Tacos And Tinsel Town

I still have stuff to post about the rodeo, and who knows what else. Falling a bit behind but I will try to catch up. Just too much going on around here.

Last night my friend Marcie invited the whole gang down to her place for a taco party. She had all the ingredients set up and then demonstrated the proper way to wrap them in the soft taco shell. Kind of like rolling a large joint.

All The Fixings


The rolling technique was not grasped by everyone. The biggest mistake was not folding over the ends. This, of course, results in half the ingredients falling out the end you are not eating. No big deal, that is what forks and plates are for.

Our Hostess, Marcie


Marie With The Pre-Roll


Peter With A Commendable Roll


Dennis Didn't Roll At All


Katherine Fixing To Roll


Chris On A Roll


Bar Man In His Role


After tacos and some mighty fine chocolate chip cookies we headed down the the pool deck to catch the sunset before heading to my place for an Academy Awards party. Our attention was diverted from the sunset, though, by a drug bust that was taking place on the street below.

Just Like Home


Sad to say, this wasn't an isolated incident. There have been a number of "police actions" in the past several days. Most have to do with drugs, using and selling, loud music, and lewd behavior including prostitution. The focal point of the activity seems to be the Blue Chairs just down the beach from us.

Ah well, what can you do. Trouble in Paradise as Randy Newman would say. And from the album of that name, the theme of my little gathering:

There's a party at my house tonight
Everybody's wound up nice and tight
They'll be rockin' and rollin' till the mornin' light
There's a party at my house tonight

Well, maybe once upon a time that would have been the theme. At our age we are lucky if we can stay awake to see who won Best Actress, let alone Best Movie. Well, really, after the awards for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing and trying to figure out what the hell the difference between the two might be, what is left.

Getting Ready For The Big Night


Popcorn And M&Ms Just Seemed Right


Van Halen didn't show up so we left in the brown ones.

And Then On With The Show


We were all just glued to the set.





When it was all over and "Slumdog Millionaire" walked off with the Oscar for everything from Best Picture to the aforementioned Sound Mixing there was a general consensus that out-sourcing has finally taken over the film industry. I fully expect Lou Dobbs to be ranting that we should all "Watch American" on his next program.

Everyone had a good time and behaved well, except for Dennis who found where I had hidden my tequila.

Poor Katherine


Next time, the rodeo, I promise. I know you can hardly wait.

Oh, by the way, that Van Halen and brown M&Ms thing. Van Halen's standard performance contract did, indeed, have a clause that specified that all of the brown M&Ms had to be removed from the bowl of them they had placed in their dressing room. If they were not removed they had the right to cancel the performance and still receive full compensation. However, it was not, as is often reported, just an egotistical whim.

When most groups had three or four trucks of equipment, Van Halen's shows typically had 18 and very elaborate specifications for setting up the sound stage. Embedded in the specifications was the request for the removal of the brown M&Ms. If they found brown M&Ms they knew the specifications had not been thoroughly read and the sound stage was probably not set up properly.

See, now aren't you glad you read this post all the way to the end?