Music Trivia: Last Thursday of Every Month

Thursday night Roger and I went to music trivia at the Whistle Stop hosted by Adam Gimbel of Rookie Card and Cover Me Badd fame (or just plain famous). There were seven teams this month, a bit more than usual with it being the one year anniversary. Well, the anniversary wasn’t the reason, Adam just put more effort into advertising because it was the anniversary.

Our usual team was not available so Roger and I joined forces with a few others that we knew, an set out to think of our name. Personally I find this to be the most challenging part of the game. I feel compelled to be creative and come up with the most entertaining name in the crowd. But this just never happens. I wish someone would just come up with a name for us so that we don’t have to spend the few minutes before the game agonizing over a name that really doesn’t matter anyway. I would be happy being Team D or Team Blue.

The game is made for those that know music, all music… I don’t know anyone who could ever cover all parts. It is best to have people on your team that know different types of music. Yes, an expert in rap or current hits would be helpful. The first part of the game is straight up answering trivia questions with a set amount of time. Sometimes there is clues in the background music, but sometimes not. Thursday, the background music was name the artist/song on the side of the normal trivia.

After a break with a dry t-shirt contest, there is a name that tune section with a local band/artist playing the tunes. This month’s band was the Go Duo. Not so much a duo with 8 members on stage. Watching this band perform probably was the most difficult and painful experience ever. Purposely out of tune, both instrumentally and vocally making each song nearly impossible to determine. Both Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings” were hardly recognizable save for the lyrics.

But the difficulty of the game was not my gripe. The issue was that the combinations of sounds that came out of the instruments and their mouths was so gut wrenching, like nails on a chalkboard. I cannot understand what this band’s purpose is. The music is not really music… and I am not just judging on their name that tune performance. They played a couple of their own songs prior to the second half of the game. What ever they are trying to accomplish, I really don’t want to be there for it. They finished off with “We are the World” by USA for Africa (yeah, I had to ask Roger the name of the band again because who really keeps that in their head)… a 7 minute song. By the end, people were clapping just glad that they had stopped.

We got third place… We were satisfied with our score because we were glad that we didn’t know all of Mariah Carey’s hits or the name of the January song by the Goo Goo Dolls.

Toronado Grand Opening

So Roger and I headed down to the new Toronado to check out the new beer bar in the hood. After wandering by around 2pm we found that the place was scheduled to be open. Still lookig like they were not ready, but they had a couple hours to go. So at 4pm we walked over to find a group of people starring into the windows and the sign that read the opening time, now read 4pm ish. So we waited around with everyone else.

We watched as the plywood countertop was covered in butcher paper and staff were putting the taps on. It appeared that they were still hungover from the night before, hence the late start. My suspicions were confirmed by my friend, Dennis who had partied with them the previous day. He also mentioned that the countertop was still in TJ, not ready to be installed.

After the staff made a toast to the opening that had yet to happen, one of the staff came out to open the door to let in the 50 plus people waiting around. While doing so, the handle to the front door broke… So I guess that is the way that things have been.


50 plus beers on tap and more bottles in the fridges. I guess I was wrong about food. It has a full kitchen that serves the same sausages as a neighboring business in SF throughout the day and a full menu at night (not available yet). But anyhow, it does get the status of being an all ages venue. Still don’t know how they pulled that one off considering the sales on beer will severely outweigh the food. Well at least this will be a good place to meet up with all of your friends that never get out bcause they have kids.


Check out the unfinished front… Perhaps another year before that is done??

Toronado Opens Saturday

This Saturday, May 24 is the grand opening of Toronado in North Park. San Diego, the home of many craft beers will now be home of it’s very own Toronado out of San Francisco. This second venue has been a long time coming as the rumours of it’s new location have been in the air for well over a year.

Last Monday was the “pre opening” for invited guests only. They apparently still have some work to do on the exterior, but the tap lines are open and clean.

The location is 4026 30th Ave, on the west side between Polk and Lincoln. It used to be a yoga and judo studio.

Hope to see you there!

People Who Inspire Me: Dan Altenburg

I had a dream last night that my friend, Dan helped me out of a flooded river because he was able to fly and I couldn’t. Silly, I know. But I looked it up…

To dream that I was being rescued, represents an aspect of myself that has been neglected or ignored. I am trying to find a way to express this neglected part of myself. Since in reality, we do not have the ability to fly, so this dream may represent that which is beyond his physical limitations. In my mind, he can do anything. Him being able to fly symbolizes his strong mind and will. I am recognizing that he is undefeatable and nobody can tell him what he cannot do and accomplish.

To get perspective, Dan is doing a solo cross-country trek on his bike. He is not only doing this for himself, but is doing it for charity.

I admire him for what he is doing. This takes guts with little to no glory. Dan is a friend of mine but also an inspiration for me. He made a decision, one that shows his selflessness to the world. He appreciates the good in everyone and everything (maybe it is the Wisconsin upbringing). I am glad to know him and to have shared adventures with him.

Definitely check out his blog of his adventure and maybe take time to donate as it helps him stay inspired on the long hard road ahead.


Relaxing on our Route 66 trip in Santa Fe, NM

North Park Festival of the Arts

As many may or may not know, I had the opportunity to book and manage the main stage for the North Park Festival of the Arts this past weekend.

The story behind this is that I have attended this festival in the past but found that it was extremely lacking in a number of ways. As an event planner by trade and by nature, I couldn’t resist in offering my help. I didn’t want to step on anyones toes so I waited. When they were deciding who was doing what, no one claimed the main stage so I stepped up. Kevin Hellman joined in later mainly with the Festival of Beers, but couldn’t resist at trying to help with the main stage.

In the end the line up was:
The Paul Green School of Rock Music
Tan Sister Radio
Silent Comedy
Get Back Loretta
Truckee Brothers
Steve Poltz

The festival itself hosts 4 stages: a dance stage, an open mic style stage, a Latin American music stage (formally world music), and the main stage (with rock bands). The dance stage is the only stage that did not go through some sort of revitalization this year.

The day of the festival I was there at 8:15 a.m. they were just starting to put together the stage… I knew then that it was going to be a difficult day. When the stage was finally put together, the School of Rock kids had gathered, ready for a sound check. I had a stage, but no sound. I radioed the festival coordinator to find out about sound set up. I was informed that the sound crew was one hour behind. I proceeded to ask if that meant that my stage was going to be one hour behind. Although I did not hear a direct answer from him, the answer turned out to be “yes.”

So although late and continued to have monitor problems, we did our best to catch up and with my preplanned cushions, we manged to fished the day at 6:03 p.m. Only three minutes past the festival permit… with SDPD glaring down my back.

The day was awesome, the sound was shitty (for the bands at least), but everyone seemed to have a great time. Here are my personal highlights for the day:

By far, Tan Sister Radio was the biggest hit of the day. The best I can describe is that they are a three piece band sounding a bit Pixiesque with bit of punk and Elliot Smith, each who are 17 years old with skills that can rival any professional musician in San Diego. They rocked out in their own set and were invited up to perform in two more sets (Truckees and Poltz). Hereditary or not, they are destined for greatness.

Adam Gimbel stretched out one of the long breaks, as they were trying to fix the monitors, with Tan Sister Radio with a beat poetry, jazz rendition of the stage sponsor information.

Silent Comedy and Get Back Loretta blow me away… I don’t think I have ever seen them so on their mark.

The Truckee Brothers finally overcame their frustration with the sound when Steve came to the stage. Seriously, you can’t be mad playing with Steve…

But, by far my favorite moment of the day was watching Tan Sister Radio while they were sitting on the back of the stage watching the Truckee Brothers. Two girls, who couldn’t of been any older than nine, nervously coming up with CD’s in hand to ask for their autographs. It was the most awesome/adorable thing that I’ve seen in my entire life.

Unfortunately, my camera battery died as I was taking my first photo of the day. So if you have any good shots, particularly of Tan Sister Radio with their new fans, please send them my way.