Twin City-istas:

Fifty Foot Penguin Theater (mine & Z's) will be running "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" February 7-16 at the Red Eye Theater in Minneapolis. Student and senior discounts available. Reservations highly recommended.

To make a reservation, call: 612.381.1110

(Leaving aside the fact that this is our company, it's a really good show. Jodi Kellogg is Nurse Ratched & Alex Cole is McMurphy.)

Thank you.

Rice for Peace

[link]

To quote briefly:

In the 1950's, tens of thousands of people sent small bags of rice to President Eisenhower convincing him not to attack China. Now a nationwide effort has been launched to send the same message to President Bush about Iraq. If we are going to send something to Iraq it should be food, not bombs.

Send a half cup of uncooked rice in a plastic bag and padded envelope with the message "Rice for Peace - No War On Iraq" on the outside of the package. [My interpolation - must be padded or in a strong box.]

Mail to:

President George Bush

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

Washington DC 20500

E-mail us your city and state so we can count your message for peace.

RiceForPeace@indra.com

I know there were some objection (mailing a white substance to the President, symbolism unclear) - but I talked to some local activists. First of all a LOT of Peace groups are promoting this. So part of the idea is the overwhelm the White House mail room and force them to pay attention.

And the powers that be are split on this. Whatever Occupant thinks, no President governs alone. It is not just a minority of ordinary folks who don't like this war. A lot of really powerful people don't like it, including a large portion of the most wealthy, some very strong people in the military, a large portion of the Press. The balance is close; I think there is a real chance that public pressure can tip the balance. I'm not saying fifty fifty or anything but real. So I urge people who oppose this war to put aside their misgivings if they can, and send that rice to White House. And I understand that some people who oppose the war see strong objections to this tactic and cannot in good conscience do this.

I'm still semi-dark but wanted to let folks know about this. Two of my Lothars-bandmates are organizing it:

Boston-area musicians are coming together, donating their time and performances to raise money for those affected by the October bombings in Bali. The benefit concert, "Offerings", will be held on Sunday, February 2, 2003 in the stone chapel at the Emmanuel Church at 15 Newbury Street in Boston. The show will take place from 1 to 11pm, and admission will be $10. Updates and further information will be available at [link]

The music will be diverse featuring theremins, acoustic guitars, bowed cymbals, electric guitars, middle eastern strings, loops, and all manner of esoteric sounds...unified in the spirit of contemplative music, and given as "Offerings." Several of the participating musicians have spent time in Bali, and are especially eager to help. Authentic Indonesian food will be available for an additional donation, and T-shirts (donated by Mirror Image) may be viewed and reserved here.

2pm: The Lothars - theremins, wind synth, electronics, violin, log drum and electric guitar

3pm: Joshua Eden - alchemist of acoustic anti-pop anthems

4pm: Beth Bahia Cohen and Dug Dineen - strings East and West, looped and un-looped, with percussion.

5pm: Devil Gods - guitars, bass and percussion...rock and sonic exotica to ambient instrumentals

6pm: Gamelan Galak Tika - the Boston area's first Balinese gamelan. A community ensemble in residence at M.I.T.

7pm: Bowed Metal Music (Matt Samolis and Peter Warren) - acoustic drones on modified steel cello

8pm: Jonathan LaMaster (Cul de Sac, Saturnalia) - bass, violin and loops with Balinese field recordings

9pm: Glenn Jones (Cul de Sac) - solo acoustic guitar

10pm: Empty House Cooperative - viola, guitar, horns, loops, singing saw, etc. With David Michael Curry, Chris Brokaw, Thalia Zedek and Jonah Sacks.

"Offerings" is a fundraiser for Bali Hati, a registered non-profit foundation. The average Balinese family lives on only 20 to 40 dollars a month, so any funds raised in the U.S. are worth tenfold or more in Bali. Donations made to Bali Hati are tax deductible.

Attention Somervillistas! (just in case I missed anyone who isn't on the mailing list)

I know that there was some talk about brunch a couple weeks ago- I thought I'd pass along new of Boston's Annual Super Hunger Brunch, Feb. 8-9.

Basically, a bunch of restaraunts sell a price fixe menu (between $20-35) for brunch, 100% of the proceeds going to support the Greater Boston Food Bank. I've done it before with friends- and it's a *lot* of fun. A bit on the pricier side, but it is a charity benefit.

I am not going to be in town that weekend, so I can't participate or organize, but I thought I'd give you all the information.

Here's the link: [link]

If you own a TiVo and are considering Lifetime Membership, buy it now. The price is going up $50.00 on March 3rd.

John? If you're reading this, please email me? I've been trying to reach you but something's wrong with your servers, it seems.

The store closed last night. I'm pleased to report that we made $1,083.07 in commission, all of which will go to the Children's Miracle Network. The donation will be made some time in March (after we have received our commission check from Cafe Press). Please check the F:IA site for further details in March.

Also, next week, we will be conducting our raffle for all of you who donated money (in excess of $5) to the F:IA cause. So make sure to check your email late next week. Prizes up for grabs include copies of the Daily Variety ad (a few even signed by some special folk), F:IA t-shirts and a couple of other surprises.

Once the raffle is over and the prizes have been shipped, there will be an accounting posted at F:IA. At that time, we will also have the final amount that will be donated to CMN. Look for that at the F:IA site at the end of February.

A heartfelt thanks to all of you for the support.

The Buffy Pilot tape has found its way to Minneapolis! If you are in or near MN and would like to come to a viewing party, please to email me at my profile addy.

I am more than happy to host the party in my apartment in Minneapolis. I do have cats, so if that is a problem, we can research other venues.

I think that's it for now. Again, email me at e_juliana@hotmail.com, and we'll get this worked out.

The new list is baltimoredcistas@buffistas.org. To sign up, send an email to baltimoredcistas-help@buffistas.org.

Actually, this isn't quite right. This address gets you a nice email fromthe listbot with some helpful stuff, but to subscribe, email baltimoredcistas-digest-subscribe@buffistas.org

A New York Times editorial about manned space flight refers to the author's annoyance at the cancellation of Firefly. It's a driveby mention, but, hey, the New York Times.

[link]

Registration required, but they'll accept a garbage email, I think.