señor taco’s travels

Last week I was at my new dentist’s office for my first visit. As I sat down
in the waiting room my ears perk up to the music being piped in. It was none
other than title="lyrics @ azlyrics.com">Roots Radicals by href="http://www.rancidrancid.com/" title="Rancid Web Site">Rancid. I had
to stifle my laughing because it was just such an odd song to hear at a
family dental practice. I mean, people like their punk rawk, but it was just
kind of surreal.

During the course of my visit people obviously couldn’t make up their minds
because it would change to country then top 40 then soft rock then 80’s hits
then pop. The peak of the musical journey was Simon and Garfunkel performing
on the TV on some morning program while my teeth were being cleaned.

Despite all the musical choices that was by far the best dental hygiene visit
I’ve ever had. If anyone needs a dentist in the Bay Area (probably easier for
East Bay residents) then don’t hesitate to let href="http://www.hmdds.com/contact.html" title="Herrero | Martenson">Dr.
Martenson know that I sent you. If you should desire more opinions just
come by the Whitney House and ask since most of us use Dr. Martenson.

This last week was my 30th birthday. Somehow I was able to wrangle
fourteen of my friends into going to Las Vegas for a weekend to celebrate.
I must say I had a blast and the presence of my friends only made it better.
The partying until 4am, the great food, the games of 21…all so worth it.

There are many pictures, but not as many as I had hoped to take (such is life).
I’m still going through mine and I’ll put them up soon. The best part is seeing
some I don’t recall taking at all. Oh the joys of people making sure I got
from place to place. For now here are two from the first day. Getting
started on the plane and then walking around the town. Also, any friends that
want to send me their sets of photos will be muchly appreciated.

src="/SenorTaco/images/vegas-plane.jpg" />
src="/SenorTaco/images/vegas-lights.jpg" />

I just had to share these delightfully dark lyrics from href="http://1manarmysf.com" title="OMA">One Man Army.

The Hemophiliac

I used to think myself lucky maybe a little unkind
I caught something contagious by you
It all starts with an itch that always burns me
when i hold you it makes my nose bleed
and when we kiss I feel it deep inside
like the first time you left me here to die
I wake up every morning by you
a silence on your lips so loud
and your skin such a pretty blue
you got nothing to worry about
nights to lay around
nobody to touch you
but me cause i’m allowed

src="/SenorTaco/images/seattle-library.jpg" alt="Seattle's New Library" />


Photo by Benjamin Benschneider/The Seattle Times

Seattle has opened a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/library/" title="News on
Seattle's New Public Library">new Central Public Library. The 11 story
steel and glass building was designed by architect Rem Koolhaas. From looking
at the href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/library/photogalleries/spl1.html"
title="Seattle's New Library">photo gallery I’d say Mr. Koolhass has
successfully designed a space that is open, functional, and inviting.

I love to read, but I have been very bad about frequenting my public libraries.
I’m glad to see Seattle wasn’t shy about building such a magnificent structure
to house the public’s books and knowledge. That will be one more attractor for me to visit Seattle. I will have to make sure I schedule time to visit such a
great piece of architecture.

I will leave you with this quote from Andrew Carnegie that appears in the
library:

“There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public
Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth
receives the slightest consideration.”

Last night my room mate, K, had a hankerin’ to try and make his own chicken
katsu (breaded chicken breast that is then fried). Following a href="http://japanesefood.about.com/library/weekly/aa112601a.htm"
title="about.com tonkatsu recipe">tonkatsu recipe (breaded pork) off of
about.com and throwing some rice in the rice cooker we set about to make our
own.

In the end the chicken came out wonderfully and the meal was great. Next time
we need to add some veggies to it. Out of this we might have an idea for
a new kind of chicken sandwich. We’ll have to work on it a bit and then test
it on some of our friends. Muahahahaha.

src="/SenorTaco/images/roto_lightning_small.jpg" />


Photo by Chris Burrows

So, yesterday my friend
KP posted an image (above) taken by our friend href="http://rotomonkey.org/" title="Camera Punk">rotomonkey over at href="http://www.gothamist.com/weather/archives/2004/05/11/storm_photo.php"
title="Gothamist: Weather">Gothamist Weather of lightning in New York. The
picture even made it’s way to the href="http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2004/05/12/lightning_storm.php"
title="Gothamist">Gothamist front page. I think it’s a great photo and
would very much be interested in a print to hang in my place should Mr.
Monkey be interested in allowing that (he’s a good photographer, i envy him
for that). Good work rotomonkey, don’t be afraid to share more of your
pictures with us.

It’s actually been a while since I got some new music so I went over to

Interpunk and ordered a few things.

• 
  A Wilhelm Scream: mute print & benefits of thinking out
  loud
  Coming out of New Bedford, Massachusetts these guys pump out some really good
  melodic hardcore. They used to be known as Smackin’ Isaiah, but changed
  names when the lineup changed a bit. Both albums are good. mute print
  is definitely more polished, but it has the benefit of being newer too.
• Nekromantix: Dead Girls Don’t Cry
  Once again the psycho-billy goth rockers from Denmark hit the mark. Providing
  a great sound with a stand-up bass and solid lyrics the Nekromantix will take
  you into the dark places you are curious about. When I listen to it I get a
  feeling of old buildings and little understood customs of some long gone
  underground group. Good stuff. I’ve never been disappointed by them, although
  the 30+ minutes of “Outro” was a bit much.
• Alkaline Trio/
  One Man Army:
  Split Series Vol. 5
  The BYO Split Series has been pretty popular so far. Generally it
  brings two bands that aren’t that close onto one record. This time it’s
  Chicago rockers Alkaline Trio (Alk3) and Frisco’s One Man Army (OMA).

  In the past I’ve been a big fan of Alk3 and I still listen to those albums
  all the time. I neglected to pick up their last couple of releases because
  the few samples I heard off of them just didn’t seem to have the same passion
  in them. Well, now that I’ve heard the Alk3 half of the split I’ll have to
  re-evaluate that position. They have just as much passion as before and just
  as solid lyrics. I’m glad to hear the same heart in the music as before.

  OMA, what more can you say. OMA rocks and there is not much more one can say
  about it, there that’s out of the way. The songs on the split are well
  rounded and classic OMA. I would say if you like one or the other of these
  bands you should just pick up the split and be done with it.

• Various Artists:
  Rock Against Bush Vol. 1
  Fat Wreck has pulled together 26 bands and gotten a lot of unreleased or rare
  tracks for this compilation. There is a DVD included too, but I haven’t
  had a chance to watch it yet. In the liner notes are 40 reasons not to vote
  for Bush Jr. It’s a nice way for these guys to take a stand on what they
  believe in and for you to hear some good rock.

Do you ever have recurring dreams? I do. For many years I’ve had recurring
dreams that I’m in a car wreck and I lose part of one of my legs. It’s never
the same leg, but is usually the right leg. Sometimes I’m driving and
sometimes I’m a passenger. Over the years it’s been in different cars and
with different people.

Last nights version was me as a passenger in my roommates car. We were
blind sided and I lost my right leg from the knee down. Then I got a
prosthetic and ended up working with the doctor and developer of the leg
to give all prosthetics better AI software so they were more life-like.

It’s so odd. I’m sure it will continue just like the other recurring dreams
I have. The The first person to suggest therapy is going to get a big
slap on the back of the head the next time I see them.

Photo by Dan Weeks

Even the cherries…