Tomorrow night, 11/25, Yoshi's Oakland: My First Time!

This is it! Tomorrow night it's my *first time headlining* at Yoshi's
Jazz Club in Oakland's lovely Jack London Square. We have almost sold
out the 8 pm show (there is also a 10 pm show, with a different set list),
and guess what, folks -- we had our fans in mind
when we decided to make this FREE show rather than $16 per ticket.
Yoshi's has done a few of these in the last few months, but they want
you to know that this will be the *last* free show for a long while.
Please don't take this amazing place for granted!

I am so honored to be playing a club that just hosted a run of McCoy
Tyner shows last week! I promise you, if you come down (and bring
kids, they are more than welcome), you will leave our concert with an
enjoyable lightness of being, a desire to be more color-coordinated
and a new fondness for fish! You will want to clap more frequently and
laugh louder than anyone else. You will invest in dance lessons
promptly, if only to ensure you do not dance like I do! And one week
later, your significance in the universe will be revealed in a fortune
cookie accidentally delivered to your table by a spastic waiter with
Tourette's.

It's all connected, and so are we.

Please join us tomorrow night!

Un gran abrazo,

Alexa

P.S. David Belove, joining me on bass tomorrow, is also a wonderful
photographer who took some lovely new promo pix for me. Check 'em out
here!

http://budurl.com/mf59

****************************************
LARGE GROUPS @ YOSHI'S CONTEST

Several of you have kindly informed me that you are coming to the
show with groups of 6, 10 or more music fans. I would like to take
pictures with any of those large groups. Further, I will award one
free CD to the organizer of each group of 6 or more that comes to the
show. But be honest, now! No spontaneous group-forming, OK? And no
fighting over the CD. Let's all be happy.

****************************************
UPCOMING YOSHI'S CONCERT!

THE ALEXA WEBER MORALES BAND
Plays Yoshi's Jack London Square
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008, 8 and 10 PM shows
510 Embarcadero West between Washington and Clay Streets
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 238-9200
Price: FREE!!! ($3 service charge applies)

http://budurl.com/lnp2

Oakland singer-songwriter Alexa Weber Morales performs at Yoshi's
Jack London Square with a crack team of musicians Tuesday, November 25
at 8 and 10 PM. The Alexa Weber Morales Band has enjoyed success
throughout this year, starting with a three-night run at Jazz at
Pearl's in San Francisco and continuing through the San Jose Jazz
Festival. At recent shows, the exuberant performer has emphasized the
Brazilian segment of her repertoire, including selections from her
Wayne Wallace-produced albums Vagabundeo and Jazzmérica; songs by Edu
Lobo, Caetano Veloso and Guinga; and her own originals.

With her trademark spectrum of world music including salsa,
Brazilian, Caribbean and funk, Alexa Weber Morales brings a refreshing
authenticity to the stage. "I find her command of Latin idioms
completely convincing, entrancing even," writes Village Voice critic
Tom Hull, while the San Francisco Chronicle predicts, "With a voice
sweet, pure and strong, Alexa Weber Morales is poised to ride the Bay
Area Latin jazz scene to national recognition."

The Alexa Weber Morales Band includes Murray Low, piano; Omar
Ledezma, percussion and vocals; David Belove, bass; Zareen, vocals;
and Deszon X. Claiborne, drums. Both Murray and David are veteran
studio musicians who can be heard on Alexa's two solo recordings.

These two shows are free of charge as a special "Audience
Appreciation Night" at the peerless jazz club. Reserve your tickets
online today ($3 service fee applies)!

Yoshi's Jazz Club at Jack London Square
510 Embarcadero West
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 238-9200

****************************************
ABOUT THE ALEXA WEBER MORALES BAND

(go here for pictures:
http://www.alexawebermorales.com/2008/10/alexa-weber-morales-band-at-yoshis.html
)

Creating a Greatest Hits Tape of Yourself in Your Head

This is from The Improv Handbook by Tom Salinsky and Deborah Frances-White:

Close your eyes and remember a moment in the workshop that was awful for you. You really got it wrong and you felt bad about it. Maybe you even cringe to think of it. Have you got a moment like that? If not, you don't need to worry. If you do, I want you to play that moment back now ... and then let it go. Breathe it out. If the moment haunts you when you're lying in bed or walking down the street -- see it and let it go. Generally, other people can only remember your good moments and their bad moments, so unless you continue to play it back, it will be gone forever. It's disposable.

Now think of a moment when you really had it. You were great! Maybe something you did or said made the audience really laugh or lean forward. Maybe it was a personal revelation about something. You felt talented in that moment. Okay -- you've all got a moment like that. Now play it back. Play it back. Play it back. When you go home tonight, lie in bed and construct a Greatest Hits Tape of all your best moments and play it over. By doing this you reinforce your own talent, and when you come to improvise again, your brain will remember it as something you love to do because you have a talent for it. You must reinforce your own talent because this is a tough business and you can't expect anyone else to do it for you. Never let a teacher, director or other performer make you feel untalented. One way to do this is make a Greatest Hits Tape in your head, add to it regularly and play it back often.

Steve Martin on Looking Back

Boy could I relate to this excerpt (p. 122) from Steve Martin's recent book Born Standing Up:

I recently viewed a musty video of an appearance on The Virginia Graham Show, circa 1970, unseen since its airing. I looked grotesque. I had a hairdo like a helmet, which I blow-dried to a puffy bouffant, for reasons I no longer understand. I wore a frock coat and a silk shirt, and my delivery was mannered, slow, and self-aware. I had absolutely no authority. After reviewing the show, I was -- especially since I was writing an autobiography documenting my success -- depressed for a week. But later, searching my mind for at least one redeeming quality in the performance, I became aware that not one joke was normal, that even though I was the one who said the lines, I did not know what was coming next. The audience might have thought what I am thinking now: "Was that terrible? Or was it good?"

I often have horrible reactions to seeing video of myself. I have a rule, which when unenforced produces disastrous results, of letting a few days or better a week go by before viewing video or listening to a board mix of a show.

Now I can't find it, but somewhere else in the book he talks about how unrecognizable his earlier self is to who he is now, and how performers live so much in the moment, that once it's over it's gone. I don't like to go back and read diaries, and looking at old pictures usually makes me sad or uncomfortable. It does feel like looking at a stranger. Again, I can relate.

Culture Clash: Muddy Bay

We had a lovely day today. Got up early, I made waffles, and then we went for a family walk with the dog. My husband and I talked about show business, and some interesting things I was reading in a book about human dominance/submission or status relationships and how we communicate them subliminally. We were discussing people and family members in that context as we enjoyed the unusually balmy November day.

Then this afternoon, we went to a giant barbecue for my son's soccer team -- which is part of a soccer empire, the Oakland Internationals, started by one man. They have quite a few teams in the club. I had a great time eating, talking with other parents, and eating more. Unfortunately, at the end of the afternoon my son did something that really set off his dad, and to me illustrated a cultural rift between Mexican and American attitudes -- although I might be wrong about that.

My son can be a bit of a clown. For some reason which he claimed was not his fault, he and another boy ended up in three feet of mud and silt in the Bay, and he lost his shoes. A crowd of 40 kids of all ages gathered around on a dock and shouted out directions as to where he should dig in search of his shoes. In doing so he caked his new medal in mud, along with his arms. I found out this was going on second hand, because some parents came to my table and began rolling their eyes and gossiping in Spanish about what my son had done. They weren't aware that I understood, until I responded in Spanish and asked where he was and what had happened. I played it off as funny but I could see that the other parents, who are mostly Mexican, were viewing this as a faux pas. Un paso malo, to be precise.

So I go over there and my husband is livid. Ultimately we left shortly thereafter, having lost the shoes and socks to the SF Bay forever. My son was clowning until we got to the car and my husband began yelling. I defended my son a bit, and on the way home I tried to explain to him that Mexicans really take it seriously when you clown or embarrass your parents. Americans, or at least the ones in my circle, might in a social situation laugh about such a thing. The operative word being "might." Anyway, I think my son learned an important lesson about his dad's culture today.

When Do I Get to Sing on a Swing?

This is what I aspire to. Tuesday at Yoshi's. Stage manager has no idea but I'm going to try to pull this off.

Steve Martin On Showmanship for Magicians

Here's an excerpt from Born Standing Up, Steve Martin's book about his career as a stand-up comic:

Showmanship for Magicians is a handbook meant to turn amateurs into professionals. Its subtitle is Complete Discussions of Audience Appeals and Fundamentals of Showmanship and Presentation. I held my first copy and solemnly turned the pages, reading each sentence so slowly that it's a miracle I could remember what the verb was. The cover was plain-faced -- like a secret manifesto that should be hidden under your mattress -- and the pages were as thick as rags. Fitzkee starts by denigrating the current state of magic, saying it is old-fashioned. Though published in 1943, this statement contains an enduring truth. All entertainment is or is about to become old-fashioned. There is room, he implies, for something new. To a young performer, this is a relief. My references were all in the past, and in just one chapter, these roots were severed, or at least choked. Fitzkee then goes on to break down a show into elements such as Music, Rhythm, Comedy, Sex Appeal, Personality, and Selling Yourself, and he concludes that atention to each is vital and necessary. Why not throw everything in the book at the audience, like an opera does? Costumes, lights, music, everything? He also talks about something that was to land on me with a thud six years later: the importance of originality. "So what," I thought at the time. "Who cares?"

Less Than One Week Away: Alexa Weber Morales Band at Yoshi's!

Tickets are going fast for the 8 PM and 10 PM shows at Yoshi's Oakland/Jack London Square location! We have an impressive number of seats reserved ($3 fee applies) for the first and second shows. This is the LAST audience appreciation night Yoshi's will be doing for a while, they tell me, so not only do you get to join me in a celebratory feast of the musical senses, you get to enjoy the Bay Area's finest jazz club for FREE!

Reserve your tickets online today ($3 service fee applies)!

Yoshi's Jazz Club at Jack London Square
510 Embarcadero West
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 238-9200

Read on for more details...

Oakland singer-songwriter Alexa Weber Morales performs at Yoshi’s Jack London Square with a crack team of musicians Tuesday, November 25 at 8 and 10 PM. The Alexa Weber Morales Band has enjoyed success throughout this year, starting with a three-night run at Jazz at Pearl’s in San Francisco and continuing through the San Jose Jazz Festival. At recent shows, the exuberant performer has emphasized the Brazilian segment of her repertoire, including selections from her Wayne Wallace-produced albums Vagabundeo and Jazzmérica; songs by Edu Lobo, Caetano Veloso and Guinga; and her own originals.

With her trademark spectrum of world music including salsa, Brazilian, Caribbean and funk, Alexa Weber Morales brings a refreshing authenticity to the stage. “I find her command of Latin idioms completely convincing, entrancing even,” writes Village Voice critic Tom Hull, while the San Francisco Chronicle predicts, “With a voice sweet, pure and strong, Alexa Weber Morales is poised to ride the Bay Area Latin jazz scene to national recognition.”

The Alexa Weber Morales Band includes Murray Low, piano; Omar Ledezma, percussion and vocals; David Belove, bass; Zareen, vocals; and Deszon X. Claiborne, drums. Both Murray and David are veteran studio musicians who can be heard on Alexa’s two solo recordings.

These two shows are free of charge as a special “Audience Appreciation Night” at the peerless jazz club. Reserve your tickets online today ($3 service fee applies)!

Yoshi's Jazz Club at Jack London Square
510 Embarcadero West
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 238-9200

About the Alexa Weber Morales Band


Since 2004, multilingual singer-songwriter and Patois Records artist Alexa Weber Morales has made six studio recordings, including her two solo albums, Jazzmérica and Vagabundeo. The latter, named “one of the greatest Bay Area recordings in recent times” by Latin Beat magazine, made top-20 airplay nationwide and received acclaim from around the world. Rio de Janeiro–based producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro (João Gilberto, Luiz Bonfá) calls her original compositions “rhythmically captivating and entrancing.” A June 2008 DownBeat review of Vagabundeo enthuses, “Her large-scale skill and talent encourages her all-inclusive dreams” and praises her “gorgeous articulation, flowing time sense and warm tone.”


Murray Low is a 30-year veteran pianist on the Bay Area jazz scene. Though he is a tireless performer, recording artist, and arranger, he is best known for his work with Pete Escovedo (since 1994); Grammy-nominated John Santos and the Machete Ensemble (since 2000); and Andy Narell, the pioneering steel pan player. His multifaceted career has also included international performances with Tito Puente, Bob Mintzer, Sheila E, Benny Golson, John Patitucci, George Duke, and many others.

Drummer Deszon X. Claiborne is one of the most in-demand session players in Northern California, whose professional credits seem impossibly diverse: from Ornette Coleman to Bo Diddley to Andy Narell and Charles Brown. A stylistic “shape shifter” who is equally at home in jazz and funk, Deszon is known for a powerful yet contained sound, and a lively, sensitive touch on the cymbals, described by jazz critic Lee Hildebrand as “complex, syncopated, and breathtaking.”


A Kansas City native, David Belove relocated to San Francisco in 1973 and soon became the Bay Area’s most prominent Latin and Brazilian bassist, working with Pete and Sheila Escovedo, Tito Puente, John Santos and Machete, Rebeca Mauleón, Edgardo Cambon y Candela, Rolando Morales, Homenagem Brasiliera, Wayne Wallace, the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir and many more. On the national stage, he’s collaborated with Joe Henderson, Blue Mitchell, Eddie Harris, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, Larry Coryell, Louis Bellson, Mark Murphy and Pat Metheny. Also an educator, David is on faculty at the JazzSchool, Jazz Camp West, SF Jazz and Mills College. In addition, he teaches bass privately at his studio in Oakland where he also enjoys photography and graphics projects.



Vocalist Zareen grew up in a small town outside of Boston. She has studied with Madeline Eastman, Kurt Elling, and Raz Kennedy; writes her own songs; and has recently released an album of original trip-hop tunes. Her repertoire also includes Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, and Latin American music. Zareen has performed all over the Bay Area, with several different bands including Los Boleros, Simply Jazz, and the Befores, but she especially values her performances with her third-grade students.

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Omar Ledezma, Jr. has been taking the Bay Area by storm with his percussion-vocals skills and his professionalism. After graduating at one of the most prestigious law schools in Caracas, Omar packed one bag and one drum to begin his move to Boston while making a passionate commitment to study at Berklee College of Music. There he collaborated and toured with renowned artists in the US, Europe, Caribbean and South America. He has participated in more than 20 recordings and projects including CDs, DVDs and books.

A Sign of Maturity?

Twice in recent days I have written an email and then deleted it or otherwise reconsidered before sending, figuring that the act of writing my feelings was more important than sending them to the other party.

The only drawback is that I am not addressing the situation at all with the other people (two totally different people/problems), but rather hoping they will go away or I will forget about them.

I don't like to be seen as demanding. And sometimes in the scheme of things something irksome later seems minor, and then you haven't built up the ill-will of having complained about it to someone you're trying to do great things with.

Writing, then deleting: Trend or fluke?

Self-Help Books I Would Buy

I came across this title just now (Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life) and it made me chuckle. Inspired, I came up with some potential best-selling self-help book titles:

Toxic Losers: Ruthlessly Eliminating Useless Nitwits From Your Social Circle

Delirious Felicity: Staying Positive When Everyone You Work With Is Not, Because You're All About to Be Laid Off for Christmas

Reclaiming Your Claim: Finding What You Were Meaning to Find But Forgot About Along the Way to the Big Claim Check We Are All Waiting in Line For

When "No" Means "Not Really But I Guess It's OK": Why Continuing to Accept Sub-Par Subcontractors Sabotages Your Serenininicity My Eye Twitches

Ancient Rage: Turning the Bile Within into Caustic Sputum

Men Don't Suck, But They Do: How Years of Interaction with Men Can Turn You into a Fervent Proponent of Asexual Reproduction

Teaching the Children: Why I Believe the Children Are the Future Even Though They Have No Impulse-Control

I Can't Stand the Screaming Any Longer: One Woman's Story of Outsourcing Child-Rearing to Anglophone Third-World Countries for Just $5 a Day

Aphlomoromics: How Coining Random Terms Can Make You Into an Instant Media Darling

Seven Point Three Steps to Starting: 7 Ideas on How to Begin Doing Anything That You Would Rather Read 10,000 Meaningless Words Than Do, Plus a Special Bonus Section of Inspirational Refrigerator-Magnet Haiku (.3)

Eleventeen Ways to be Successful in Business: Because You Don't Understand Statistics Enough to Realize that You Will Never Make it Into the Top One Percent of Corporate Wage Earners

Toxic Capitalization: When You No Longer Remember What a Preposition Is Or Whether You Should Capitalize It In a Book Title, and How to Feel Better About that Fact

Take a Shower: Why Continuing to Postpone Bathing in Favor of Blogging Pushes Those Nearest to You Away from You Because You Stink

Geography: Not Just an Abstraction

I could have been guilty of something like this myself. Well, maybe not quite this bad. Just got a call from a recruiter looking for a web editor for a technology publishing company. She's calling from the East Coast. The company is located in a small town in Southern California. I'm in Northern California. The conversation didn't take too long, but would not likely have occurred at all if she knew the size of California, and that the Bay Area is not near Irvine.

"Would you be interested in a job in that area?"
"Well, I'm in Northern California, so it would have to be an extremely competitive salary for me to move to Southern California."
"I believe it's in the San Fernando Valley."
"Yes, well, that's very far away. It would have to be an extremely competitive salary for me to move."
"This is a mid-level editorial position. What would you be looking for?"
I briefly described my experience and current clients, and then said, "I'd need six figures."
"Oh. Well, this is not that."
"What is the pay?"
"It's mid-level editorial, so it's mid-fifties."
"I'm sorry, I can't help you. And since I'm in the Bay Area I can't really think of anyone to recommend to you for Southern California."

We talked a bit more, and I said I was pleased to get the call (I was having a moment of quiet desperation while deep-cleaning the bath drain with a screwdriver before the phone rang, feeling a bit ignored). It's always nice to hear from recruiters, though I've never gotten a really relevant call from one.

If only concert halls would call me and offer me salaried positions with benefits. Sigh.

Two More Photos by David Belove

New Photos by David Belove

These photos from November 5 turned out wonderful. I wanted a retro, 1920s look (just for a change of pace, not because I'm doing music like that). I did my own makeup, but had my hair done by Michelle Sue at Seven Salon in Oakland. The setting is... my livingroom. That giant wing chair was my grandmother's. I believe she had it upholstered in the early 60s. Or maybe it was the 50s. But my parents had it when we were growing up, because my grandma was rather nomadic. There are lots of family pictures of us as children posed in this chair, and even though it has been horribly abused (by my boys too), I love that I was able to get some great pix in this chair.

The piano is mine too, and those are pictures of my older son behind me (in retro 20s garb as well -- Emilio got them done at a mall), as well as a table top I painted and a piece of art by Susana England that was a wedding gift. The 50s Shure mic is David Belove's.

I have a great rapport with David, so I was very relaxed the whole shoot, even though the hair took way too long (leaving David to wait for two hours at my house!) and I got a parking ticket! But I was able to snap out of it (I said to myself, Barack Obama just got elected, so what if I got a ticket! This is nothing!).

There are many wonderful shots, but I'll tantalize you with these two to start!

And I Want This Too...

Although it could be highly annoying to wear, if you have to do anything with your hands. Oh well.

I Want This Dress. Seriously.

Yes We Can!

What a day and night. When I went to pick up my son in daycare they were calling out the electoral score. After dinner my husband said "Barack's won it," but it still wasn't clear, even though we knew California's electoral votes would put him over the top. But when McCain made his concession and Barack made his acceptance, there it was. A fact. President-elect.

The speech was wonderful. I have been scouting about for a transcript but I can't find one yet. There were several memorable lines, one of them being about how this is not change yet, but a chance to make change. What got the tears going was when he began to address the world, saying that those in parliaments and palaces, those huddled around radios in every corner of the planet, would know a new America not by her arms but by her democratic promise, her liberty, her ideals and ideas. I have never heard a presidential speech like that. Kennedy was before my time.

I was misty, but still in control. Then he finished the speech and the families came out. Now I started to cry in earnest. What a release. My son tried to be helpful: "Stop crying, Mommy. Just imagine that John McCain has won." "No, no -- I am enjoying the moment," I said. "This is a historical moment you got to see. I am crying because it is so powerful."

The most wrenching part for me came as the families retreated and he lingered alone on stage, humbly, almost in a resigned fashion, waving and acknowledging the crowd. Michelle Obama stood back at the curtain. Her body language was clear, to me. It was protective and adoring. Here stood this man, her husband, addressing millions -- billions -- of people. The camera came from high behind and above her, showing the distance between the two of them, he out on the stage, she waiting to leave it. Finally, he turned and walked back to her, almost gratefully she held him, and they disappeared behind the curtain. That just made me sob.

I didn't start out this election season expecting anything like this to come to fruition. Obama wasn't even my candidate. But as he said, his campaign was perhaps the best this country has ever seen. Nothing is ever perfect or static, but for a moment we can all enjoy knowing that our work has paid off, that the people have spoken, that democracy is meaningful. Now let's all get some sleep and dream of peace.

Vota por Obama Hoy!

Ha llegado el día esperado: Hoy toma su tiempo y vota por Barack Obama y Joseph Biden como presidente y vice presidente. Como imigrantes, los hispanohablantes deben de admirar los logros de un individuo tal como Obama, hijo de un licenciado de Kenia y una estudiante angloamericana del estado de Kansas. Nunca dotado con dinero ni conecciones, su madre incansablemente le educó al joven Barack. Este terminó en la mejor universidad particular en los EE.UU. (donde muchos políticos mexicanos han recibido licenciaturas y maestrias), Harvard. Su carrera política se ha enfocada en la justicia para los pobres en Chicago, la educación adecuada para todos los niños, seguro social universal y la paz internacional, entre muchos otros temas.

Se han escuchado muchos rumores sobre Obama en los últimos meses. Si alguien se le ha murmurado que Obama es un musulmán, hay dos cosas que considerar. Primeramente, aquella religión no se define por algunos fanáticos que lo practican -- es una fé entre las más populares del mundo. Pero aparte de eso, Obama es cristiano. Cuando en diciembre del 2007 se le pidió a Obama explicar su herencia musulmana, respondió:

Mi padre era de Kenia, y un montón de gente de su aldea era musulmana. Él no practicaba el islam. La verdad es que no era muy religioso. Conoció a mi madre. Mi madre era una cristiana de Kansas, y se casaron y después se divorciaron. Fui educado por mi madre. Así que siempre he sido cristiano. La única relación que he tenido con el islam es que mi abuelo paterno procedía de ese país. Pero nunca he practicado el islam... Durante un tiempo viví en Indonesia porque mi madre estaba enseñando allí. Y ese es un país musulmán. Y yo iba al colegio. Pero no practicaba. Pero para lo que sí creo que me sirvió es para darme experiencia en cómo piensa esta gente, y parte de cómo creo que podemos crear una mejor relación con Oriente Medio y que nos ayudaría a estar más seguros si sabemos comprender cómo piensan en los distintos temas.

Esto es el tipo de comprensión internacional que nos ofrece un mente tan ágil y un espíritu tan diplomático como los que tiene Barack Obama. No es perfecto, y claro que es un político. Pero en este momento histórico para los Estados Unidos, sobresale una semejanza al año 1867, en el qual un pobre indio zapoteco, Benito Juárez, llegó a ser presidente de México.

¡Sí se puede!

I Voted! Did You Vote Yet?

That was exciting. At 9 am I walked down to my polling place, which had been moved to a large church cafeteria and actually combined two previous polling sites. Outside, a Democratic party worker handed me a postcard with the Oakland Democratic Party slate marked up -- that has never happened before.

There was no line, but more activity than most years. I'm sure the evening will be packed. Got the ballot, proceeded to mark it up and then made a mistake on one of the propositions. Went back, told them I made a mistake and they gave me another ballot. Marked it up and checked it again and again and again. They had me feed it into the Sequoia vote reader box. The display said I was number 74 (and the poll worker pointed it out, saying my vote had been counted). As I walked out I saw the other box read number 97.

Outside, a young woman passed me with tears in her eyes, saying "I got my sticker!" Another woman on a cell phone was dressed in hot pink shoes, jacket and hat, very much an Oakland church lady. I could hear her saying she was enjoying being part of history in the making.

What a day! The sun is shining and there is optimism and unity on the streets of Oakland.

An Open Letter to McCain Supporters

I am very middle-of-the-road in many respects, and I try to reach out to those who disagree with me when I can -- OK, not always, and more often than not it's nice to be polite and not get into arguments -- during important elections. For that reason I appreciate the tone of this open letter to McCain supporters by Adam McKay, who wrote and directed Anchorman and Talladega Nights (so, yes, he is an evil Hollywood libertine). There are many points here, on taxes, abortion and ugly rumors, addressed in a calm, diplomatic fashion for Republicans. I especially like this excerpt:

If you are a person who is voting for McCain because you think Obama is a communist who wants to redistribute the wealth, I know you are smarter than that. Bush already gave obscene tax breaks to people like me and Warren Buffet and we are saying it's not fair. Why would we work against our own interests? The answer is simple: because fair taxation makes the whole country stronger and if the country isn't strong our money ends up disappearing anyway (see massive stock market crash currently in progress). Bush redistributed the wealth and McCain has been very clear that he will continue to give tax breaks to big corporations and the wealthy in the name of trickle down economics. He really truly has. It's a big fat fact.

I also know that from years of Corporatists and fundamentalists turning the word "liberal" into a code word for gays and hippies and commies you think that blue staters all want to corrupt our country and have people marrying dogs and smoking crack and burning Christmas trees. Here's the real truth: We're pretty much just like you. We really, truly are.

And finally if you are not voting for Barack because of the color of his skin, then there may be nothing I can say to you. But I just ask that you really consider this decision. Can anything good come of a backward way of thinking like judging someone based on skin color? No way. And I think in your heart of hearts you know that is very true. The world is changing and if we think and act like it's the 1600s then America will slip hard.

Cambiando Nuestra Historia Nacional en Dos Dias: Vota el 4 de Noviembre!

Este martes, 4 de noviembre el pueblo norteamericano borra la triste historia de los últimos ocho años y elige un nuevo presidente. ¿No quiere usted saber que participó en este momento nacional y votó para Barack Obama y Joseph Biden? El trabajo no importa. Despierta temprano, haga su plan del día, vaya a votar. Si no está registrado para votar, asegure que otro votante registrado llegue a votar. ¡Sí se puede!

Rewriting History in Two Days: Vote November 4th!

On Tuesday, November 4th the American people will rewrite history. Don't you want to be a part of it? Don't you want to know that you cast a vote for Barack Obama? Don't forget, wake up early, make a plan and be at the polls. Work can wait. Get it done. Tuesday, November 4th. If you aren't registered to vote, get someone who is to the polls instead. This is history, and you can write it yourself. Go go go!

Cute and Moving

Halloween 2008

Yes, I am insane. Thankfully my son (here dressed as Frankie) is still too young to mind. Though he did laugh pretty hard when he saw me.

For those who can't tell this is my Mexican lucha libre costume -- thrown together in five minutes! My son's costume was a huge hit, however.