Category: Uncategorized

oZomatli pics

First off, BIG PROPS to Johanna, who was visiting from Puerto Rico, for taking these pictures at the Ozomatli concert in South Beach recently. BIG PROPS to Arlene for passing them on to me. BIG PROPS to me for posting other people’s pictures!! But I know there are a couple of Ozomatli fans out there who read this little site-o-mine so I had to share them.

Asdru shouting it out to the crowd. Take particular note of the shirt he is wearing…
Yes, it says ‘Womadelaide‘. I get bagged for harping on about Australia and in particular Adelaide all the time, but anyone who bags me hasn’t been to Australia yet and just doesn’t understand…
Wil-dog on the bass.
Jabu – awesome vocals…

Shef with DJ Spinobi in the background…
Raul and Jabu…
This part was awesome: after the set had finished oZo came into the crowd and continued to play, battling with the DJ’s at the nightclub who were trying to spin some musak…


Ende!

Farewell

Back in February I made this post about a picture I had located from a night out in South Beach. That night was excellent and I’ve had other good nights out with people in that group since then. I learnt today that Azadeh, the girl in the green top, died in a car accident last night. A person driving under the influence (in fact he had been convicted of DUI 3 times prior) was driving the wrong way on an interstate highway ramp and hit her car head on.

I had not seen Azadeh for a couple of months so I wasn’t a close friend but I’d always have a chat when I did see her. Ha, I remember well being in Voodoo lounge in downtown Ft Lauderdale for Sean’s birthday party a few months ago. I offered her my shoes because her feet were sore from dancing in her shoes and she could not dance anymore. There I was standing on the dancefloor with no shoes on saying “c’mon! there is still dancing to be done! you can wear my shoes!” and she just stared back at me with those eyes. That will always be one thing I will remember about her: her eyes. They were just amazing.

I spent tonight talking to Sean who was a close friend of Azadeh. He’s a bit overwhelmed by the gravity of the situation and things will take a while to sink in.

I have found that time and the comfort of family and friends will help you learn to live with such a loss. Eventually you learn to live for them, and every so often you do or say something that reminds you of that person and you smile to yourself and you say: “I hope you don’t mind, but I borrowed that from you”. And for them, you go on.

Seeya later Azadeh.

A road safety notice for Floridian drivers and bicycle riders

Part 1: The flashing traffic lights.

This has really been getting to me recently and in a lot of cases is making driving more dangerous than just after Wilma when we had virtually no working traffic lights. Some lights at intersections are still not working properly and as such the lights flash yellow for one flow of traffic (eg northbound/southbound) and flash red for another flow (eg eastbound/westbound). If you are travelling and encounter a YELLOW FLASHING traffic light you may proceed with caution. If you are travelling and encounter a RED FLASHING traffic light you must treat it as a stop sign, hence, you must ALWAYS give way to those drivers who are encountering a YELLOW FLASHING traffic light, who by the way should be travelling through the intersection with caution.

What have I seen so far? Drivers have been stopping at the YELLOW FLASHING traffic lights and allowing the people who have RED FLASHING traffic lights to pass on through. However, there have been drivers in other lanes passing through a YELLOW FLASHING light who continue through and nearly hit a driver who shouldn’t be in the intersection. Then again, they should be driving with caution anyway.

To sum up: people are treating the flashing traffic lights as a 4-way stop sign when they should not be. You only do that when they are not operating at all.

Part 2: People not wearing seatbelts.

It really pisses me off as a driver when people do not buckle up. Put your god damn seatbelt on and don’t complain if I tell you to. Contrary to your own beliefs, you’re not invincible. Your chances of proving that you’re invincible pretty much fall to zero when you fly through the front windscreen.

Part 3: People not using their indicators.

I like to know what you’re doing, fellow driver, so I can work out what action to take should something weird happen. You may think you own the roads but in fact you don’t. Shock! Horror! Actually you only “own” a small fraction of the road and I’m pretty sure we passed that a while back.

Part 4: People on bicycles riding against the traffic.

ARE YOU FREAKING MORONS? Ride with the traffic you idiots.

Yes, it’s Monday.

Frobros

I was browsing through my computer and found some pictures from what seems like another lifetime. Ok, it’s actually only a couple of years ago and these pics are from one of the infamous social club nights my company had. This one had a blues brother theme and stars the Chief and CJB as my fellow fro-bros, da Boss, and Nav. I’ve only got a few pics and they are here.

CJB-1000 was created from one of these pics.