Daily Loaf

Routes Music is a documentary film acting as a roving music census, taking in the true musical passions (and disgusts) of the American people. We’re traveling all across the country, stopping along the way to interview local bands, take footage of live performances and chat with anyone and everyone. Learn more about the documentary here; check out all previous entries here.

Ok, we’ll admit it: The Routes Music crew has gotten a little side-tracked with an extended stay along the beach in Malibu, California. Can you blame us? The weather is perfect, the water beautiful, and the scenery … well, let’s just say you never know what you’re going to see when you walk out on the balcony in the morning.

We’ll be reporting in soon with a new report from San Francisco and a look back at Phish Festival 8 with a killer slideshow. Stay tuned …

See the complete photo-shoot video after the jump …

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Routes Music is a documentary film acting as a roving music census, taking in the true musical passions (and disgusts) of the American people. We’re traveling all across the country, stopping along the way to interview local bands, take footage of live performances and chat with anyone and everyone. Learn more about the documentary here; check out all previous entries here.

Refreshed and well-fed after another night’s stay at a Hampton Inn (thanks Routes Music friends!), we dashed out of the desert sand of Indio, which was quickly becoming a snowbird party scene. Past windmills and through a raging wildfire, the Gray Box cruised the mean palm-tree-lined interstates of Los Angeles. Tonight, we’re in Malibu for our first interview on the Pacific Coast — literally 20 feet from lapping waves. It’s a nice, quiet beach community here, and we aim to keep it nice and quiet.

Oh yes, about those wildfires — you can watch the video after the jump:

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Routes Music is a documentary film acting as a roving music census, taking in the true musical passions (and disgusts) of the American people. We’re traveling all across the country, stopping along the way to interview local bands, take footage of live performances and chat with anyone and everyone. Learn more about the documentary here; check out all previous entries here.

“Where eeez yer pipe?”

A 6’4 security guard towered over me, glaring.

“Where eeez yer pipe?” he repeated in a thick Islands accent.

“What?” I replied, not sure he really just asked me what I think he just asked me.

“Where eeez yer pipe?” he asked again.

“My what?” I said again, still shocked.

“Yer pipe. Yer pipe.”

Now he was aggravated. I’m enjoying feigning ignorance.

“I don’t know what you’re saying, man.”

The guard switches tactics.

“Drugs?”

I smile.

“No, no drugs.”

“OK, go ahead.”

So began my very first experience at an extended-day music festival, and only my second time ever seeing the seminal jam band, Phish. Luckily, the rest of the three-day fest at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, Calif. went smoother than my entry.

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Each July in San Diego, Christmas comes early for nerds and movie lovers alike in the form of Comic-Con, the nation’s largest comic/movie/game/geek convention.  While CL’s Kevin Hopp covered the movie news that his this weekend, I’ll be covering what many of the comic fans like me truly went to see: the costumed women of Comic-Con.

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What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this last week:

TRA’shion Fashion and Art Show 2009 (photos) – The fabulous trashionistas were out in force for ARTpool’s annual TRA’shion Show, and photographer Chip Weiner caught all the recycled green glamour.

Letting go of addictions: Using alternative methods to release addictions of any type- Kelly Rothwell gives us alternative methods such as energetic healing, visualizations and affirmations, that can be used to not only cope with such addictions but to understand the reason behind the addiction and let it go for good.

Living sustainably in Tampa Bay: Dave Starman’s biodiesel fueled car and green lifestyle – The first in a series of profiles, by Jack B., of individuals who are living sustainably in Tampa Bay. This profiles Tampa Bay resident Dave Starman.
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I purchased a push reel lawn mower and am having a blast mowing my lawn. People are always stopping to see this unusual time machine (that my Dad used). No gasoline or noise – just people power, natural mulch, and the time to smell the freshly cut grass.

Push reel mowers are widely recognized as the superior cutting method for the health of the grass plant. Lawn grass forms a dense interwoven network of growth just above soil level. This network is a key element in the lawn’s desirable ability to retain moisture and crowd out weeds. The scissors-like cutting action of the reel mower cuts the grass blades cleanly, gently, and precisely, with a minimal disturbance to the grass plant’s natural growth pattern.

Just how much air pollution does a power mower cause?
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‘The Wedding Date’ began here.

“I didn’t think you’d come,” she said to him nervously as he approached on the moon-lit boardwalk.

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Phil Spector was photographed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in June 2009 after his arrest on murder charges (Spector was sentenced to 19 years in prison following his conviction for murdering actress Lana Clarkson, whom he shot to death in his Los Angeles home in February 2003) . And it turns out that crazy hairdo he sported in court (seen here) was not actually his real hair. Why would a man wear such a strange looking wig? Maybe because without it, he resembles Gollum from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

See the horror below:

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What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this past week:

Cool-N-Save: An eco-friendly energy saver for your air conditioning unit (Video): Jennifer Meier writes about how the Cool-n-SaveTM system affixes to the top of most home air conditioning units, resulting in a substantial drop in ambient temperature of up to 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The Cool-N-Save(TM) system has also been rated by the US Department of Energy and EPA as an Energy Star Partner.

Signs of hope: are our environmental efforts making a difference?: Linda Taylor shows us an example of how environmental efforts can make a difference, even if they take years to come to fruition.
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The trash mix up of what was thought to have been debris from the missing Air France plane last week, but was just a garbage patch in the Atlantic Ocean, has brought more even attention to the world’s oceanic trash dumps. The largest one is called The Great Pacific Garbage Patch and is made up of about 3.5 tons of trash that floats around and sits on the ocean floor in layers. Ocean currents create a circulating effect and pull debris in the water from North America, Hawaii, and Asia, and have created this huge area of refuse.

This huge patch extends from the coast of California to China and is bigger than our continent, spreading over millions of square miles. 80% of the garbage is plastics that have not biodegraded. According to this article from the Mother Nature Network, “Unlike most other trash, plastic isn’t biodegradable – i.e., the microbes that break down other substances don’t recognize plastic as food, leaving it to float there forever. Sunlight does eventually “photodegrade” the bonds in plastic polymers, reducing it to smaller and smaller pieces, but that just makes matters worse. The plastic still never goes away; it just becomes microscopic and may be eaten by tiny marine organisms, entering the food chain.”

The video below, from a segment on Good Morning America, gives more information. They interviewed Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, who has been studying the trash in this area for over 12 years. When the reporter compares it to a “trash soup”, Moore replied, “It’s like a minestrone that’s out there, and all the little vegetables are different colored plastics.” His samples taken from those waters have shown that the trash quantities have more than doubled in the past 5 years, and that many fish and sea creatures are being affected by this as well.

Efforts have been made to clean it up by the Ocean Conservancy, but what needs to be done is preventing more trash from piling up out there. When we can take responsibility and start changing our ways, then we can start making a difference.

[Editor's Note: Jennifer Huntsman is a US Army Reserve Signal Captain stationed at MacDill Air Force Base with Joint Communication Support Element (JCSE). She is currently deployed in Qatar. Jenny will be writing for The Daily Loaf about life in the military.]

There are moments in a day where it is clear why we are deployed in the Middle East.  I personally do not go through town with my rifle looking for the Taliban, but my small footprint does make a difference.  The monstrosities that take place in the desert are too hard to be ignored.  I have not been brain washed to believe this to be true.  I believe in my heart that there are acts of hatred out here in the desert that need be stopped, and we are here to help.

My Dad moved around a lot when he was younger.  He was born in Berkeley California, and went to high school in Silicon Valley.  Most of my Dad’s side of the family resides in the San Jose area.  I went to high school in the suburbs of Seattle and claim the Emerald City as my hometown.  My parents will strongly disagree, but from my west coast roots I was raised to be a peace loving, recycling, liberal, blue state loving girl.  On the other hand I am an Army Brat.  Born ready and trained.  My Dad was in the Army when I was younger.  I was born on an Army base and raised in many towns across the United States. My friends were in disbelief after I signed my contract to be property of Uncle Sam.  Not many people from Seattle join the military, but my friends quickly forget that my Boeing Dad is a retired Army soldier.  Being raised in the military you may expect for me to be a “don’t mess with America,” strong religious ties, conservative, red state loving girl.  As an Army Captain my political views are irrelevant.  My point is that I was raised with both eyes open to the big red, white, and blue picture.  There has been no brain washing in my world.  My views of this Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), or President Obama’s Struggle Against Violent Extremism (SAVE), are based off of what I have read, what I have seen, and what I have heard.

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And now, a message from the President of the United States of America.

• When Sen. Lindsey Graham advocates nationalizing the banks, you know we’ve got a crisis.
• President Obama to sign the $787 billion stimulus bill into law on Tuesday in Denver.

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New Lost tonight, and here’s a sneak peak at tonight’s episode. Don’t tell me what happens in it. I’ll wait to find out.

• Obama caps executive pay at $500,000. Let the cries of the apocalypse begin.
• The President continues his bipartisanship attack by appointing a Republican to the Secretary of Commerce post.

Much more news is one click away …

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After two canceled flights and a previously not-on-the-itinerary stopover in Baltimore, I arrived home last night to a warming breeze and balmy outside temp of 50. (It hit the negative where I was Sunday night.) I love you, St. Pete!

• Things I didn’t need to see before heading to the airport: The plane that skidded off the runway in Denver.
• Budget problems in California? Just have Ah-nold stroke a check.
• The Bush folks respond to the NY Times article dropping the sub-prime mortgage mess in the Prez’s lap.
• Obama to release Blago report today.
• New insomnia drug takes the pesky swallowing out of sleeping pills.
• The VCR’s long goodbye is finally coming to an end.
• That guy from The Sopranos (who was also in A Bronx Tale) is acquitted.
• Coming soon: The iPhone Nano?