Spinalcat's Crafty Adventures

Leftenant AR-7 , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . Above: Leftenant =AR-7= of The Phenomenauts Below: Peelander Red We saw Peelander-Z open for The Phenomenauts at Ashkenaz in Berkeley Friday night. They are insane and just have to be seen to be believed. We're going to this show really close to my house tonight. It's at an arcade in a strip mall with plenty of free parking. I may be biased, but I think it'd be impossible not to have fun. We'll be at El Pollo Loco before the show. SUN APRIL 5 SAN JOSE, CA NICKEL CITY ARCADE The Phenomenauts Peelander-z Dan Potthast ALL AGES $10 dos 7 door 7:30 show NICKEL CITY ARCADE 1711 Branham Lane San Jose, CA 95118 (408) 448-3323

Sea Dragon , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . Tons of jellies, sea otters, and a couple of penguins. http://www.flickr.com/photos/buxtrosion/sets/72157610224020090/

Rancid @ The Warfield , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . Not a big fan of the Warfield.  It's one of those converted theaters where the dance floor is much too short.  The staff seems pretty out-of-touch.  I'm used to dedicated punk/indie clubs.  I was wearing my red plaid bondage pants, and the guy checking tickets said, "I like that.  It reminds me of a kilt."  I don't think he gets out much.  :) I think I enjoyed the last time I saw Rancid (in Austin ) more than this time.  I have to accept the fact that I'm not going to hear many songs from my favorite Rancid albums, because their other stuff is so much more popular. I had a much greater appreciation for Lars's songs about growing up in Campbell this time, though.  :) There's much more on that topic in his side project .  I'm sure it's changed quite a bit since the 70's!

The Aggrolites , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . On Friday I tabled with CA NOW at Warped Tour in Mountain View. We were promoting their "I (heart) Consensual Sex" campaign. Let me know if you want to order a shirt or are interested in getting together a South Bay NOW chapter, and I can get you in touch with people. The shirts are organic cotton and have the definition of "consent" on the back.

originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . I did a lot of fun stuff last week when my college roommate was in town. Probably the most photogenic was going to see the Chihuly exhibition at the de Young museum in San Francisco. More of my photos here . I'd definitely recommend going on a weekday if possible. Although we didn't have any trouble getting tickets when we got there, it was rather crowded. And skip the cafe, no matter how good it smells. Unless you want to pay $7 (and wait 30 minutes) for a hot dog just for the experience. We also went to the San Jose Museum of Art , which was actually really cool. There's a lot of wacky hi-tech installations, and there's a robot theme going on now. I think it would be really fun for kids. There's a table where you can build a Lego robot & have it photographed and uploaded to Flickr. My friends' are in there somewhere. My friends went to the Tech as well and really liked it. They came back with a robot-dra...

Last night we saw the Nekromantix in San Jose at the Blank club. This was our 6th show since moving to the Bay Area, but our first in San Jose. The Blank club is pretty tiny. It reminded us of the indoor stage at Emo's, but with the bar taking up less room, and no giant poles to get smashed into in front of the stage. If we feel nostalgic for giant poles, we'll go to Slim's. I didn't realize until a couple of days before the show that the Lower Class Brats (from Austin!!!) were going to be opening. I think they may have been at the first show we ever saw in Austin. We've seen both these bands about a jillion times. My verdict: totally awesome. I didn't see much of the crowd, but Bryan said they didn't seem that excited. Their loss. More room in front for me! Bones and Nekroman are both extremely entertaining front men. I had an insane amount of fun. You really haven't lived until you've seen the coffinbass. :) I forgot to take a camer...

Richard Gere , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/09/MNAS101V1O.DTL

Toots Hibbert In San Francisco , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . We went up to the city again last night to catch Toots & The Maytals at The Independent. It was awesome!! Toots Hibbert has been on the reggae scene since the 1960's, and is generally considered the originator of the term "reggay."

Slackers Mosaic , originally uploaded by Buxtrosion . Friday night we sent to see one of our favorite bands, The Slackers , at Slim's in San Francisco. You can see the large versions of the individual photos above if you click through to my flickr page. I've always had quite a few "favorite bands", but I've come up with a new criterion- any band I've seen play more than 3 or 4 times gets favorite status. The Slackers put on a great show as usual, but this time I had a camera (Bryan's old digital point & shoot). Right now, my photos are still on the main page of the Slackers website (through a flickr group ). Another awesome change from the ordinary was that both of us climbed up on stage (along with as many other people could fit) during the last song and danced as best we could without knocking over band members or equipment. I've done this before at a Dropkick Murphys show (it's traditional to invite girls up on stage during the Spicy ...