On the Street

Unsettling Ornamentation

Letters (to the On the Street Penthouse Suite)

The creek hasn't completely dried up just yet. The trickles of the week...

#1 Bonnes fetes de fins d annee

From the local French community…

Bonjour a tous j espere que vous allez passer de bonne fetes de fins d annee entoure de gens que vous aimez ...Je pense bien a vous... au plaisir de se lire sur le net....amities

#2 Nativity with Birds

From ATX…

Happy Holidays!

Nativity with Birds, Austin, TX, 12.19.2008

can now be viewed at http://www.barrystone.com/
Cheers,
Barry

Hairy Christmoustache

Though these freshly silk-screened flyers were given away at the end of the fake moustache party at Fl!ght Gallery, it does serve as a nice introduction to the Stash Porn (which has nothing to do with the more common porn stash.)

And lost in all the mustachioed shenanigans, the event was also a benefit for the now fertile South Presa Community Garden, a garden I had too soon written off for its lack of "fecundity".

The Gallery of Mustaches

Somewhere between Hitler and Ghandi? In truth, much closer to the "Tramp", Charlie Chaplin (though I was always more of a Buster Keaton man myself.)

Rolly Fingers meets Pancho Villa.

All business.

Possibly real.

A fake moustache with a lower carbon footprint.

Also possibly real, which made the night a hall of mirrors.

Though there were mustaches everywhere, it wasn't just about the mustache. And sadly, because of that many people showed up late thinking they could avoid the situation altogether.

Luckily, there were options.

Inside the gallery Buttercup played a modest but full set. The amps didn't go to 11 but the energy was high. The lineup permutations can often be as exciting as the full band, as no one is quite sure what direction they will pursue for the night.

And to conclude, mustaches were not the only thing to be grown.

Fireside Chat with Congressman Al (Roster Spots 1 -15 Discussed

Though the once "famous" fireside chats with former congressional aspirant Congressman Al have probably receded into memory, we bring them back one more time with an extended discussion on the San Antonio Spurs. We give a "state of the union" analysis of the entire team, going through every roster spot adding imprecise and self-congratulatory analysis. Oh yeah, it's long.

Christmas Day Miracle (Merry Mason Miracle)

In the shadow of the fireside chat with Congressman Al, actual Spurs games were played. While most people digested turkey and potatoes, at 1:30pm CTZ the Spurs and the Phoenix Suns met on national tv for a classic rematch, though for most it was a warmup for the main event - the Celtics versus the Lakers. In the end, I think the Spurs game proved to be more exciting.

Much like Game 2 of the 1999 Western Conference Finals versus the Portland Trailblazers, the Spurs were in a game they had no business winning. They were behind for probably about 95% of the game, with a few moments of the score being tied, and a tease where we actually led for about 30 seconds, but other than that we constantly playing from behind. Perhaps not being blown out but we were never in control of the game.

Somehow we scrap our way back in the last minute only to go down by two points by giving up a layup on an inbounds play. It was a good play but Parker was caught not switching on defense and his man cut straight to the rim and got an uncontested layup. A letdown for sure. Not as bad as Dwight Howard winning a game last year on a dunk from a 30 foot inbounds pass, but in that direction of defensive breakdown.

With less than 5 seconds left, the Spurs had time for one less play to try and score two points to put the game in overtime. There was some possible trickery where both Roger Mason and Matt Bonner both looked they were about to go into the game, but Mason was the one chosen. He hadn't played in about a quarter so it seemed strange that he would get the nod. Coach seems to prefer Finley to Mason but perhaps this was a test to see how Mason would react. Or maybe it was just a bluff to make the other team second guess themselves. As it turns out, they didn't think very far ahead at all.

And so how did it turn out...?

Downtown Highlife Rides Again

Pre-ride festivities began at the wonderful Acapulco Drive-In. And if there is any place that I need to review for Fast Foodie, then it is this place. In fact, look for that in the coming weeks and months. Though Garcia's Mexican Food is perhaps the best Tex-Mex and "cheap eats", I'm beginning to think Acapulco Drive-In might have the best cheap eats in town. Their cheeseburger for $3.50 is too good and affordable to overlook. Their chalupa was a bountiful salad, with actual green lettuce. More on them later...

A few of the highlights of the Downtown Highlife Ride, basically a safety inspection of the city...

9:45pm - An inspection of the "Scooby Do" bridge. All looked safe. As we determined PD had the situation under control we left them to their undercover work.

10:45pm - An inspection of the mettalic drums at Brackenridge Park. The timbre seemed fine. Several actual logs lined the corners of the circle, suggesting lines of exit and entry, depending on one's taste. I'm not one for drum circles but this is clearly more in the lines of public art that's interactive.

12:07am - An inspection of the boating dock at Woodlawn Lake. The buoyancy seemed excellent. About 30 people walked the planks to see for themselves. Overall, it was given a mark in the high 90s.

1:36am - After crashing the house of the former bike czar, we were able to assess the detective work of PD as they came to perform a decibel level check, be it informal and without scientific precision. We gave this a passing grade.

And so goes another week on the streets of San Antonio. As always, to be continued...