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when we woke up this morning there was a groan outside the house, and the bed was vibrating. i looked out the window for road work vehicles, and when i didn’t see any i figured it was the construction crew down the street. a few minutes later my sister called up and said there was an earthquake in oklahoma that could be felt all the way up to kansas city. she felt it too. the last time i was in an earthquake, it was staged at a spoken word event in the early 90′s (it wasn’t real). before the night was over people were shaking their tables and dancing while carole king’s i feel the earth move blared through the house speakers.

back in the 1980′s AT&T used to promote their long distance service by telling people to reach out and touch someone. they expected everyone to call old friends and relatives who lived far away. i would make those kind of calls from time to time… sparingly. now it’s 30 years later, and it’s cheaper to reach out online, so i’m doing it alot… only i’m reaching out to people i haven’t met before because they seem cool. and those people are saying “hi” back! people like camry ivory who is using paint brushes to create music on the street, and john richards who created international clash day in seattle a few years ago. my world is getting smaller with every email, tweet, and facebook post.

here’s one last pic from the gig at the gardens. i wanted to dispel a notion that was repeated all through my teenage years about my “big” feet. my feet were often compared to skis, boats, and yes… even clown feet. as you can see by the pic above, my feet don’t even come close. a big thanks goes to cookie the clown for allowing his feet to be used in comparison. he was probably teased more than me when he was growing up.

brianna sent me more pics from our performance two saturdays ago. she’s the activities director at the gardens at jackson creek where beep goes the weasel joined in the festivities of family fun day! above: me and cookie the clown with our guitars. he has an AIRcoustic. below: josh (my roadie) shows one of the residents how to play the theremin.

last night jenny & i were driving on the missouri side, and walked around loose park. it’s one of kansas city’s larger parks with enough space to throw frisbees or play tennis, soccer, and drums (all at the same time!) many photographers go there for the rose garden, but when i saw the cactus garden, i said “jenny take a picture of me here!” heck, i might even join the cactus & succulent society! it’s cheaper than AARP!

some people only buy new computers. i have purchased new and used ones. it’s a roll of the dice either way to be honest. i felt like like i was looking at a scrap heap when i bought a $99 laptop at direct computer outlet today. it’s an HP 630 model that is probably 5 or 6 years old. there was actually a cheaper one behind it ($79) but it was running on windows vista, and i have heard bad stories about that operating system. i’m gonna use the HP 630 to play veggies, show educational film shorts, and burn CD’s.

jenny & i drove to swope park sunday to check out the annual ethnic enrichment festival. it’s been attracting more people with each passing year, which means the little patch of land hasn’t expanded since the late 1990′s, but a LOT more people are showing up. it’s cool that so many people come to this thing to experience other cultures. it’s not cool that i’ve started feeling agoraphobic at these type of gatherings. we stood in line for plantains from ecuador, and a blended pineapple coconut drink from kenya.

i got a call from brianna. she’s the activites director for the gardens at jackson creek. she caught beep goes the weasel one time in front of salon kitch, and asked if we could play at the gardens for family fun time! it was short notice, but we made it work last saturday. we were joined by cookie the clown, who played a instrument with his nose, but it sounded like it was being played by another part of his body.

last week jenny as jenny and i were headed west on 75th street she said, “hey there’s a guy playing the tuba!” i heard the instrument’s familiar low brassy sound as we drove past. we were on our way to shawnee mission park to take advantage of the nice weather. two hours later we were going back home the same way, and he was still playing his tuba. his name is george. he plays in the parking lot between sang sang express and ryan’s steakhouse for tips. we gave him $5.

i don’t know how much people pay for papayas at a grocery store, but when i saw them priced at “two pounds for one dollar,” that seemed like a good deal to me. i could almost hear an announcer saying “c’mon down! the price is right!” i picked them up for two beep goes the weasel gigs coming up this weekend. this is kind of exciting. i’ve never played papayas. the biggest piece of synthesized produce so far has been an eggplant. and that cost me more than two papayas!