your status on worldperks goes up two levels in one week)..... here's the quicky update:

• camera stolen in cleveland
• new camera purchased, not sure i like, may return
• no resolution on the mice situation
• two new shows added to my calendar in november
• still casually looking for a new apartment
• picked up the cat/dog from my mom's last night; she's been there for two months - ugg
• officially a virgin again
• officially fed up with this country's direction
• wen't to del and scott's commitment ceremony. so damn cute it'll make you sick. congrat's boys :-)
• saw the rock and roll hall of fame; not impressed (and saddened a bit by this)
• picked up the new killers cd; liked it.
• also got the new basement jaxx (good), a siouxsie re-issue (great) and a robbie dvd (in love).
• hung out with ray & jeremy for two days in chicago. was wonderful to see them
• took an architectural boat cruise of the chicago river & lake michigan - pictures to follow
• had dinner at panangs in china-town - mango shrimp is buddha's gift to food

ok, there's my life in a nutshell for the past two weeks or so....

and now here's my rant. i have not touched the foley scandal as i was still trying to process it all. but it comes down to this. the hypocrisy of the republican party is outrageous. why are the dem's not doing anything?

for a party that runs primarily on family values (and fear), this is interesting (taken from http://www.armchairsubversive.com/):

- Republican Congressman Mark Foley abruptly resigned from Congress after "sexually explicit" emails surfaced showing him flirting with a 16-year old boy.
- Republican executive Randall Casseday of the conservative Washington Times newspaper was arrested for soliciting sex from a 13-year old girl on the internet.
- Republican chairman of the Oregon Christian Coalition Lou Beres confessed to molesting a 13-year old girl.
- Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd was arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex with an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.
- Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.
- Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.
- Republican petition drive manager Tom Randall pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14, one of them the daughter of an associate in the petition business.
- Republican County Chairman Armando Tebano was arrested for sexually molesting a 14-year-old girl.
- Republican teacher and former city councilman John Collins pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13 and 14 year old girls.
- Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester.
- Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.
- Republican Mayor Tom Adams was arrested for distributing child pornography over the internet.
- Republican Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls.
- Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
- Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.
- Republican Committeeman John R. Curtain was charged with molesting a teenage boy and unlawful sexual contact with a minor.
- Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.
- Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he murdered.
- Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.
- Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.
- Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.
- Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.
- Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.
- Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting two 8-year old girls, one of whom appeared in an anti-Gore television commercial.
- Republican activist Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
- Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
- Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.
- Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.
- Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.
- Republican campaign chairman Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child and was arrested again five years later on the same charge.
- Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.
- Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.
- Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline was placed under house arrest for child molestation and possession of child pornography.
- Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.
- Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.
- Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.
- Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.
- Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.
- Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.
- Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.
- Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.
- Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.
- Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.
- Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.
- Republican legislator Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).
- Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was found guilty of molesting a 15-year old girl.
- Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.
- Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.
- Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.
- Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.
- Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.
- Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.
- Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.
- Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.
- Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.
- Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
- Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.
- Republican campaign worker, police officer and self-proclaimed reverend Steve Aiken was convicted of having sex with two underage girls.
- Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.
- Republican president of the New York City Housing Development Corp. Russell Harding pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer.
- Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.
- Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the rape of children in Iraqi prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the anti-American insurgency. See excerpt of one prisoner's report here and his full report here.

i bet if u threw that ass in the air it would turn into sunshine

ahh yes, the brilliance of prince - is the video great? naw, but that fuckin' horn section kills on this thing.

this one's for wendy....