Chelsea, MI. home home home. post cake, (haza!) magnificent 7 on the tv.
here it is!

this is my dad's birthday cake~ it was awesome!! sharon ran into some difficulties and she said that it didn't turn out exactly how she pictured it. still, you'll agree it's pretty slick. she told me a few tricks of the trade. now, this is a professional secret, but you might try cola as a replacement for water next time you whip up a cake. it's also recommended that you slam the bowl of batter down on the counter for the length of one oprah interview just for luck. or was it bubbles?

here's my dad's new wallet:

Chelsea, MI. home for the holidays~

holiday cake!! ha! i'll finally get to eat some that sister cake~

Palo Alto, CA. Chiann's floor, officially logged onto Stanford's very very secure terror-free wireless network.

i spent few days in San Luis Obispo taking care of business in a flash! i met with the poly cultural committee at Cal Poly and enlisted their official support (sweet) and then met up with my friend, shea from the ritz in boulder. she was running late for her radio show at KCPR - Cal Poly college radio. she ran in and kick started the "missfits' bandwagon"! it was a punk-packed rock-ass solid hour of 1 min. songs and a lot of fast-action queing in the control room. after the show i went out with shea and her boyfriend, ray. we had some pizza and beer and then drove off to their practice space to jam. it was awesome - their "own private idaho" - a trailer stuffed with drums, amps, and a few beater guitars~ we really rocked that thing, just pounding out whatever and switching instruments every few minutes. it was good to feel my ears ringing.

i stayed at the cute little hostel in SLO but soon found what everyone else seems to know about SLO. there's nothing to do..

I've been up here in Palo Alto with Chiann for a few days. it's fun! her boyfriend, thanh, is a teacher at a charter school and we went to his holiday party. we each had to bring a $10 gift for some sort of gift exchange so we drove into the city and got the coolest little doo-dads at giant robot~ when we arrived at the principal's complex in San Jose we walked in through an open garage and knocked on the door. we heard music, so we went in and this golden retriever came barreling down the stairs at us and we heard a woman yell, "just a second", then she came around the corner fresh out of the shower and just wearing a towel. "whoa!!" - we were apparently in the wrong house.. haha! it was like a cartoon! we eventually joined the correct party and sat around introducing ourselves. the gift exchange was called a "white elephant" gift exchange and some of the gifts were supposed to be stupid and deceiving - so i got a bag of flour and some deodorant. does that mean i won?

last night we drove out and picked up brian bell and drove into the city to see a show! two of the bands were from japan and on a short tour of the states. they were amazing! the audience hadn't heard of them and didn't know what to expect. most had come to see the headlining bay-area groups, but everyone was made instant life-long fans of shift and ni-hao. it was really re-affirming for me to see so many people turn into believers right before my eyes. the groups sold shit-tons of merchandise. we got to talk to them as well and they were really cool and easy going.

tomorrow i'm driving back down to LA and on tuesday i fly back to michigan for the holidays! i'm looking forward to seeing my family and just relaxing some. i've got to buckle down and get some proposals out over the break. i'm burnt out on the road work. looking forward to the change.

wait - there's more...
see!! hahaha! sushi cake by sharon solo~

It's a 2 layer yellow cake. The "rolls" are rice krispie treats flattened and rolled up with marshmallow and red and green fruit roll-ups, then rolled in red sprinkles for "fish eggs". The other sushi is red and green fruit roll ups and marshmallow. The leaf is made of homemade green fondant, the ginger is peach fondant. The wasabi is frosting, and the fortune cookie is real!

i'll remind everyone to get their orders in for all of their holiday custom cakes! flyingsolo1121@yahoo.com

still in LA, car's still in the shop..

i'm seeing some great music! i'm meeting some cool bands who are definitely interested in participating in the spring. i've seen some good venues. i've finally got a few student organizations on the line. but what can i tell you of my concrete progress? not much.

i'm getting there though - here's my best foot forward: hear streaming audio, watch live performances, and read all about it on myspace!!

here are the bands i'm promoting for their debut tour in the US of A~

www.myspace.com/thepsycrons

www.myspace.com/goldenloafers

everyone check it out and tell me what you think!

more cakes and web updates?! mike!! get to the good stuff~

ok, ok - here's a little something for kicks:

i drove about 5 fully residential blocks down condon before i got to the 11110 block and i thought, "no fucking way is this address right." i was looking for a place called "the Hole" to see ninja academy play a free show on a saturday night. just to be sure, i parked and got out car to take a closer look. the house where the Hole should have been was little and not much unlike the others. the house on the left had a creative front lawn complete with raging bull bush sculptures. the house on the right had 1, 2, 3 direct tv dishes pointing out into space. planes flew low overhead. this couldn't be the place. i couldn't hear any music, but i noticed there was some dark hanging plastic between the house and.. what looked like a.. in fact was.. a porto-john. hello? i pulled the plastic away and wandered into the backyard where a couple high-school aged kids were standing around with beers and nodding to house-trance.

"am i at the right place? i'm looking for the hole."

"oh, you've come to the right place man - you're standing in it."

the hole is a backyard in fucking lennox - not far from the airport. they have a stage, a sound system, a bar, and red lanterns hanging from big tree. ninja academy showed up and i got to know them better. very cool guys. we hung out and talked shop. then the first band, some recent high-school dropouts called don't throw rocks at us, played new-wave, minimalist schlock with a disco beat. fun stuff. then ninja academy rocked my socks off!!

tamie trots out in her kimono complete with converse shoes. she bangs a gong. "konichiwa, bitches. i'd like to introduce the ninja academy, indo ninja and outdo ninja."

they come out in full ninja garb - masked, shrouded under cover of night - the NA symbol embroidered on their backs. it's just two of them. into plays bass, outdo plays drums - but they rock and wind and swirl - melodic, mystic then aggressive and heavy. there's really nothing doing.. you'll just have to see them for yourself. their martial artist, donkey punch, kneels at the foot of the stage, disciplined and motionless - then reaches into a guitar case and pulls out his nunchucks! wa-PA! he knocked us out with a masterful display of deadly skill and grace. he took a big open area in front of the stage, performing with open hands, staff, pike, and even blindfolded. some routines featured an apathetic fan dance from the lip-ringed tamie. unbelievable - the audience was completely entranced (and stoned).

an incredible performance by ninja academy - www.myspace.com/ninjaacademy