Last Island In From The Cold

On the announcement yesterday of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba, I presume many want to hear a Latin rant about how we let the Castro Regime off easy.

I have nothing of this sort of tantrum to offer them. There is only a profound sense of regret for time lost. We just celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Back in '89 when Hasselhoff welcomed the East Germans to West Berlin with his freedom song, many naively expected the thawing of relations between the nations along the Florida straits to follow soon thereafter. One can only imagine that the Cuban people who were aware of those stirring world events thought that their rescue was coming soon as well. What a bitter pill to swallow - the waiting is indeed the hardest part.

In the current news-as-entertainment culture there are a lot of aspiring politicians eagerly denouncing President Obama's executive orders. Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush were hitting the same notes and staking out the same political real estate. Nicaraguan American commentator Ana Navarro, a refugee of another communist state, was making the cable news rounds arguing that this rapprochement was happening two years too soon, that it was a matter of time before the Castro gerentocracy would fall apart with a couple of broken hips or strokes. "Why cave to them now?"

As a Cuban American, I feel nothing but regret for lost decades. The Castro Regime's only victory is the decades-long thumbing of the nose of the underdog to the "imperialistas yanquis". They won a popularity contest. The only people to pay the costs of this contest were the Cuban people on that island, left to wither with meat ration tickets. Cuba inherited the Spanish code of the Inquisition.

We are now once more back at the chess table with the Cuban state and its perennial inquisition on its own people. We finally made our next move, the first one since October 1962. Let's not ever leave the table again.

Google Blimp To Deliver Wi-Fi Connectivity To The Heart Of Africa

Google Blimp To Deliver Wi-Fi Connectivity To The Heart Of Africa

US Navy experimenting with drones and blimps to fight Caribbean drug smugglers

Drones, aerostats & blimps! Oh my!

A Zeppelin Over Dallas...

Crash

DMN Video: Relive the Dallas Mavericks' championship parade, celebration

2011 NBA Finals Game 6 Mini Movie

How Can I Help You, Sir?

Used to love to follow Pete Townshend's old diary at his now defunct website: www.petetownshend.co.uk (don't bother, it now redirects to a mostly bland Who site)- abandoned at the urging of his Who singer, Roger Daltrey, after branding concerns and the usual stuff. Pete still blogs at thewho.com - but it's behind a wall. And he's a hollow shell of the blogger he used to be (aren't we all?)

This was one of my favorite video posts of his. I stumbled upon it tonight during what else, a bout of insomnia. Having read Bill Wyman's wonderful musings about the scarcity of scarcity in the digital age at Slate.com, I started listening to old Pete Townshend demos for Who albums. As a big Who fan, it's great to hear the source material. But it's almost always a second favorite to the final Who version of the music.

Having grown up a Who fan (fondly remember jamming to "I Can See For Miles" on big brother's after market Pioneer Super Tuner in his '77 Mercury Monarch), I was slow to warm up to solo Pete Townshend. I can now say that, given the dearth of any new Who material, I would warmly welcome a slew of Pete solo material - maybe another Scoop.

Scott Weaver's Rolling through the Bay

Scott Weaver's Rolling through the Bay from Learning Studio on Vimeo.

Scott Weaver's amazing piece, made with over 100,000 toothpicks over the course of 35 years, is a depiction of San Francisco, with multiple ball runs that allow you to go on "tours" of different parts of the city. It will be on display in the Tinkering Studio until June 19th!

Look at the red dot and nod - Demetri Martin

Important Things with Demetri Martin
Coolness - Hoodwinkers
www.comedycentral.com
Futurama New Episodes It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Russell Simmons Stand-Up Comedy

One of my favorite "Important Things with Demetri Martin" sketches is "Hoodwinkers". Saw Demetri last Friday night here in Dallas. He's hilarious in person as well...very quick-witted but never rushes the jokes. I'm very sorry to hear that Comedy Central cancelled his show. Can't wait to catch his next gig - whatever form that might take.

Father's Day: Lewis CK

You Ain't No Picasso

Peter Wolf (with Shelby Lynne) - Tragedy (live)

Heard this song on KXT 91.7 last week. That sent me to the internet to find more information about the album and Peter Wolf's career. On YouTube I stumbled on the Jimmy Fallon performance performance: breathtaking. Too bad NBC didn't post the video. That Shelby Lynne can sing. She should turn her career over to Peter Wolf. Thank you, KXT for turning my ears on to this song.

Five seasons of 'Lost' in eight minutes (video)--The Live Feed | THR

Five seasons of 'Lost' in eight minutes (video)--The Live Feed | THR

Here's a genius way to get your non-Lost watching friends caught up on "Lost" before the final season begins in February. I've watched each Lost since the first episode. At the beginning Lost was a welcome relief to my frazzled TV nerves. It soothed my jostled Reality TV senses with its languorous narrative. While hinting in tone at its Reality TV doppelganger: Survivor, Lost's producers owe a big debt to Robert Zemeckis' "Castaway" Tom Hanks vehicle.

The cast take their time getting to know one another week after week. Alliances are made and enjoyed over several episodes - even over seasons! Major characters in Lost are foreigners: Koreans speaking Korean (& subtitled no less!), Africans, Aussies, Scots (not subtitled! Thank God for closed-captioning!), Brazilians, French, Iraqis, Cheech-Marin-East-LA-Lottery-Playing-Spanish, etc. This language inclusion is another breakthrough for American television. Will it increase interest in critical-need languages as deemed by the State Department? Perhaps not. But it's a television breakthrough nonetheless. (See: "Heroes" for the highest form of flattery in regards to subtitled languages on network television!)

In subsequent seasons though, Lost's pace veered wildly between that castaway coconut-hunt pace and a haste more suited to Bourne Identity-style action adventure.

This herky-jerky pace kept new viewers away and no doubt lost a few otherwise regular watchers. But its final season is bound to recover a few of them. That its narrative has been barreling to a final season and a tidy series 2010 finale is revolutionary enough for American television. Will we see more of this British series style on American television? That's no longer likely on network TV. This expensive, hour-long episodic drama filmed in Hawaii is on ABC: Network TV! Believe that dramas like Lost are as endangered as those tropical island polar bears from Season 1.

Lost is unique also in that what started as appointment television evolved into VCR-scheduling, then DVR-Tivo scheduling, DVD-season purchasing and finally web-viewing. The show has bridged all of these eras of TV technology.

So if you're a loyal viewer and several seasons ago were hoping to get your Uncle Milton to watch along, here's the 8-minute recap courtesy of The Live Feed. Get them to watch it and then get your popcorn ready for the Final Season of Lost. What, you were going to watch the Winter Olympics? Pshaw.

KXT 91.7 launches tomorrow 7AM

Some 10 years ago, KERA eliminated its 90.1 At Night music programming entirely from its on-air schedule. Little did we know that KERA had a secret plan ever since then to raise a ton of money and purchase a local low-end spectrum radio frequency (91.7 was formerly KVTT Christian Talk Radio).

The advent of a 24-hour Public Radio Music station here in Dallas is possibly the best thing for local music since the Deep Ellum area had its heyday back in the late 80's/early 90's. This elevates DFW radio to the level of a precious few other metropolitan areas in the country that have both a local Public Radio newstalk station and a Public Radio music station. (KCRW Santa Monica is a worthy comparison.)

KXT will host in-studio visits by terrific touring artists that don't fit into the Classic Rock mold. And let's face it, no commercial music station really does artist interviews anymore anyhow. Those commercial music stations are almost completely out of the concert promoting business these days.

If the broadcast tests being conducted this weekend in advance of tomorrow's official launch are any suggestion of the eclectic nature of the music that KXT will be playing for DFW, then we're really in for a treat.

Elvis Presley - Mystery Train
Debussy's Beau Soir - Philadelphia Brass Ensemble
John Coltrane - Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise
AC/DC - Problem Child
Louis Armstrong - West End Blues
Peruvian Folk Music
Enya - Orinoco Flow
Victor Wooten - Can't Hide Love
Willie Nelson & Asleep at the Wheel - South

But the main benefit here is to have a proper music station here in town that will support touring acts that come through Texas but also home grown artists from Denton, Dallas & everywhere in between Terlingua, Austin & Ft. Worth.

Good luck to KXT! Welcome to the community's airwaves. Long may you run.

Change We Can Believe In

Seen at Roly Poly's on Mockingbird Lane & 75.

Fair Park Public Art Quirks

Art&Seek on Think TV: Fair Park Public Art Quirks

Shared via AddThis

I have many fond memories of Fair Park through the years. Somewhere at my folks' place are some Polaroid pictures of me as a kid at Fair Park during the State Fair. My birthday's in October during the State Fair. And I have a faint memory of going there for a few of my birthdays.

But I'm not one of those who claim to have been to the State Fair annually since childhood. But having enjoyed the Arts & Seek video featuring the Watermelon Kid, Steven Butler, I reminisced a bit.

Fair Park was also a yearly destination for local schools on Fair Day. I recall being issued a ticket to the State Fair and going together as a school to the State Fair on our school buses. A few years ago I took a group of 10 or so of my college students to the State Fair. It was like herding cats. So I think my memory must be a little faulty there. How could the schools keep track of so many kids running around?

Further reflection leads me to believe that we were given the day off for Fair Day and taken to the Fair Park Aquarium & Natural Science exhibits at some other time of year other than the State Fair.

I treasure the history of Fair Park. My own personal history with the park is limited because we were from Richardson and Fair Park in pre-DART Rail days was totally out of reach except for field trips.



But a quick inventory reminds me that Dad took me to see the Baylor/Alabama Cotton Bowl in January of 1981. He pointed Bear Bryant out to me a few times. I told Dad that Coach Bryant wears Tom Landry's hat.

We used to go watch my brother compete in the Cotton Bowl Tennis Tournament at the unheated Automobile Building between Christmas & New Years. It wasn't uncommon for players to wear ski jackets on top of their warm-up suits during pre-match preparations. It's now played at area club's indoor HEATED facilities.

I volunteered for FIFA during the 1994 World Cup at the Cotton Bowl. Because of my language skills, I worked protocol for World Cup ´94 out of the Magnolia building. We chauffeured FIFA big-wigs to and from DFW Airport. I went to most of the World Cup Cotton Bowl games that way.

I saw Nirvana at the Fair Park Coliseum. Bassist Krist Novoselic was impressed with the Soviet style stars on the walls of the arena. Saw Soundgarden there too. We saw Radiohead & Spiritualized at the Fair Park Music Hall for their OK Computer tour back in 1998.

At the Cotton Bowl we saw Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band for their Born in the U.S.A. tour in 1985. Saw the Rolling Stones for Steel Wheels in 1989. Saw Stevie Ray Vaughan & The Who in 1989.

We went to all of the first year 1996 Major League Soccer Dallas Burn games at the Cotton Bowl. We were even season ticket holders back then. Going to Burn games in the middle of summer meant there were always parking spaces available and a row of benches in front of you to kick your feet up on. The Dallas Burn mascot was the horse Islámico. Some rider would dramatically ride Islámico onto the field before each game.

The club, like the rest of Major League Soccer, was struggling back then and left Fair Park because they didn't get a cut of the parking. The stadium was way too big for TV. That is, it didn't look good on camera to see so many empty seats. So Fair Park lost MLS soccer's Dallas Burn to an exurb stadium in Frisco, TX.

A few years back, the State Fair Hall of State hosted a very impressive exhibition of WWII propaganda posters and uniforms. I really enjoyed going back in time to see how enemies were depicted and how ominous colors and contrasts were used to maximum effect.

I would love to see & use Fair Park more often. I applaud the efforts of the Friends of Fair Park http://www.fairpark.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=195

A couple of weeks ago we went to see Mexico play Colombia in a soccer-friendly at the newly renovated Cotton Bowl. It was a chance to see the new Fair Park Green Line rail stop in all its Art Deco glory. Parking was $10 and the four of us opted for that rather than spend $4 each on the DART train. (State Fair of Texas & DART need to pow-wow about that cost discrepancy for future State Fairs).

Dallas is a forward leaning city. Always has been. So it's nice to have a place that has some history to it. Fair Park should always be preserved for posterity's sake. There was talk some time ago about making Fair Park a 365 days/year amusement park. I don't know about that. But I would like to see more invested in Fair Park's future in our city. Perhaps a city/state plan would combine Fair Park with efforts to revive Deep Ellum.

This past week saw the opening of the Arts District's flashy Winspear Opera House and the Wyly Theater. While these are events to be celebrated, it makes me wonder whether our city's development efforts are scattered about too much over disperse areas of town.

Tip Jar: Sacred Grounds, Ruidoso, NM

Xavier the baby owl

My neighbors George & Betsy rescued this little baby owl Friday
morning. We named it Xavier. Our postman James had no problems
reaching in the milk crate to pick up Xavier and hold him in his hand
like "The Falconer". Xavier was taken to a local rescue.

While Steve Jobs got a liver transplant...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

How Apple didn't manage to make a deal with U2 on this latest tour makes me wonder. Did the Apple/U2 negotiations happen to coincide with Steve Jobs' 6-month absence? Surely Steve Jobs wouldn't have let this opportunity slip through Apple's hands. And yet here's U2's latest gargantuan world tour 360.U2.com and the big smart-phone sponsor is RIM's iPhone competitor Blackberry.


After having appeared in Apple iPod ads for "Vertigo", it would have been a natural follow-up to have featured U2 on the iPhone 3GS - imagine sharing video clips of the concerts directly from the show. It would have been the most obvious way to promote the iPhone 3GS. In light of Steve Jobs' absence, this might be one of the most obvious things to point out. Would Steve Jobs have missed an opportunity like this to RIM? Hard to imagine.

U2 will be coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth area on October 12th. The concert will be the first big show of note at Cowboys Stadium and one that will highlight the stadium's technology. But how will the amazing 360.U2.com stage fit under the big 60 yard midfield diamond vision screen?

Happy Birthday, Pete!

Birthday regards to a rock favorite of mine: Mr. Pete Townshend of The Who. He's turning 64 today. I was a regular reader of his fantastic website (PeteTownshend.com) for many years when he would post regular "diary" updates and MP3's of songs he was working on, lead tracks that he would record before the band, etc. To my disappointment, Roger Daltrey had him put a stop to that and focus on a Who website that charges a yearly $50 fee for "premium" membership. So the little snippets of Pete genius are no longer featured as they once were on PeteTownshend.co.uk. (Although there is a Pete's Blog portion of thewho.com website. He just doesn't update it as regularly...something I actually have no place to really complain about on Pablo's Point of late.) I harbor no hard feelings toward Roger for ending the PeteTownshend.com presence. After all, without Roger, we might only have Pete as a Susan Boyle-style American Idol contestant. (See this awkward video of Pete on VH1 some years ago singing along to the backtrack of the Jerry Maguire version of "Let My Love Open the Door". It's not far off from American Idol or Britain's Got Talent. Thanks for still being in The Who, Roger!

Also on the old PeteTownshend.co.uk site there were videos of him in the studio preparing songs, track by track, that were brilliant snippets of the work behind the genius songwriter. Pete's terrifically honest in these little "behind the scenes" peeks. I thought about featuring one in particular on this post. But opted for this video from a 1996 Late Night with Conan O'Brien in which Pete's promoting his solo greatest hits collection. With Conan about to take over The Tonight Show spot from Jay Leno, this video serves as a reminder of how much of a music fan Conan is and how good a raconteur Pete is. (And with Pearl Jam just announced as playing on Conan's first night, it's clear that he will continue to spotlight music.)

Pete Townshend on Conan 1996
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