Jour de La Mort Part II

After the trip to the cemetary we checked out the Catacombs where a few million human bones are stacked very neatly.



When we emerged from the Metro stop at the Catacombs we found ourselves in the middle of Paris's Gay Pride Parade. The people watching sure made the wait in line to buy tickets entertaining.

Jour de la Mort Part I

Saturday morning we strolled the grounds of the Pere Lachaisse cemetary. Among those buried here are, Moliere, Chopin, Proust, and the person with the grave site most visited, Jim Morrison.



The tomb of Oscar Wilde is covered in 100s of lipstick stains left behind by his admirers. Why? I have no idea.

Sacre Coeur

These stairs that are about 100 yards from our apartment lead to the Sacre Coeur.



The Sacre Coeur



The views from the Sacre Coeur are some of the best in Paris.

L'apartment de Paris

We've rented a small (< 500 sq ft) apartment in the 18th arrondissement. We're a bit cramped, but we like the location. Here's a quick tour.

The door to our building.



We're 2 flights up.



The front door opens into the kitchen.



The view from the kitchen window.



The kitchen opens into a small den where Carly and Annie sleep.



The bedroom.



The view from the bedroom.

We Have the Internet

After I spent an hour or so this evening trying to hack into a variety of wireless networks, Ethel took about 30 seconds and magically made the internet appear. Needless to say the girls were overjoyed.

Here's a brief rundown.

Our flight made a non scheduled stop in Salt Lake City to drop off an ill passenger (diabetes)



After finally arriving in London we had a pub meal, walked over to Buckingham Palace, cruised by Big Ben, and upon returning to our hotel - collapsed.



On Tuesday we did the Tate (modern art), The British Museum, Harrod's, and had a great meal at an Indian restaurant.

A picture of the girls on our way to the Tate.



We arrived in Paris on Thursday and had no problem finding our apartment. It's located on the eastern (non touristy) side of the Sacre Couer.

Here's a picture of the girls walking down our street.



Today we walked up the steps to Sacre Couer, took in the view, and walked the western side of the Montmarte district. In the afternoon we took the Metro to the Left Bank and walked around with a stop at a cafe for a much needed beer.

Pictured is St. Dennis. The Romans cut off his head for the whole believing in Jesus thing, but Dennis picked up his head and walked 3 miles just to piss them off.

Au Revoir

The girls (David is manning the fort) and I leave for the airport in a few minutes to catch our plane for London. We'll be in London until Thursday at which time we'll take the train to Paris for a 10 night stay. We'll return to SD on the 7th.

We'll have a laptop with us, but I don't plan to do much blogging. I'll try to use Twitter to send a few travel updates and perhaps upload a few pics to Flickr.

You can follow my Twitter updates here or on the sidebar widget on SW's main page.

Where The Hell Is Matt?

This is pretty cool.


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

The Oneders

Now that they are getting a huge push from MTV, Vampire Weekend is officially white hot. They kinda remind me of the band (cute boys singing catchy songs) in Tom Hank's movie That Thing You Do although I don't think the bass player has enlisted with the marines.

To VW's credit their new video doesn't suck.

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

Field Trip: Death Cab For Cutie

Who: Eth, Carly, Sydney, Chipotle, Cameron, and Ryan
What: Death Cab For Cutie + Rogue Wave concert
Where: SDSU's Open Air Theater
Pre-show meal: Phil's Barbecue

Details to follow.

On Radar: Wild Sweet Orange

I usually discover new music in traditional ways (my kids, blogs, MySpace, etc.) but sometimes recommendations come from unexpected sources. I "discovered" Wild Sweet Orange from a press release. I guess I should pay more attention to my email.

Who knew?

Wild Sweet Orange has a new album coming on July 15 and will be on Letterman Monday night.

Wrestle With God

I'm Coming Home

More Great TV

If only Mike Tyson hit this hard.

I'd Rather Have a Bottle In Front of Me .......

My nephew and I were talking the other day about the great Tom Waits and I told him about an appearance he made on the parody talk show, Fernwood Tonight, in 1977.

You gotta love YouTube, because here it is:

Reporter Eats Bug

I love these. (Rated R for language)


Bug in Mouth Brings Out the Street in Reporter - Watch more free videos

SW's New Favorite Web Site Is ...

Hulu!!

It now has the Three Stooges!!

Street Scene Is Back

Downtown (Petco's parking lot)

The line-up.

Beck, The Black Crowes, The National, Spoon, Justice, TV On The Radio, Atmosphere, Sound Tribe Sector 9,Cat Power, Tegan and Sara, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Hot Chip, The New Pornographers, X, Vampire Weekend, The Hives, Cold War Kids, Ghostland Observatory, Eagles of Death Metal, Spiritualized, Antibalas, The Mother Hips, Man Man, Tokyo Police Club, Devotchka, The Night Marchers, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, MGMT, Del The Funky Homosapien, Foals, Nortec Collective, The Muslims, Dengue Fever, Sea Wolf, West Indian Girl, Chester French

SW Recommends: CDs

As we approach the half way point of 2008, I thought I'd list a few CDs released this year that have been on heavy rotation on my iPod.

Asking for Flowers --- Kathleen Edwards
Loose Boots EP --- honeyhoney
Mission Control --- The Whigs
Dead Pony EP --- Nico Stai
Giving Up the Ghost --- Jackie Greene
The Midnight Organ Fight --- Frightened Rabbit
She and Him Volume One --- She and Him
Vampire Weekend --- Vampire Weeked

Paul "Moose" Curtis

I have posted about Curtis before. He is the graffiti artist that creates his images by selectively cleaning buildings, tunnels, etc.

He now has a sponsor (Green Works). He's part of a very clever marketing plan that includes some YouTube videos of Curtis at work.

Here's one about a Curtis mural in San Francisco.

On Radar: honeyhoney

Their band name is kinda lame, but Suzanne Santo and Ben Jaffe have put out a really nice EP. Check them out.

MySpace

Little Toy Gun

Field Trip: Independence Jam

Nephew Will and I just returned from 94.9's music festival. It was a gorgeous So Cal day and surprisingly the junior college football stadium made for a nice venue.

Ting Tings: They were a bit of a surprise. I had seen them do a song on Kimmel and was not impressed, but it turns out that song was probably the weakest of their set. Power pop.

The Whigs: I am a fan and they delivered. Big, loud, and raucous. Classic rock

MGMT: I haven't connected with their music (yet) but the kids sure have. The music and scene could have been lifted straight from 1969. All that was missing was clouds of herbal smoke.

Cold War Kids: Solid

The Hold Steady: Old guy in the mosh pit.

It was a good day.

SW Alert: Amos Lee

With a sound that is part James Taylor and part Bill Withers, Amos Lee is one of SW's must sees. He has recently announced some California tour dates.

We have tickets for the BellyUp show.

Thursday, 09/04 Belly Up Tavern
Solana Beach, CA

Saturday, 09/06 House of Blues
Anaheim, CA

Monday, 09/08 The Music Box @ Henry Fonda Theatre
Los Angeles, CA

Tuesday, 9/09 The Fillmore
San Francisco, CA

Plurk

The field of companies that provide micro-blogging/power messaging services just got a little more crowded. Plurk a very Ajaxy service similar to Twitter and Pownce has just launched.

If you want to check out Plurk (and its bizarre logo) click here