Interactive Monday: Name That Band!

Okay, I've really been thinking about taking it from being a joke to reality of finding a bandoneón teacher and start a band because they look and sound so cool. Oh, I guess that I should also actually buy a bandoneón, but first things first.

I would see our band also having an oboe, pedal steel guitar, tuba, banjo, glass armonica, at least three harps, timpani drums, Vietnamese unicord and charangos. We'd also have occasional guest tambourine players who don't need to have any particular sense of rhythm but need to be really cute and popular to attract the right crowds.

We'd need to have some cute uniforms too, and we'd play a mix of Wagner with a country twang, tango songs with a klezmer swing, hillbilly ditties with operatic flair, Barry White tunes in German with me playing my Jew's harp to augment the banjo and big harps plucking away, a disco version of "Feelings" but with a polka beat and Bacharach tunes as if sung by Sid Vicious.

So, now here's the biggest dilemma. What should we call this band? That's where the interactive part comes in. Chose from the list below and also let us know if you'd like to join the band and which instrument you'd like to play:
* The Dangling Participles
* Gregg and the Egg
* The Outside Agitators
* I Can't Believe It's a Girdle
* The Manic Monkey Operatic Operators and Taxidermy Tax Accountants
* Shirley Pimple and the Pus Cats
* Gravy on a Stick
* Band
* The Duke of Hairdo
* Suddenly Salad! Suddenly Susan! Suddenly Last Summer!
* Tell Me Where It Hurts
* The Patty Hearst Avengers
* Strom Thurmond and the Grave Robbers
* Oh No She Didn't!
* The Thing That Ate Sarah Palin's Brain
* Wholey Night, Bloody Night
* With Six You Get Empanadas
* East Dakota/West Dakota
* We've Fallen and Can't Get Up
* Ocean of Motion
* The Cannibal Sea Kittens
* Pork
* Nosehair
* The Glow Worms
* The Breasts of Burden

I'm the George Raft of the Leisure Class

Following on yesterday's tribute to Dr. Buzzard, I've also been listening to the rare solo ditty by band member "Sugar Coated" Andy Hernandez (a.ka. Coati Mundi), "Que Pasa/ Me No Pop I" Released in 1981, some claim it's the first Latin rap tune. I dunno, but it does sort of predict lulz lingo a quarter of a century ahead of time. I wish there was this type of music playing in the Mission all the time. Andy/Coati looks hella like my neighbor Jesus.

JTTV - Season 2, Episode 15 - Cinco de Meow

Bunter and Junk Thief herald the Fifth of May with a musical extravaganza that simultaneously celebrates and debunks the consequences of globalization. If you prefer to see it full screen, click the YouTube link for that version.

JTTV - Season 2, Episode 6 - Ladron de Basura

For those that don't watch Univision regularly, here is the promo for my Spanish language version of this channel.

And the Winner Is...

...(for those who've been following this little saga) Ecuador in February 2008. With that and the Barcelona trip in November, my Spanish should be right good come early March. I should have no trouble making my way around Miami or my own 'hood by then. I'll just have to remember when and when not to lisp, but that's been a long standing issue for me in English too.

Flatter me and I just might pick up a little trinket for you in the markets in Cuenca and Otavalo.

Signs of Hope

While it's encouraging to see generally balanced and rational Angela Merkel topping Forbes list of the most powerful women in the world, look at where the eighth and ninth women are -- at two of the five most evil, dangerous corporations in the world. Monsanto, Phillip Morris (though technically part of Kraft) and Haliburton would likely be the ones to flesh out that list. As always, it's hard to say whether Monsanto or Haliburton deserves the honor of the most evil of them all.

Personally, I would rank Michelle Bachelet, Chile's unmarried, pro-choice, agnostic President as the greatest sign of hope that a backwards country such as the U.S. could also muster the courage to elect a sane, visionary leader. (And, just to be clear, I am not implying that Chile is backwards, but the U.S. very clearly is.)


1. Angela Merkel - Chancellor, Germany
2. Wu Yi - Vice Premier, China
3. Ho Ching -CEO, Temasek Holdings, Singapore
4. Condoleeza Rice - Secretary of State, U.S.
5. Indra K. Nooyi - CEO, PepsiCo, U.S
6. Sonia Gandhi - President, National Congress Party, India
7. Cynthia Carroll - CEO, Anglo American Co., U.K.
8. Patricia A. Woertz - Chairman, Archer Daniels Midland, U.S.
9. Irene Rosenfeld -Chairman/CEO, Kraft Foods, U.S.
10. Patricia Russo - CEO, Alcatel-Lucent, U.S.

One or the Other

By Friday, a decision is supposed to be made with work whether I'll be going to Ecuador or Nepal in March. I've been to the former three times, the latter five. So I am hoping it's the former. Though the latter would be fine, albeit not with a 20 hour flight.

However, I don't think I can negotiate my way out of those trips to Fresno and Wichita.