A blog about Technology, News, and Kern County.
Address: 1707 Eye St. Bakersfield, CA 93301 Member Since: May 14, 2007 Last Signed In: November 05, 2009 Profile Views: 2886 Blog Views: 183506 Bakersfield man with colorful record in middle of billion-dollar Chevron dispute Mobile haiku puts Bakersfield in new light Songs do more than namedrop Bakersfield Pedro Martinez taken back to his Bakersfield Dodger days Fresno piles on the hate for Bakersfield Bakersfield man files suit over Sidekick debacle Simulation suggests major SoCal quake could maintain intensity on way to Bakersfield Speaking of office romance ... Local blogger recounts horror of traffic accident Best french fries in Bakersfield? May 07 June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 August 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 Submit your local links to bakosphere@bakersfield.com. Bakersfield Observed CompuDave greener bakersfield 
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So I was reading Nick Belardes' post about locals going all-out for last weekend's opening of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. He's got a bunch of great photos and some video, and then in the middle of all that, he casually goes, "Then I saw a bunch of folks from the local Kern County Pirates Guild."
The who-what-now? I mean, I knew we had a starbase, but I didn't know about the pirates! But yes, a quick Google search revealed that not only did we have some pretty creative and organized pirates around these parts, but that the Kern County Pirate Guild has a MySpace page. Check out their page for how to join up, or just to listen to some cool pirate music. But be sure to read their costume guidelines before you try to show up to an event in something you got off the sale rack at the party store, 'cause these folks aren't playin' around--you're gonna get yourself keelhauled for historical inauthenticity. Oh, and they'll be at KGET's Kidfest at Yokuts Park this weekend, running a pirate camp for the young'ns. Who said pirates were antisocial? (Not me!) More pirate fun: - The folks behind "Survivor" are premiering what looks basically to be "Survivor-on-a-pirate-ship" tonight on CBS. - Need to stock up on pirate supplies while simultaneously helping kids improve their writing skills? Visit 826 Valencia's Pirate Supply Store. --Jason Sperber During a late night web surfing session, I stumbled across the site 43 Places. It's a site dedicated to wanderlust and users can share stories and opinions about places they'd like to visit. So, of course, I had to see what comes up when you search for Bakersfield. Hmm, Crystal Palace...check...Fairgrounds....check....Walmart....what in the world?!? So, evidently Walmart in Bakersfield has been voted by one user as worth visiting in Bakersfield. I was surprised to see local landmarks like Woolgrower's or the Fox Theater weren't mentioned, but someone took the time to post Walmart. I am a frequent Walmart shopper, so I don't mean to make it sound like I am putting it down. Who can resist "rollback prices?" But, I wouldn't mark my shopping experience there as a cultural highlight of Bakersfield. Well, I guess anyone who has been there during a shopping rush could argue that there is an "unique culture" there! P.S. Maybe this is why they posted it? - - Mary Russo A local guy named Surendra Dara wants you to laugh. Lots. In fact, he wants people who like to laugh to get together, laugh, and ease the stresses of the world. Dara has launched LaughtoLive in Bakersfield, and is inviting laughers to meet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (the website says March 30, but an email invite I saw says May 30). Who can come? "Everyone who can laugh or make others laugh." There's a medical angle to this, as the website lists Dara as having a PhD. So, it's not the second coming of the Bakersfield ComedySportz. "Laughing is a serious matter," Dara writes on the website. "Let us explore and learn techniques that help us deal with the hardships in our lives. Let us learn to look at life with a different perspective. Happiness is within us, but we don't realize that and try to chase it. Remember the age old sayings that "Laughter is the best medicine" and "Health is wealth". Energize your minds, lighten up your lives, and lessen the burdens with laughter. It improves your health and that is wealth." If you find the laughfests rewarding, you can become a member of LaughtoLive for $50 a year, which covers biweekly meeting expenses. Or you can do special workshops with small groups. Or, I 'spose, you could just try it on your own and see what happens. --Logan Molen
Matt Munoz over at Bakotopia sent out an email news alert reporting the death of Bakersfield punk legend W. Scott Sturtevant, better known as Slim the Drifter.
Slim's MySpace page reads "July 25, 1960 - May 25, 2007" but offers no details. Slim founded Bakersfield's first punk band, Teen Suicide, but later grew into more rootsy genres. In the late 1990s, he had evolved into something of a post-punk Paul Westerberg. His songs periodically flirted with greatness, but never found the consistency that would put him over the top. His spirit and carefree attitude, however, inspired many around town and will be missed. I was editor of Eye on Entertainment when we went through a redesign in the mid-1990s that gave it a bit more edge. I fondly recall putting a big picture of Slim on the cover of our second issue (teasing to a fun Robert Price story inside) and delighted in handling several complaints that came in from irate readers upset that we would give a "punk" more than a sentence. Good times. Nick Belardes also has some thoughts on Slim's passing, as well as a review of the latest from the Slim the Drifter Trio. Nick also contacted Slim's wife, who emailed him, "He wasn't in any pain, and he was ready. Things were worse than he wanted to let on. ..." --Logan Molen
Continuing our theme of URLs seen plastered on truck/SUV rear-windows while driving to/from work in downtown Bakersfield (but on a much lighter note than the previous post)...
Going home for lunch today, I saw a web address decal advertising a local stay-at-home-mom's business designing, making, and selling stylish cover-ups for nursing mothers (the tag-line below the URL, and on the site: "cover your baby with love"). The name? Well, I'll just let you click and find out... Heh. --Jason Sperber
Since the Harper family murder case and trial of Vincent Brothers have virtually saturated local media, I wanted to see what, if any, coverage it was getting out of town. A quick Google News search yielded pages and pages of stuff from the Californian and local television stations, but not much beyond our borders.
But a search of blogs did result in a few interesting references: Blessed Fearscapes, a blog about child abuse, posted twice about the upcoming trial last December. My Life of Crime, a blog about murder investigations, featured a bunch of links about the case in early March. A blog that seems to be about the JonBenet Ramsey murder case posted in March about the prevalence of DNA evidence in the Brothers case. The BugBlog, the marketing blog of Rescue! Pest Control Products, posted in April about the prosecution's use of insect evidence and a bug expert as a witness in its case. A blog for criminal law professors posted just this week about a criminal law professor's testimony as to how lying defendants hurt themselves.
Finally, a local writer, George Thomas Clark, concluded a series of pieces about the case with an open letter to the defendant after his conviction. Oh, and local veteran blogger BakeTown found that somebody was finding her blog via an interesting search term.... Strangely enough, a lot of links I found were to splogs ("spam blogs") which were scraping local news content, I guess in hopes of luring in local googlers and getting them to click on stuff. Huh. --Jason Sperber
Location:
5101 California Ave.,
Bakersfield, CA 93309
LATimes.com's Daily Deal Blog (part of its Travel section) posted this as its deal for Friday May 11, inspired by the "Heat" actor's arrest: Actor Tom Sizemore in Bakersfield heat
Deals: Four Points has a “Get Away. Far Away. From Everything” special $90/night offer when you book a room Thursday through Sunday in Bakersfield. The package gives you breakfast for two, a free in-room movie each day and encourages you to keep your pajamas on all weekend. Taxes, fees … and dope in the parking lot not included. Why Go: No need to let the Sheraton take a bad rap for this incident. Why Not: You might have a tough time getting the rate. When I called the Four Points in Bakersfield the reservationist said the lowest rate she had was $110. She couldn’t even find this deal even though it is clearly advertised on their website. Try booking online to secure, or try another participating Four Points in California. (Culver City, Fresno, LAX, Pleasanton, San Diego, San Francisco Bay Bridge and San Rafael are listed as offering the same deal). When: Valid for travel through December 31, 2007 --Jason Sperber I feel like I'm already posting too much stuff about cars and racing ... but whatever. The last 10 laps of Saturday's Super Stock race at Bakersfield Speedway were something to treasure, with five cars battling tail to tail, side by side, sometimes three abreast. My co-worker Billy Simkins, who designs many of the front pages of The Californian, is one of the drivers (the black 68j), and makes an impressive charge toward the front. I'll let the video show who pulled off the win. Billy's better half, Nicole, shot the sterling video -- and provided the shrieking heard throughout. You'll want to make it to the end, when Billy and Nicole's adorable daughter Sunny caps this thrilling race with ... let's just say she's not focused on cheering for Daddy. And if you don't believe me when I say this race was smokin' hot, check out the thread on this racing message board, a hotspot of Billy haters. --Logan Molen I came up behind a black pickup at a stoplight in downtown Bakersfield today, and noticed white lettering on the back window that read: www.nomoreduis.com Once I got to work, I fired up the site, which tells the story of Jada Benge, the Bakersfield woman who died in an alcohol-related crash on the Central Coast that also killed another mother and left Michael Benge and his three daughters injured. Alcohol was found throughout the other vehicle, whose driver was drunk. The father of the drunken driver later was convicted of supplying the alcohol. Media throughout Bakersfield and the Central Coast covered the tragedy extensively, as the audio slideshow on the site shows. And while the site features touching memories and letters to Jada from Michael Benge and daughter Madison, NoMoreDUIs isn't just a digital remembrance of a lost wife and mother. Crash photos, and facts about alcohol and driving, hammer home the horrible consequences of drunken driving. Let's hope that raw message resonates, and that something positive can come out of two lost lives and ever-healing wounds. --Logan Molen
Longtime local blogger John Jones, whose retired blogs include the original "Black Dog," "Oilfield Trash," and "Along Came Jones," is back at the keyboard, having launched "The Black Dog Experience, " the final incarnation of [his] blogging," in mid-April.
And this morning, he discovered that we were back, too. He muses: "I was checking out Howard's blog and saw the bakosphere is back on the beat which raises a question in my mind can the bakosphere save rock and roll?" Well, I dunno about that, but we're glad to be back scouring our corner of the blogosphere for interesting stuff, and we're glad that you're still adding to it. And any other bloggers who remember the old Bakosphere, please get in touch, as we're rebuilding the local blogroll. (And btw, Black Dog, re: your problems accessing your Bakersfield.com blog, rest assured you're not being censored. There might be a technical problem going on--try to get in there now and see if it works--unfortunately, anything you wrote on May 3 might be gone. Email me directly.) --Jason Sperber
Frank Hinmon is known around Bakersfield as a longtime heavy hitter in real estate, and more recently, as owner of the Superkart Racing business out in southwest Bakersfield. Now he's gained the attention of Street Rodder magazine, which is featuring Hinmon's 1957 Chrysler Imperial in its May issue. His ride features a ton of leather -- and ostrich --, a push-button transmission and swivel front bucket seats. The car finished in the top 10 at a recent Del Mar car show. --Logan Molen
So it's Friday, which means movie night for a lot of folks [not us, though--having a baby, now toddler, has seriously decreased the frequency of our going out to, what are they called again? oh yeah, theaters]. Has anybody seen Lucky You, which came out 2 weeks ago and is still playing locally? The fact that its release date kept getting pushed back didn't give me great hope for this poker-themed romantic comedy from the director of LA Confidential starring the dude from The Incredible Hulk, and the reviews I've read haven't given me any reason to doubt those misgivings.
Why, then, am I bringing this up here? Because the main character's love interest, played by Drew Barrymore and given the strange name of Billie Offer (hey, the poker player's named Huckleberry Cheever), is from...wait for it...Bakersfield. She's an aspiring, not-very-talented singer who's moved from our fair burg to make it in the lounges of Las Vegas. Heh. Here's what folks are saying about it on the Web: - When one of them, a character named Huckleberry (and no, I’m not kidding) played by an actor, Eric Bana, who LOOKS like he’s acting stumbles upon one of my favorite actresses, Drew Barrymore, whose character is a female named Billie from Bakersfield—you want to laugh but you can’t because it's so awful your face is twisted like someone dug their finger nails in and rotated their wrist 360 degrees. And it’s not because Billie is from Bakersfield—so am I. (And PS: that’s not Bakersfield where they did the small section of filming—we don’t have curbs like that.) --from the blog Dead Man's Honda, by a Bako native living in LA--Jason Sperber
Our sister site (and the original guinea pig for the blogging/social networking platform you're using right now) Bakotopia.com launched a biweekly magazine earlier this month, bringing the vibrant online community's eclectic spirit to the printed page.
If you missed the inaugural issue (May 4-17), don't wait to pick up a copy of issue # 2 (May 18-31), available now, for free, from racks across the city. Under the editorial direction of editor/musician/man-about-town Matt Munoz, the magazine is a neat mix of reprints of stuff from the website (like blogger profiles) and original features about the stuff Bakotopia covers best - the arts, entertainment, and indie/underground Bakersfield. And, like the website, much content (photos and stories) comes from users like you. Keep up the good work, Bakotopians!
Location:
1600 20th St.,
Bakersfield, CA 93301
I picked up the artist's postcard (that's one of the images accompanying this post), and found something interesting. The artist's gallery is up on flickr, at flickr.com/photos/sadpilot. I know lots of folks who use flickr for sharing personal photographs, and I know that the site fashions itself as more than just a photo-hosting site but as an online community, with many folks using Creative Commons licenses to facilitate sharing and an ethos of sharing. But I hadn't seen photographic artists using the site to display their work (this artist has a regular, "all rights reserved" copyright, which is why I'm only using the image already on his postcard). Interesting stuff... Anyway, check it out. --Jason Sperber
I’m always amazed at the popularity of street racing videos online. Longtime local site Bakersfield Street Racing has its share of video and some good message boards, but most of their video is dated.
I happened across a site called Streetfire that has some fresh stuff from last week’s GTO and Corvette runs at Auto Club Famoso, the famed drag strip just north of Bakersfield. this technically isn't street racing, but the concept is the same: line amateurs up side by side and let the clutches drop. Even though there's a predictable monotony to this video (just racing, not much in the way of real people), it already has more than 3,300 views. The big finish features GTOs topping 120 mph over a quarter-mile run. Not bad for street machines that hiccup off the start. --Logan Molen
Location:
6201 Fruitvale Ave.,
Bakersfield, CA 93308
Just got word that Fruitvale Junior High School's "Operation: Social Justice" club, sponsored by a friend of mine, is presenting a talk by Isaac Amol, one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan" who came to this country as orphaned refugees from the Second Sudanese Civil War, and a screening of "Invisible Children," a documentary about the plight of child soldiers forced to fight in Uganda. The event takes place tonight, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Olive Knolls Church of the Nazarene, 6201 Fruitvale Ave. near Olive Dr. It looks to be a thought-provoking teachable moment, for the students, and for any community members who attend. --Jason Sperber Those of you old enough to remember radio before the Internet may recall Radio Free Bakersfield, a low-power pirate FM station that fired up after dark and played wild stuff from all kinds of genres. Rumor was RFB was transmitting from an office in the Haberfelde Building. I recall, fondly, listening to DJ OS running through a weekly top 10 list that was something of a local version of Sounds Eclectic but with a ton more bite. Lots of good punk, hardcore, rockabilly/psychobilly, reggae, thoughtful commentary on timely issues, and everything in between. RFB later migrated to the web when streaming audio first came into vogue. But then the station, sadly, seemed to disappear. Well, Radio Free Bakersfield is back in a weekly podcast, touting "60 minutes of twang, crunch and dirty jokes." As far as I can tell, there are 30 weekly episodes in the archive, so it has some legs. This week’s features more than a dozen little-known but fun acts, including The Bastard Sons of Boris Karloff, from Pakistan of all places. The show lives up to its moniker, so turn the volume down if the kiddies happen to be around. And, not to live in the past, but does anyone know where DJ OS has gone? --Logan Molen
Bakosphere is about what happens Bakersfield and the Web collide.
When it was first launched in December 2005, during our Typepad-hosted staff-blog days, by a team of staffers from TBC's interactive media department and the newsroom webteam, Bakosphere was a bunch of different things. Both a blogroll of locally written weblogs and a sort of Bakersfield-media-watch, where you could find interesting mentions of the city and its denizens from both the mainstream media and the blogosphere from which it took its name, the blog enjoyed a strong run for over half a year, even after we moved all other staff blogs onto Bakersfield.com in June '06 and let our former commenters become bloggers in their own right. Sept. '06 saw the posting of the last original entry on bakersfield.typepad.com/bakosphere. In the meantime, the Bakersfield-centric blogosphere has continued to grow, including and beyond the growth of Bakersfield.com's People section and the blog communities on our sister sites. Even beyond our geographical borders, quirky Kern County stories are still being told, waiting to be linked to. And so, that brings us to the rebirth of the Bakosphere. We always welcome your tips for links and stories, and you will be thanked profusely for your finds. As well, please let us know about all the awesome local blogs you are reading and/or writing so we can add them to our blogroll. For all communication, email us at bakosphere@bakersfield.com. Welcome to the Bakosphere! --Jason Sperber |
Best known for role as Michael Cheritto in the movie Heat, actor Tom Sizemore could’ve used advice from that flick before he 
