where ya get one-a these?

where ya get one-a these?
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

I want the kit! I guess you'd have to be careful and keep your eyes open and what-not, but still…

OK Go - Here It Goes Again

Here's a great example of unsung heroes. This is the most delightful little choreography and it's easy for me to think that the band is that clever. And maybe they are. More likely, they're clever enough to employ a gifted choreographer to think up this ditty. Because it clearly took some work. And some concentration. (Notice the guy nearly fall at just over a minute in) This kind of thing, to me, it's easy to think, 'Oh! funny little idea!' when really it must have taken days, if not weeks, of careful choreographing. When something this cool looks so easy, that's an indicator of genius, methinks. Cheers to OK Go for not being afraid to dance a funny little dance. http://okgo.net http://myspace.com/okgo

Build a better bat costume

I may have just found my my Halloween Costume

21C, y'all!

21C
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

This weekend, loo and i were in looville for mike and laura's wedding and adjourned afterwards to 21C, the new celebrated hipster art museum-bar-hotel-restaurant, and it exceeded all expectations.

A favorite was this pictured: This is me taking a picture at a wall where there are letters "falling down." These are then layered in with real-time video of us standing there looking at the wall. Only, then the letters "fall down" onto the observer, making sentences. and the letters actually come to rest on top of your head and shoulders, until you move, and then they continue to fall down. Oh, and did I mention that the letters are actually spelling words and making sentences? so cool...

The Black Diamond!

The Black Diamond!
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

It goes without saying that this picture does no justice to the killer strange that was The Black Diamond at Christ the King's Oktoberfest. A Neil Diamond tribute show at a catholic church?! Geddouddahere! What more can you really say?
Well, how about there are a ton of Neil Diamond tribute acts, but only one Black Diamond.

At the tow yard

Sue and me tryin to get her wheels back after last nite's deluge.

My other office

Yeah, I know Kinko's actual slogan is similar to that, but it's been double-true for me for years. In the background, cindy owns on my behalf.

UK Theatre programs "in the pipe." finally.

Kitties!

So sad! The kitty Olive, she trapped outside, whilst the kitty Betty snoozeth arrogantly mere millimeters away, inside the screen! The nerve!!

Hafla pura

Anaya Gypsy, totally rockin' the fan dance thing. Just one part of Mecca's Hafla Pura this weekend.

It's All About…

It's all about me and It's All About blog-pal Jamie, taking up space at ArtsPlace during Gallery Hop last friday. Well, she seemed to actually be working (at least, that was the impression of the digital field recorder), while I was doing the Laptop Lounge thing. Why don't I have a web page for Laptop Lounge? Good question.

I can officially work anywhere

Well, practically anywhere.. Getting some things done whilst lucy and sister dana hit the Gap Outlet (not that I don't love me some Gap Outlet, mind you).

Floyd Fandango: A decent alternative?

Floyd Fandango looks like it's got potential. Usually, I'm kind of allergic to Ye Olde Outdoor Festival. If it smells (and I do mean smells) like a Renaissance Fair, clear the way. I'm pretty much outta there.

Which really opens the door for some sort of actually cool outdoor festival. Maybe this one—situated near the amazing Blue Ridge Parkway at the height of Fall beauty—is it. Could it be?

The Campsie Office

The Campsie Office is very popular on zee laptop circuit.. A fave guest: TT of Mecca

Moblogging

See Mick in the kitchen.

See Mick begin moblogging from his phone.

Welcome to 15 minutes from now!

Roots & Heritage Parade

P1120385.JPG
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

Once a year, downtown Lexington explodes with afro-groove energy during the Roots & Heritage Festival. The Saturday parade goes right by our street and I'm determined never to miss it as long as I'm in town! Here are some shots from this morning. Great fun. A beautiful day.

Andrea and Scott's wedding and The Wonder That Is Minneapolis!

andrea and scott's wedding
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

Finally, folks, I've got pictures up from my marvelous trip to visit much and many in Minneapolis. There's the State Fair, there's the Sculpture Garden, there the wonderful wedding of Scott and Andrea, there's shopping, there's lots!

MY PICTURES: I've put the set up twice, peeps. First, I've got the whole thing up on Flickr, with commentary and room for your comments.

But if you just want to go straight to buyin' some prints, I guess the Kodak Gallery version would be easier (and less fun) for ya.

ALSO: I'm going to go ahead and aggregate some other pix links I've received from people. For instance, Joe's pictures (and here and here), and Mary's pictures.

By the Seat of Her Floral Pants

JIll Louise
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

Had the crazy good time in Minneapolis this last weekend, including an amazing trip to the Minnesota State Fair. Here, we see The Jill in her swinging habitat, practicing moves from her trapeze class. How much more fun can it get?

Tales of Evil Suz

Alyssum—who so very rocks—has created a definitive and gruesome portrait of the inner world of dancers gone wrong, gone wild…gone evil. Included in this sobering scenario: members of Rakadu Gypsy Dance, as well as the evil-cap-wearing Rachel Brice.

For a glimpse into this horrific world, click on the cartoon…and brace yourself, gentle viewer.

What'd you say?

What'd you say?
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

I can't hear you on account of HOW AWESOME I LOOK.

New clothes on the major cheap from Kuhlman's in Minneapolis.

This page has moved!

This page has moved! Please visit the Trivial Thursdays guest schedule at this new address, www.TrivialThursdays.com

Pal Jamie

Hi friends:

If you're a friend of the one and only Jamie Tittle, aka Tigital, longtime Lexington and Louisville Luminary, please help him in a time of need. Jamie's being treated for Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Today was his last chemo treatment, apparently, and now we're all looking forward to (quoting Jamie, in his own inimitable and probably accurate vernacular) the "rebooting of his immune system."

Please visit Jamie's Caring Bridge site and sign the guest book. I think he gets a kick out of it.

Note: if you have any prob getting to his site from the above link, go here, and type in "jamestittle" and I think it'll (heh -- "tittle," "it'll" heheh) get you there.

Please send Jamie your good thoughts, your prayers, your recursive neural algorithms, your cupcakes, your (fill in the blank).

PS: here's the uncropped picture of Merrill and Jamie at our wedding that I dig. (sorry, Merrill!)

The Experts!

Pal and great comics guy Kenn Minter is finally doin' it with The Experts, which has recently been picked up for wider distribution. I'll let Kenn tell it:

This is an exciting time for myself and penciller-co-creator, Clarence Pruitt. "the Experts #1" has made it into Diamond Distribution's September issue of "Previews." So, if you have any interest in the book or would just like to lend a hand in supporting your fellow, struggling, independent comic book creators... then bug the tar out of your favorite comic book retailer and tell them that they need to check out the September issue of Previews and order as many copies of "the Experts #1" as they can. I know Clarence and I sure would appreciate it.

The Experts web site

Kenn's web site

The Go! Team

The Go! Team
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

Wow, The Go! Team!

Todd and I made the trek to see modern music's best hope in Indy, and they were faaaaantastic!!

We both agreed that there seems to be a new work ethic in rock music, and it's about damned time. After all, if you want to be a big rock star, you oughtta be willing to do a little bit more than come out in a wrinkled tshirt and stare at yr. god-damned feet all night.

The kids in both Autovaughn (from Nashville) and The Go! Team seemed to understand that they were expected to get up there and give the audience 1000% of rock star guitar-flinging, bombastic outros, and spastic flailings. All hail, the rebirth of rock attitude.

A few more pix from my camera-phone are here!

Strange statues around the world | haha.nu - interesting findings over the net

I think a great excursion would be to travel around the world, in search of Strange statues. Based on this guy's collection of pix, there seems to be no shortage!

Mull of Kintyre test

So every now and then, about once a year, I find myself humming "Jet" or "Another Day" or even "Mull of Kintyre" and need to dig out Wings Greatest, one of the first LP's that I ever loved on my own, without trying to copy anybody else's opinion.

You know what I mean? Sure, I thought I liked Lynn Anderson or Tony Orlando and Dawn, but really those were just echoes of my parents' record collections. When I got Wings Greatest from Columbia House record club, I came to love nearly every song on it, with the puzzling exception of "Mull of Kintyre," which for a kid of about ten, was bafflingly un-rock. This was compounded by the fact that it is sometimes referred to as an "international hit." Huh?

Anyway, I was having my annual revisitation with Wings Greatest, and in my—ahem—wiser years have come to love "Mull of Kintyre." Still, after all these years, amazingly, I was singing along wondering once again, "what the heck is this about?!" and finally decided to find out. And discovered that it's a kind of love letter to a region of Scotland where McCartney owned a home and a recording studio.

What was more surprising, though, was finding out about the Mull of Kintyre test, a longstanding (though now obsolete) obscenity test in Britain that used the phallic shape of the Mull in determining the relative indecency of movie content. Those wacky Brits!

Blake's bday

Blake's bday
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

It's Blake's b-day at cheapside!

The madcap's last laugh

A nice little tribute piece here, noting the death of Syd Barrett, at age 60, the founder and legendary drug casualty behind the original Pink Floyd. As such, he was an architect of the British psychedelic scene, but quickly opted out of stardom, and died a recluse, a casual painter and gardener.

Also, there is a wonderfully in-depth look at Syd's life and impact here.

Syd Barrett, R.I.P.

I've got grill fever!

Did I really just say that?

"I've got 'grill fever'"?

No way. Or so I've long thought. In fact, one could say that my fear of Two Things Domestic has always been:

1. The two-car garage
2. Grilling

"Why the fear of grilling, Mick? It's just the harmless outdoor cooking of some meat!" you might claim.


Oh, sure—it sounds harmless. But it's always been the symbol for me of suburban domestication. And don't tell me about all of you—my friends—that have grills and have thus far avoided this kind of marginalization, because if you do, I'll just say you're exceptional. Me, I didn't want to be part of the grill people. I'd happily go to your backyard barbecue, of course. But now, I have a disturbing invitation to extend:
Come over. We'll cook out. I've got a juicy chicken breast on the rack right now.

Because, if you didn't feel it, there was a 'great disturbance in the Force' yesterday; it was me buying a grill. And just to cross the "t" and dot the "i," it's gi-normous. And while I'm sure there are bigger grills, I was always sure that I'd be content with the classic Webber (the—let's face it—it's the Designers' Grill, if there were such a thing. It's the VW Beetle of the Grill World—a classic.

But let's also face this: I didn't buy a Webber. I bought a gi-normous four-burner shiny shiny suburban gas grill. Outside the back door, it sits regally, cookin' my dinner. Let me justify my self for just a moment: This is an exceptional scratch-and-denter. Come over and I'll show you the signature orange paint where some forklift boy plowed into it after too many diet cokes. Which got me a hundred dollars off retail. Aw, yeah…

And that's where, friends, I'm being swayed, even on this, "the private audition," in advance of our July 4th cookout. (Whoa—did you feel that? Another shuddering disturbance in The Force?" Well, wait—a cookout is a party, ain't it? And I love parties, d'ain't I? It's just the grill party that I've been afraid of.) I mean, that thing is cookin' chicken for me. I'm sitting here writing and it's cooking chicken.

How can a reasonable person really argue with that?

You can't, that's how. And so I'm 'coming over.' I mean you're coming over. To my house. To grill out. Even if I get tired and you have to leave, I'm still going to grill out and watch TV. Nobody talks about the joy of grilling out and watching TV. At lunchtime on a weekday. So that, I reckon, is my territory to explore.

Sifting the Pix!

Hi friends and friends and friends: Lucy and I are back from the Honeymoon, we're sifting jillions of pictures and they're accumulating over at Lucy and Mick's World Wide Wed
If you've got something to share, please drop us a line or post your pictures to the Flickr Group I set up for this exact purpose!

Thanks and LOVE to everybody!

come on over!

New posts on Lucy and Mick's Wed Site, folks! It's the Honeymoon update from Belize!

taste of thai bachelor party!

mike and kim
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

My pals Mike and Kim are among the diners and others who made it out for a celebration this past weekend. It was my bachelor party! You know I'm getting married, right?

On Sunday!

Myla Pogue, Robert Deniro and a treatise on the benefits of bumming a smoke

I've been meaning for years to tell this, one of my favorite stories. It's not short, but revel, won't you, in the absolute strangeness that can be found by simply bumming a smoke. (Just for the record: I quit smoking nearly a year and a half ago; I never regret that decision, but the fact remains that grabbing a smoke will always be a quintessential social phenomenon, and I do miss that sometimes.)

In the fall of 2001, I did the unlikely and went on a 7NC with some friends. It was a glorious and weird trip that convened in San Juan, Puerto Rico and took us to a variety of islands and escapades. I've told a story about that before, and could tell a million more. But the best story concerns my trip back from that trip.

I flew from San Juan to Atlanta and had a hefty layover there, which was fine with me—I've been an early laptop adopter (laptopter?) and enjoyer of the airport bar life. Give me a stool and a drink and a smoke and I can sit in an airport for really any amount of time. Only problem was, the carton of Marlboros that I'd bought at the duty-free joint in San Juan was—of course—packed away in my stuff.
Waiting for my flight to LaGuardia (I lived in NYC at that time), I decided that a smoke was imperative, but for obvious reasons, didn't want to buy a pack, so I started watching my bar mates for a likely benefactor. Seeing three women chatting jovially at one table—and smoking—I ambled over to bum one. They were plenty nice, and we talked for a minute. I asked where they were going and I've forgotten where the first two said, because the third woman said, in a thick Southern accent: "I'm going to New York to meet Robert Deniro." Which was fascinating, and mildly thrilling in a vague six degrees way that I'm only a little bit awed by.

Her name, she told me was Myla Pogue, from Pensacola, Florida, and little did I know that the rest of my trip would not be at all what I had expected. She was an actress, she said, and she was dating Robert Deniro, who occasionally had her come visit him in New York. I told her that I was going to LaGuardia as well, and she replied that "Bob" was picking her up at the airport and maybe I could MEET him. "Really…" I said, and sat right down and ordered another drink.

We had a couple, in fact, and ended up semi-shambling onto the plane after "LAST CALL, LAST CALL FOR FLIGHT ____" had rang out in the terminal for a little too long. It was a rather late flight, and we weren't due into Brooklyn until 12:45pm. The plane was also only about half full, so when Myla suggested that I sit beside her, I thought "sure, why not for a little while?" I like my private airplane time, but I assumed that I could bail to another row at any point.

Myla was a piece of work. Semi-drunk and much more excited than I had initially realized about her impending rendezvous with "Bob," she was a non-stop stream of blather. After, that is, she jumped up and ran to the bathroom, right as the plane was taking off. When she came back, over the substantial protests of the flight attendents, she was, ah, a little sniffy, if you ask me, and had much to say about her life, how she and DeNiro had met, and—most shocking—what her family thought of him.

And that, kind reader, is where we shall pick up next time.

* (2/10/2009) I've had a number of comments here that run from vindictive to supportive of my story and its centerpiece. It has never been my intention to defame the woman in my story. I just tell true stories from my life. But out of respect for my subject, I've changed her last name and deleted all comments that reference her by last name. I'm sorry that I couldn't just edit the comments, but since that is technically impossible in Blogger, I had to delete some of them. Also, I deleted the hurtful ones that seemed to be somebody grinding an axe, with no reference to my writing.

WRFL's Trivial Thursdays! Mick and Emily

WRFL's Trivial Thursdays! Mick and Emily
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

Ever listen to our long-running morning radio show? We'd love to have you join us! It's Trivial Thursdays on WRFL-FM in Lexington, KY! We're on from 7-9am every Thursday, and you can even listen online anywhere on earth!

Keeping Coffee

This is the story of keeping coffee warm. It is a story with many twists and turns, but we shall strive to simplify, simplify.

The story begins years ago with a fabulous device sold at Toddy Coffee. I bought one because Jenny Toomey said it was great, and I think Jenny's great and so her coffee must be, too. And wow, was that an understatement! I mean, just take a look at the specs. I don't know what the easiest thing is to call this coffee that has so completely engrained itself into the Campsie Lifestyle; I guess "cold-brew" is the most accurate term. Lucy and I enjoy this coffee nearly every single day of our lives. It's that good.

The only issue (and there is always an only issue, right?) is keeping it warm. First there was the thermos, a vintage Aladdin just like this one. But that seemed somehow clunky and inelegant, although it was effective, heat-wise. Next, was the Ebay foray into acquiring a beautiful vintage West Bend Thermo-Serv, which was elegant and cool, but didn't keep the coffee warm enough long enough. Curses!

Now, friends, we come to the salvation.

While recently dining at Perkin's Family Restaurant, former employer of my daughter, Lucy and I both fixed our eyes on the wonder of their table-top coffee pitchers. They were vintage. They were institutional. They kept the coffee pipin' hot! I had to have one. I asked our server if I could buy it. She laughed. They were not for sale. She said "no." And then she laughed some more. Not to be deterred—hell, I could always steal one, right?—I took it to the counter when we left and sat it down with my bill and asked the cashier if I could buy it. She, too, said "no," but she didn't laugh. In fact, when I pressed the point, she kind of snarled. So I stepped back.

As we were leaving, darling daughter Lauren visits with some former co-workers and comes out to tell me that Jackie, the manager said that I could have one, if I'd just call next week when he was scheduled to order some new ones. JOY!

I dutifully telephoned on the appointed day and missed him. Called back the next day and he said "call back next week." And thus began a fairly complicated game of phone tag. I wondered whether or not this was going to pan out. I had to have that coffee server. It was going to change everything.

And now I've got it. Today, I called and Jackie said to come on out. Today, I'm kind of busy, so I said 'how's tomorrow for you?" Jackie said: "Oh, tomorrow I'm going to Florida for a week."

Fine. No problem. I'll be there in…in…hell, I'm coming right over."
And I did. And here you see the fruits of my labor. Things are really gonna start lookin' up for me and Lucy now that we've got this new coffee pitcher. Oh, they most definitely are…

Eames Curb Find!

So the other day, I was driving along in my old neighborhood and totally found an Eames Ottoman sitting on the curb. What kind of people throw out an Eames Ottoman?

Of course, you could argue, "What kind of people pick up a dank orphaned foot rest?"

Guilty as charged!

Wedding updates!

A little bird says there's much activity over at Lucy and Mick's World Wide Wed, feathered friends and fiends!

And things are happening at The Campsie Project, too!

is this so wrong?

is this so wrong?
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

Sure, it looks all wrong. But what really is the problem?

As a certified master of succulent plants like Jades and such, I'm going to give away one secret, then another.

The first secret: Bottom Watering is ideal. The succulents seem to prefer sucking up the good ole H2O from below, so I'm constantly filling tubs and pots that I can set my plants in for a nice soak. Secret #2: Well, check out the picture.

I think that most all houses have at least one persistent standing body of water that any succulent plant would think is just fine. Hell, the dog likes it good enough. (disclaimer: Oscar is not nor has he ever been a toilet drinker. Not that I know of. Not that I could prove.)

Help Wanted: Jet-setting hotel deejay.

Stéphane_Pompougnac is kind of my hero. Well, if not "hero," then trajectory model. This is the guy who puts together these Hôtel Costes mix compilations that are apparently the product of his affiliation with the ultra-snobby Paris hotel. Think I'm kidding? look at their incredible lack-of a web site. A sure sign of snobbiness is having a sparse non-web site, I assure you.

What does it take to be a hotel music guru? I would like the opportunity to find out and be compensated accordingly.

Laryngitis?

I thought that was something you only got on TV.

I have mild laryngitis. Can you imagine the effect on somebody that likes to talk as much as I do? People calling on the phone: I cannot answer. I can't even leave a greeting saying "I have laryngitis. Please email me." I tried to leave a message, whispering, on somebody's voice mail and it just cut me off!

So when I say, "I can't talk about it," I'm not kidding. I've actually had to cancel appointments today.

Mardi Gras Lexington 2006 Pix are up!

mardi gras cowgirl princess
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

We had a fabulous time this year, of course…

If you weren't there, check out some pix from the 3rd Annual Lexington Mardi Gras Parade, brought to you by a lot of cool people and one super cool dance studio and a rare-form collective.

Click on the Mardi Gras Cowgirl to see the entire set on Flickr.

Where's my right-hand megastore?

Things ain't looking so good from my morning trip to the 'Burbs.
I try to stay away from there, but I'm as much of a megastore shopper as anybody. The thing is—I know I got my dog food somewhere before Petsmart, but where? Okay, I didn't really go to PetSmart. (and I'm certainly not going to link to them.)

But there's this new thing that I had to try: Bought some blank DVD's at BestBuy.com and specified in-store pickup. 'Cause, y'know, I've got 30-plus blank DVD's but I need 50 more, right now… especially since P2P may get sued out of existence soon. I've got to get the entire Planet of The Apes oeuvre downloaded, right?

By the way, late morning is definitely the best time to cruise into suburban hell, I confirmed. Lots of people are either safely tucked away in their workplaces, or maybe they're at home planning the big afternoon foray to the mall.

So there's this quickie mart out there, and there's a sign out front that says "Red Bull in stock, or yours is free!" Excuse me? What a fabulous tribute to the brain-rotting effects of too many Raging Bulls, eh? Just tell me where to go to get my free Red Bull that you don't have in stock!

Next up, could it be a new Walgreens? Sure, pard'ner! One of the great surreal late-night spots (just visit any Walgreens at 3:30am and not see some kind of weirdness, while toe-tapping to the most neutralizing muzak mixture ever to dribble into your ears). The thing is, this sign: "Coming Soon! Walgreens!" is about a hundred yards down from—wait for it—a Walgreens. I guess this ones going to be even super-er than its predecessor.

I have to take my fair share of the blame for this bloat. Fleeing back downtown, I privately lamented the lack of a mega-grocery on the right-hand side of the road; Because I coudn't be bothered to —you know—turn left to go to the mega-Krogers and just rolled on by.

Am I Working in a Department Store?

Sometimes I feel like I'm working in a department store.

It's all this damned techno that I listen to. Actually, I'm typically at home working in my pajamas; But by the sound of it, you'd think I was working in some windowless cubicle at Barney's or something. I can't figure it out—You know the old saw: "Television will rot your brain;" Personally, I'm more concerned about Hotel Costes, Cafe Del Mar, and a jillion other fluff electronica series that I —for some reason—continue to put on as my work soundtrack. The other day, I was on the verge of apologizing to Lucy.

If you're married and/or work at home, you could find yourself in the same boat: "Honey, I'm sorry about all the electronica…"

Truth be told, there is a reason, or at least, an excuse: I'm gradually aspiring to be a snobby art gallery DJ. With some success, too. So I act like I have to listen to this stuff, y'know, to keep up. I'm still embarrassed sometimes.

One of the finest (non-electronic) tracks last year was The New Pornographers' "Sing Me Spanish Techno." Now, nobody knows what Carl Newman is talking about at any given moment; even he claims the lyrics are frequently non-narrative. But I like to think that song refers to a couple of friends: One hates techno, the other loves techno. His favorite (of late—because it's always 'of late') is Spanish techno, in particular. His techno-hating friend is put out over the fact that all techno sounds roughly the same and —it's not even music, right?— issues the challenge: "Okay. Sing me 'Spanish techno.'" Exactly.

Somebody get me an electric guitar, quick.

full disclosure: this post written while "grooving" to the sounds of Man Ray Vol. 4

Good Day, Sir/Madam…

Woot is the hilarious "one day, one deal" site where there is ONE THING for sale every day. Each day, a different thing. The real charm of Woot, though, is the spectacular copy-writing each day for the particular deal. Somebody has a great deal of fun with this (actually sometimes extending to an ad-hoc song connected with the product).

This one made me laugh out loud today, as virtual art imitates virtual con-artistry—a parody of the myriad of "help transfer my fortune out of [insert destabilized African country] and you'll be handsomely rewarded" emails.

Have a read, have a laugh and check back daily for more Woot fun!

You Fortune Awaits…

Hey! Here's your chance to make a difference in somebody's life, and find your fortune, too. You can do both of these things by leaving your own message in a Fortune cookie, courtesy of Enid's Discovery, a "community-driven artwork" on display at LexArts Gallery in February 2006.

Lucy and Mick's World Wide Wed

Welcome, friends to Lucy and Mick's World Wide Wed!

I just put up this new blog, which is located at lucyandmick.com. This is where all our matrilicious plans will be conveyed to you, gentle reader! Salut!

Bringin' home the Lucite.

Friday night was The Addys, which I admit kind of snuck up on me. By Friday, after 5p, I'm usually ready to hit the couch, and I wasn't exactly wild about the prospect of gettin' fancied up and heading to the Marriott for intense schmoozing… especially consider that the invitation said "black tie" and my attire was…somewhat less than formal. I know enough to know what black tie means, but had my doubts about whether people would actually embrace this. (As the hour approached, I was really mostly interested in conclusive evidence that I wouldn't be the only one who wasn't wearing black tie. At one point, I had this idea to tie a black shoe lace around my middle finger in case anybody asked me where my black tie was.

Anyway—long story short, to quote my brother—I wasn't the only one (though most definitely in the minority), and I won two Addys!

I was looking for an image online of the li'l Addy trophy to illustrate my glory, and was surprised to not be able to find one; But I did find this image from somebody else's Addy victory that was close enough to mine that I got a few laughs out of just "marking it up."

By the way, I had fun— I was worried that it would be a stiff drag, but I forgot that I love to schooze as much as anybody, and did my fair share. My favorite thing (that wasn't me winning a Gold Addy): trying to wheel and deal with a couple of adjacent tables to get them to swap our table a bottle of (gross) blush wine for their seemingly untouched red wine. No dice, but some good laughs.

Congrats to my other KET peeps, who helped the agency take home a decent handful of awards. Also to Elevation Studios, who mopped up the place for a second year in a row.

June 11, 2006!

It's official, friends! Lucy and I are getting married on June 11, 2006, in the glorious heart of the Bluegrass!

More info coming soon!

LMA WLAC - Past Champions

While it is true that I'm at this moment working on a couple of articles for the Kentucky Cattlemen Association, that seemingly coincidental activity does not diminish the fact that auctioneering is one of the greatest and strangest abilities of human beings. And I found a web site where you can hear audio of World Livestock Auctioneer Champions for the last 30 years. If you're looking for a little pick-me-up, this is it, pardner!

Murphy and the Greenhouse

Murphy and the Greenhouse
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

I'm having some kinda fun with my Holga camera. My second expedition with with Mr. Murphy. Click on the picture to read some more about the process. Viva, La Holga!

My new favorite toy (camera)

Sparkle and bowls (Holga)
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

One of my greatest xmas 2005 delights was the Holga camera that TT gave me! Yay! A Holga!

I've wanted one for years now, but the desire has never manifested itself in me bothering to actually get one. I mean—it's not like they're expensive—I could have bought one. The thing is, I think I'm having more fun with it on account of somebody having given it to me. If I'd bought it for myself, it might well have ended up on my "stack of cool things." Truthfully, it might still. (Hello, short attention span)

But right now, I'm having some fun with it. This picture—of TT's kitty Sparkle— was taken a few minutes after the unwrapping, and followed by a trip out to the country and to one of my fave places, The Pet Cemetery.

Sparkle, of course, is quite alive in this picture. And I feel alive as a photographer with my new toy camera!

T'anks, Tessa!

Look y'all! It's Lila Frances, just arrived!

jennifer and lila
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey.

Jennifer and Travis had themselves a critter! Finally!

The adorable and serene (at least during our visit! ;-) Lila Frances Robinson arrived here on Planet Earth this Saturday morning, January 7th, at about 9am.

Click here to see more pictures!