So Here are the Dreadful Pictures!!!!!

The Original Complaint: I have about 10 pictures ready to post of Goa, and other adventures but suddenly can't get the Blogspot site to upload the pix. China already blocks access to actual blogspot blogs - that is, I cannot see my own Dreadful Snake Blog, but I can get access to the authoring part of the site and never had a problem posting before. Now I can prepare the text fine - I actually have 3 posts sitting in draft waiting for the photos - but it will not upload the photos. Hmmmmm. I suspect a regime thing here. I am in Singapore this weekend so will try to get it done from there. . . . Hang in there, photo-hungry Snakesters!!

The Victory Lap: OK - just arrived Singapore and logged on from here and posted all those pics in a flash. Need I say more??

What do these really mean????

Newspaper article from China Daily. If you think the showers are tough, you should see the taxis. No smoking sign (of sorts) from a breakfast stop in Goa, India. Sign from a garbage can in Guangzhao, China (does it have to do with recycling chicken heads? I dont know!!) Brooklyn Bluesman - can you translate please?

Welcome to Goa, India

So I flew from Shanghai to Delhi, connected to Mumbai (Bombay) and then to Goa. Would have been ok except the flight to Delhi got in at 3 am and the next one didn't go out til 10 am. yawn. When I finally got there, I was ready. My phone happily told me I was in Anjuna and even the cab driver stopped on the hour long ride from the airport to Anjuna to buy me a couple of coconuts to drink. Water view from the cab ride.

Hospitality, Goa Style

If they are good at anything in Goa, it is relaxation. The man with the crab is Xavier. If you look in Lonely Planet guide to either India or Goa - check out the section for Anjuna, Goa. His restaurant - "Xavier's" is rated best seafood in Anjuna. Check it out!! Then there are great homes there - check out the view from this upper level deck. . . aaah.

Goa Sunset Watch

Up on a hill over the beach the sunset looked great. Everybody turns our for sunset into the Arabian Sea. Techno beats out of the cafes on the beach and was quite subdued from up on the hill. . . . Seemed to be right in synch with where the crowd was at. an old woman with a 15 foot long Alpen horn carried it out to the rocks just off shore and played long low notes to the sun as it set. Since Goa was a Portugese colony, there are old shrines here and there by the sea like this one up on that hill

Dreadful Snake in the Fountain

"All those hours in the Colleseum, dodgin' lions and wastin time" So Michelangelo gets all the PR for Rome but this guy Bernini really did a lot of the good stuff all over.



In the Vatican, he did that skeleton under a chunk of marble that was carved to really look like folded cloth. Then in Piazza Navona there is that fountain with the leg in the foreground. Above his hand is the Dreadful Snake whom you can see in another closeup picture. Finally - it isnt same guy but the Trevi Fountain is one of the famous sights and the last picture is the very top of that one.

My Roman Neighborhood - Trastevere

The apartment I rented was in Trastevere - was great to have a private place versus a hotel. Had some great sunny days so the warm colors on the houses of the narrow streets was worth taking pictures of. Building with the horse on it was actually across the river toward the Forum. Dreadful Skull was in a local church wall.

More Pompei Pics

This courtyard with the pillars here and in previous post was the town park and swimming pool.

Pompei - When Time Stops

When time stops because of a volcano kickin yer Neapolitan butt, that is. 2 hour train ride south of Rome to Naples then a local for 45 min to Pompei. So Mount Vesuvias put killer hot ash in the house and time stood still. Pretty amazing stuff. Bigger town than I thought - wandered for hours thru the streets.
The little paintings were a few inches high and on the inside wall of a house . . . imagine some National Park in USA letting you walk right up and touch this stuff - I dont think so. In teh last pic between teh 2 pillars on teh right you can see the edge of the town swimming pool . . . still totally intact. Suitable for playing Marco Polo I assume.

SnakeCasters and Topics Welcome

So want a cheap-sh*t way to be a podcaster? Forget everything else you have heard. Send me an MP3 file and maybe I will suck it into the show. Want to hear an example? Go back to my show called "Dead Sam and the Sheep that Wouldn't Die" where Bobo of the North sent a great 3 or 4 minute segment of about Elvin Jones, his giant death resisting sheep. You can do the same. If your topic is just the right mix of strange, fun, authentic and/or includes a paypal $50 deposit (kidding), I will include it and you will get access to the vast audience of Snakesters out there. BTW - I am back up to being rated #20 in the damn WORLD in terms of Music Podcast. OK, that is, on Podcast Alley. OK so saying that ranks me as #6 on the conceited list as well. Hey - don't hassle me in my own house!
There is danger in that podcast offer I made tho cause if you are the least bit geeky, you will find your self gradually pouring more money in to improve the sound of the setup. Hey, it's fun.
Finally - what topics do you get psyched over. Here's some I am working on in my head. (I tend to work em upstairs for quite a while, then they come together quicker later down here in the studio) OK so topics I am thinking of for soon . . . .. or maybe not.....

• The Next Dylan (wont tell you who - but I picked him out already - best writer ever)
• The Funnel (John Fahey) All the blues guys went into him, all the white pickers like Kottke came out the other side
• It Grabbed Me! Songs that I cant get thru singing or playing without breaking down (not sad - they just move the heck out of me)
• My Own Funeral - OK so i think about it. OK so I obsess about the soundtrack I would want...
• Local Chinese Bands (or, "Stop spitting while you play, for God's sake. Huh? Yes, I said God. Never mind, I dont have time to explain that one! Just stop Spitting!!)
• The Crazy Uncle You Keep in the Closet (I KNOW you have one!) I dont even know what that means, but I will figure it out
  

Sydney - Best Urinal View in World

OK so I was travelling thru Sydney and had lunch at a dreadfully good restaurant - Level 41 or something like that. 41st floor with premier view, great wine list and killer food. I was told the view from the bathroom was one of the best in the restaurant so that is why i took my camera in (so quit the wisecracks, Silvertone!) And there it was! 3 porcelin receivers in a row with picture windows straight out and down to the rest of Sydney. I was happy, that is, certainly not pissed.

Chop Chop!!

So in China any official paper has a "Chop" on it. It is a red stamp that means it is official. A work permit needs your company 'chop' to be accepted - you get the idea. So I figger the DSGuy needs a chop too so I had an official one made. I have a Chinese name that was given to me by a loose (very loose!) committee of people I work with, led by the guy that runs my Hong Kong office. It is a pretty cool name that sounds like my real last name a little but is a common Chinese family name with 2 given names that imply lovely attributes that I am FAR too modest to name. (Unless you buy me a glass of wine). Anyway here is the 'chop maker' carving the old style chinese symbols into the bottom of a stone stamp. This goes on all correspondence from now on. . .

Makes You Slobber

Featured prominently in the 10/28/05 podcast - this is the best example so far of an earnest attempt to translate enthusiasm to English . . . .

Formula 1 Race in Shanghai

So the government built this state of the art F1 track that Schumaker has called the best he has ever driven. The main grandstand holds 30,000 people in this structure that looks like it has a giant spoiler on top of it. The sound was incredibly loud. . . . wore earplugs most of the time ....but did sneak them out from time to time just for the pain rush.

The cars were hot, so was the beer, and the experience was totally nuts.

How to Survive in a Japanese Retreat House

Spent 4 days in Japan including a night in an exclusive retreat house where it was 'spare' acommodations to say the least. Well they had this radio built into the wall with nothing but Japanese stations and then it hit me! iPod with iTrip!!! Tagged into this puppy's FM band and next thing you know . . . a little GD to soothe the soul while I changed into a robe-like yukata to join the boys for dinner and a little soak in the mineral springs. I have NO idea what the remote control did - looks like it ionizes the trees outside. Right click the pic to save it and see full size.

United Airlines Does Not Respect Our Intelligence

So on the longhaul flight over from SFO to Shanghai, this is how I am treated. Bad enuf that they tell you how to use the seatbelt. But this is the first time I have EVER seen this. Inside the toilet seat cover where they usually have pictures showing you not to throw weird stuff in the toilet, this is what they had. So let's see. . . .. first you sit on the toilet to use it. . . . OK . . . then you flush it!!! Thanks UAL! Not many of us would put THAT together.

Safe at Last

Luckily, there is no real danger to inhabitants from things like this. Whew. Shanghai remains a very safe city but ya better learn some Mandarin to get around. I have my basic taxi stuff about half way there (Turn Left! Turn Right!) but I still need the other two (Go Straight! Stop Here!)

"I'm Almost Gone"

In a fitting goodbye party I had a weekend in a woodsy lodge with 20 friends and many many vintage guitars and amps (tequila and other consumables ensured no achilles tendon pulls). Electric jam till 11:30. . . .acoustic til 330 am. Bobo (of Dead Sheep episode fame) had to crawl in the window of his room from the roof of the second floor. Made it! Joel the Bass Player (Wacka Wacka episode) had his birthday and narrowly escaped a new baptism in the fast running stream next door. . . and Steve Silvertone (frequent commentator) ruled the airwaves with Les Paul and 'turf tone so sweet so sweet. The Oolong Boys Minus One made a surprise appearance with a Fahey-esque guitar and tabla duet. And Dreadful Son (on bass) and I took a shot at Wilco's A Shot In the Arm. ("Something in my Vein! Bloodier Than Blood!") Johnny the Drummer did NOT drool out of either side of hs mouth and sang the sweetest Long Black Veil ever. Robert J and The Mirth Man let me add Harmony 3 to the Beatles' If I Needed Someone - something about harmony singing feels SO good. The amazing Mark Barden blew us away then drove away. All those friends are a gift any snake would envy. Love you all.