Mabel's Baptism

Took me a little while but here is a short slide show of some photos from Mabel's baptism last week in Arizona.

I would be remiss to not highlight the photo of the weekend, Mabel showing the big Loser sign...apparently she is not a fan of me and Carlee...hrmm...

But seriously, it was a special day and an honor to be a part of. Congratulations to my brother and sister-in-law. You make a beautiful family.

Drive-By Truckers - Used to Be a Cop

Been listening to the new Drive By Truckers album this past weekend (Go-Go Boots). Saw these guys live and Austin and loved it. Highly recommended. See if they are headed to a town near you.

The lyrics to this song paint a sad picture of a man who joins the force. Here is a part of them.

Used to be a cop, but I got to be too jumpy.
I used to like to party till I coughed up half a lung.
Sometimes late at night I hear the beat a-bumping
I reach for my holster and I wake up all alone.

Used to have a wife but she told me I was crazy.
Said she couldn't stand the way I fidget all the time.
Sometimes late at night I circle round the house.
I look through the windows and I dream that she's still mine.

I got scars on my back from the way my Daddy raised me.
I used to have a family until I got divorced.
I've gone too far from the things that could save me.
I used to be a cop, but they kicked me off the force.
I used to be a cop, till they kicked me off the force.

DeVotchKa - 100 Other Lovers & Contrabanda

March 1 - Gotta cancel my attendance at Joe Pug and Josh Ritter. On the bright side, DeVotchKa's new album is released. This would be another show I'd love to see...

The above song, 100 Other Lovers has already been released and you can go grab it now if you're like me and enjoy Slavic American Punk/Folk rock. Here's another song from the new album called Contrabanda.

Cajun Signs: Kajun Audio

Want Me Like Time

1. Walking Far From Home * Iron & Wine
2. Road Regrets * Dan Mangan
3. Squealing-Pigs * Admiral Fallow
4. Where Rainbows Never Die * The SteelDrivers
5. Au Font Du Lac * Feufollet
6. Hymn #101 * Joe Pug
7. Conversation 16 * The National
8. Mississippi Red * Jason Myles Goss
9. Milk and Sugar * G. Love and the Avett Brothers
10. Longtime * Gappy Ranks
11. Femme l'a dit * Feufollet
12. Ho Hey * The Lumineers
13. Lost in My Mind * The Head and the Heart
14. Basket * Dan Mangan
15. Record Collector * Lissie
16. How Good You Are * Joe Pug
17. The Dilemma * HAYSHAKER
18. June Hymn * The Decemberists
19. Born 2 Sin * Bad News Brown
20. United State of Pop 2010 (Don't Stop the Pop) * DJ Earworm

The last few weeks have been rough and the next couple months will be rougher. I'll be posting but clearly I am struggling finding time. This set of tunes has been on a playlist since almost the second week of January and I just never got around to sharing it. If I could find a post office, you might get a copy. I'll do my best.

Arizona Winter

It's cold in Arizona so we've got the fire burning and Johnny Cash on the stereo.
We were out looking for sweatshirts for my mom to stay warm and this exchange happened:

Mom: See, I don't like how tight this is on my arms.
Me: Well, you're jacked up.
Mom: Yes I am.

Reservations

This morning was my niece's baptism. It was a beautiful ceremony and it brought a tear to my eye to dry her off after the baptismal rite, look up and see our mother watching on and then see the proud loving faces of my brother and his wife. Truly a special day.

Some photos of the family to come in a bit. I thought this random photo with our names on it was kind of unique. The rest are all on our actual camera so I need to retrieve those later.

Scottsdale Quarter

My wife and brother getting ready for some retail therapy in Scottsdale.

Sarah Jarosz -Tell Me True

I watched Sarah Jarosz on Austin City Limits tonight while getting some work done. Great bluegrass singer; I'll be looking into her albums. Kind of reminds me of the female singer in Feufollet. Here she is performing a song called Tell Me True.

Watch the full episode. See more Austin City Limits.

Cajun Signs: Vitter's Kapitol Kidders

As seen at the 63rd Washington Mardi Gras Ball.

63rd Washington Mardi Gras Ball: Mardi Gras Chopper

Check out this Mardi Gras chopper in the hotel lobby. It's on sale for a cool $230K.

Why are you here?

Woman in elevator: Can I ask you a question?

Me: Sure.

Woman in elevator: Are you Mardi Gras people?

Me and everyone else in elevator: Yup

Woman in elevator: Why are you celebrating Mardi Gras here in DC? (Said in a tone of voice that did not express excitement)

Man in elevator: To teach you.

The 63rd Annual Washington Mardi Gras Ball

Official tickets for the ball tonight - now locked in the hotel room safe as I hear they are treasured commodities and have a knack for disappearing...

Cajun Signs: The 65th Parish

Just arrived at my first ever DC Mardi Gras. The hotel it is hosted at in DC is overrun with Cajuns in tuxes. The hotel bar is officially renamed the 65th Parish.

Random: Went downstairs to get a fork for some bread pudding and bumped into George Rodrigue (of Blue Dog fame). Tomorrow's ball, preceded by the 5 hour Lafayette Suite with open bar should be interesting.

Save the Snood!

If you have ever watched a game in the EPL, you've probably seen one. And if you are from Argentina and play in the EPL, you probably wear one.


And if you are part of the world's governing soccer body, corrupt and wonderful, you are interested in spending your time banning them rather than rooting out the corruption and ethical mess that has led to such controversies as this.

So what is a snood? According to wikipedia, it is "...historically a type of European female headgear, or in modern times a tubular neck scarf. In the most common form the headgear resembles a close-fitting hood worn over the back of the head." That doesn't quite describe what you see Tevez wearing in the photo above, but I think it is pretty darn close. A quick image search for snoods backs up the cross between women and footballers and brings a third use to light:

Go to Posh Pawz to support the snood for man's best friend.

Our canine and Argentinian friends might want to unite, as FIFA is now considering banning snoods from football. The manager of Manchester United (Sir Alex) has already done so for his team, stating "real men don’t wear things like that." FIFA, usually not style conscious unless referring to the public's interest in women playing soccer, is apparently more interested in player safety. They are supposedly considering the ban because they are concerned that someone may tug on your snood so to speak, and cause risk to players.

One cannot help but wonder if Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, is somewhat motivated by a similar sentiment to Sir Alex. After all, he has weighed in on fashion in football in the past. For example, here he is pontificating on how to make woman's soccer more popular:

They could, for example, have tighter shorts. Female players are pretty, if you excuse me for saying so, and they already have some different rules to men - such as playing with a lighter ball. That decision was taken to create a more female aesthetic, so why not do it in fashion?

Tighter shorts on women, ok; warm weather gear, not ok. Gotta love it.

I've started searching to see if I can get one of these with an EPL crest online, but so far to no avail. However, I did find this simple black one on SportsDirect.com, made by a company called Golddigga. I think I'll keep looking. Save the Snood!

Zach Wahls

This video has gone viral and it has done so for good reason. This 19 year old speaks from the heart and speaking personally, I find it extremely compelling. Listen to the end. It's worth hearing the perspective even if you have a different viewpoint on the issue of same sex marriage.

Found this on LOM - go there.

Josh Small - Brainvan

Trying to find out more about Josh Small tonight. This song is pretty cool. And this post over at ninebullets has a great tune that you can listen to.

Cajun Signs: Submerged Roads Program

In New Orleans on Magazine - saw this a couple weeks ago when visiting the city.