Plate 0′ Shrimp

The teacher never told you anything but white lies
But you never see the lies
that you believe
Oh you know you have been captured
You feel so civilized
And you look so pretty in your new lace sleeves

Elvis Costello - New Lace Sleeves

I saw the English Beat at the Avalon nightclub in Santa Clara for the second time there, and the sixth time anywhere. Well, one of the times was just Dave Wakeling, but that kinda counts, because he is now touring as the English Beat, and he it is only Dave Wakeling with a backup band playing English Beat songs.  It was a great show though- they played all of the hits, everybody danced, and only one overweight middle aged man lost his temper and tried to fight somebody for bumping in to him in the pit.

The first time I saw the English Beat was at their first American tour, opening for the Talking Head. We saw them at the Warfield theater in San Francisco, and it was one of the best shows I have ever seen.  The second time was from a lawn seat at the Shoreline for their Special Beat Service tour, and I might as well have been watching it on a very distant TV set.  The third time, was Dave Wakeling with a back-up band at Bay Meadows horse race track. They played 3 songs and then took a break so people could watch the horse race. No drummer either, just a drum maching. During one of the races I asked the bass player if they could play “Two Swords” and he said he didn’t know it. $1 hot dogs, and $2 beers though!

From San Francisco

Festa, in Japan Center, San Francisco

From Santa Cruz Beach, Tidepool, Butterflies

Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz

Otto developed a video game with the program GameMaker. He created all of the sprites (graphics) himself, from scratch. Here’s a screenshot:

 Download the Game for FREE Here

From Various Images

An old abandoned tractor beside a tree in Santa Cruz..

From Various Images

Restored Model A

From Various Images

Sunflower in Santa Cruz