news you could use

Love Monkey, the Tom Cavanagh comedy-drama that was canceled after only three episodes, will get a second life on music channel VH1. The network, which already ran the three previously aired episodes, announced it will air the remaining five unaired episodes beginning Tuesday, April 18.

Monkey told the story of a record-industry A&R man, played by Cavanagh, who longed for love in the Big Apple. The show was generally well reviewed, but CBS canceled it due to poor ratings.

One of the main features of the show was music, and the theme song "Someone Who's Cool" was performed by the defunct band Odds. The show featured many musicians in cameos, including Ben Folds, LeeAnn Rimes, and James Blunt. Eric Bogosian also played a supporting role.

Unaired upcoming episodes include appearances by Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer and rockers Aimee Mann and John Mellencamp.

Concert List

Lots of shows in the Bay Area released today - The annual KFOG Kaboom! occurs on May 13, and features a free show with Jackie Greene, KT Tunstall, and Los Lonely Boys, but of course headlined by a huge fireworks show.

The Mountain Winery list is up!! Highlighted shows include (but are not limited to):
T-Bone Burnett & Jakob Dylan - 6/9
Bela Fleck & the Flecktones - 6/25
Damien Rice - 6/26
Fiona Apple w/ David Garza - 6/27, 6/30
Nickel Creek - 7/1
Indigo Girls - 7/5
Chris Issak - 7/17 - 7/19
Shawn Colvin - 8/4
Toad the Wet Sprocket - 8/16-8/17

Goodbye Espresso Garden Cafe!

Well - Tonight's the last night of existance for what will now be the former best venue for roots and acoustic music in the South Bay. Thanks for all the memories! The cafe was in existance for almost a decade, though I only began visiting since catching Nickel Creek back in 2001. It will, unfortunately, become a sushi bar in the weeks and months to come, as if we didn't need another restaurant. Apparantly, as Brad Kava wrote, turntables are more important than traditional instruments. I didn't get to say goodbye officially, but the wait staff were amazing people, the "strangers" I met, and the musicians that played were always so friendly and personable. My last visit came a few months ago when I caught the Dukhs, sitting in the back before the show not realizing that I was having a conversation with the lead singer/writer of the band! Lots of similar and fun experiences between that and that first Nickel Creek show five years ago. So long! You'll be missed...
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Video of the day: Part of the video for "One Evening" by Feist - Awesome artist that's part of the whole Broken Social Scene posse. I love what they do with what little they had to produce this video.

Toad

Ahhh - My solo week is over! Last week I taught the entire week, created and implemented lesson plans, etc. and went through the whole gamut of things. Code Red drills. Supervising two hundred fifty students in a cafeteria. Seeing teachers picket. Seeing teachers at a school next to us go on a sick out. And last but not least making my first student cry on Friday - Oh how awesome it was! It's the ultimate test in giving in but I held my ground and made him stay for after school detention. Of course, five minutes is an eternity for a child...

The week ended with Noisepop! Caught the band We Are Scientists (think franz ferdinand meets the strokes) and in short, they were great! The album lends itself to a sonically loud show and they were true to the album's "noise". Didn't deviate too much but they show great stage prescence and are just an active band. The only problem was they closed a night where there were three openers and I didn't catch them until about midnight, with their set ending just past 1am - So... long trip back from SF back to San Jose : -( Ooh, before I forget - Also check out a band called the Grates from Australia - They're a bunch of fun with a lead singer who loves to dance

So - TOAD! I haven't seen the entire Saratoga Mountain Winery concert list yet, but first Nickel Creek will be there, then, yes, Toad the Wet Sprocket, my former love affair of a band will reunite for a few fun shows this summer across the country, hitting the Winery on August 16! Other dates can be found here.

Popmatters wrote a beautiful Paste-esque article on Sean Watkins (guitarist from Nickel Creek)'s latest solo effort - It's been out on digital download for a few months but JUST came out on traditional CD a few weeks ago - Check it out-Totally embodies exactly how I feel his prescence in Nickel Creek is shown.

Uh-oh. I just discovered how to use YouTube - I love it! I'm going to go insane on this blog putting up video links! First one here is Nickel Creek (obviously!) and it's just an insane jam they go on during the song, Lighthouse's Tale (this current tour's jam version-it changes every tour) Ahh...

been awhile

Doh, I haven't posted in such a long time! What I've learned in that time period:

-Comcast is not always Comcastic! Downed Internet for the past two weeks, 3 modems, and two technicians later, I'm still having Internet problems. Hopefully something will be resolved soon.

-The Shield is such a kickass show - I can't believe what they did in the finale. And speaking of which, the Sopranos, welcome back :-)

-The Asian American Film Festival was a great place to meet people! Nothing better than talking to strangers at the rush line. And catch great independent films, look out for American Fusion, a funny yet over-the-top comedy that truly depicts some of the Chinese cultural differences and how they clash with American values.

-I got an early birthday gift and more: Glen Phillips on June 6 and Nickel Creek at the simply beautiful Mountain Winery in Saratoga on July 1! Wine, spectacular views, and the best jam band out there, I can't wait!

-Noise Pop began and continues throughout the week in San Francisco. The Mayor has officially called it Noise Pop week! I'll be catching We Are Scientists on Friday.

-Bribing kids works for the short term. But... don't rely on it ;-) It's my solo week and I'm getting payback for the great day I had when my supervisor visited yesterday ;-)

-Apologizing to students is a great modeling technique for them to have the courage to make mistakes and try harder.

-YouTube can be addicting. Well, when Comcast is Comcastic...

-Yelp is a great website to find great places in your city!

-I still can't get into the Arctic Monkeys. I'm trying!

-But do listen to the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and Neko Case albums. The jury's still out on Rhett Miller's latest -

-I'll be presenting a two-sided double bubble map presentation on the South Park scandal in Social Studies. The underlying societal issue of course being freedom of speech. I'll rip apart and analyze an article from each viewpoint. Before then, does anyone want to enlighten me or provide their take on this issue? It'll be a fun take on the unreliability and need for caution in terms of narratives.

Job Fair 2006

Intense. I was at the annual job fair today for just over three hours but it was one of the most intense experiences ever - Four interviews in that time span with school districts that I had previously picked out and filled out applications for. It was a learning experience that through the course of each interview, got better and better - By my last interview, I felt that I really owned and took charge of the conversation and drove it. What kind of questions did they ask? A lot - Many I had no preparation for, but thank god for what I've done in student teaching so far that I could use as examples. It is amazing the kind of responses you can come up with on the spot without preparation at times! A few questions (more of a list for me to remember for future interviews)

-How do you assess your students?
-How would you interact with your parents?
-Explain how you would support guided and shared reading?
-Tell me how you would implement technology in a classroom, aside from computers.
-Where do you see yourself as a teacher down the road?
-How do you plan, organize, and implement a lesson?
-How do you organize a teaching day?
-What is your experience with multicultural and language learning students? How would you differentiate instruction?
-What do you do to work with your colleagues?

There were a bunch more but this is it for now that I can remember. Anyway, at least three of the interviews went really well - It was refreshing to be honest and explain why I am passionate towards working with students - Let's just hope that's at least some of what they wanted to hear. If not, I'm up for hire :-)

Fridays

What a weird friday. The following occurred:

-Driving along 101, I saw a body on the exit turn of a road. Turns out it was someone who was the victim of a hit and run. by... multiple drivers who didn't bother to check what they were running over. Don't believe me? Check it out. Eerie how detached from the world people can be.

-Snow reached San Jose! Well, sort of. Experienced folks will tell you it was hail. Or something in between. But... It was snow to me! Where was I? Running safety patrol out front of my school, attempting to keep distracted parents from running over people! Seriously though, it was such a neat sight seeing a pile of white fall from the sky - Albeit resulting in several cars just stopping right in the middle of the road...

-Heading onto the freeway tonight, cops were surrounding a car flipped totally upside down. How it got there? I don't know.

-Oh and I learned the hard way of the amount of micromanagement required to ensure the energy level of children having a popcorn party in a classroom requires. Every day is a learning experience these days.

That's it! Go check out Imogen Heap, I'm immensely enjoying her latest. Neko Case's latest album just was released as well, and has been an enjoyable listen thus far. Sean Watkins' latest solo is finally getting a "proper" release and will be in stores this Tuesday.

And the Sopranos are back this Sunday. It's been a long two years.

Currently Listening Fox Confessor Brings the Flood By Neko Case see related

checklist

Currently Listening Speak for Yourself By Imogen Heap see related

busy, busy, but some randomness:

-Hem and Over the Rhine co-headline together at the Great American Music Hall on May 11 in San Francisco-Hem is definitely one of my favorite secrets, a great Americana band if there ever was one. I've heard lots about Over the Rhine, can someone tell me more?

-William H Macy will be at Cinequest for a Q&A and a showing of his new film, Edmond, on March 11 at the California Theater. Hope to see you there!

-Another of the firsts - Parent/teacher conference. How will it go? Who knows, I hope they don't wonder why I'm just sitting there listening and taking notes

-Chappelle's Block Party-Watch it. Love it. The music's off the hook. (is that phrase cool still?)

-Imogen Heap-Check out her latest. The girl from Frou Frou if you are wondering. It's trippy and full of wonderful synthesized sounds. While I'm at it, Neko Case has a new album out Tuesday. Check that too. She's the gorgeous voice from the New Pornographers.

I saw the list of best picture nominees. Wow - So many relating to current social issues that exploit the truth. I'm loving it! I'm going to have to re-watch Crash - My only knack on it from my first viewing so long ago was that it really misrepresented the Asian ethnicity/represented character (although that in itself is a misrepresentation since "Asian" is such a general term for many ethnicities). Then a friend told me that possibly the director was trying to subconsciously make the point that the film was portraying it right in that in real life, the Asian population is largely ignored as well. Who knows, I'll have to watch it again.

Cinequest!

Hello!

So.... Cinequest. I attended the opening gala tonight at the California Theater, a beautiful throwback classy theater, which featured the film, Thank You For Smoking. First off, a fantastic movie! If you appreciate satirical and witty (sometimes too much for its own good!) comedy with a larger message, then you'll have to catch this when it finally hits theaters (hopefully soon!). Shortly put, it's the story of a tobacco industry lobbyist who's so good at his job that one just questions the morals and ethics (or lack thereof) of this character. Great ensemble that includes Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, William H Macy, Katie Holmes, Robert Duvall, Rob Lowe... list goes on. Check it out!

Now as the for festival, I'm nothing short of pumped! Thoroughly enjoyed the introductions to the festival and the philosophies behind it - How the goal of the festival is to allow those independent filmmakers to have their movies shown in an otherwise saturated industry that distributes less than 1% of films actually made (and not the best). Their catchphrase of "mavericks" within not just the filmmakers but also us, the viewers of the films, us making the conscious decision to stray from the norm was just a neat wakeup call i felt inspired by, not for its message on filmmaking, but as being a maverick in general in everyday life.

If you're in the Bay Area, I implore you to catch a film and support independent films and catch a flick at this festival! I was surprised to hear that it's considered in the top 10 festivals in the world!