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A common thread in many posts on my blogs are strong opinions about the city of Bakersfield. Like it or not, the city had developed a not-so-positive image in the minds of many Californians and even some of its own residents. It has been called the armpit of California and other...
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I thought that shrinks wore spectacles--had little tiny beards. I thought that shrinks were nuts, and yo, I thought that shrinks were wierd--until the day I met a shrink who forced me to adapt. My biased view of shrinks it seems, was just a bunch of crap. 'Cause the shrink rapped. He danced...
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Karen Carpenter was a legendary singer. When she left us, due to complications of Anorexia Nervosa, she left a huge void that can never be filled. Her premature death opened the window so we could all take a closer look at this life-threatening psychological disorder. It's hard to understand why...
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We were watching the news last week and a local anchor opened her story as follows. "Well, people in Bakersfield are getting Jungle Fever as the Kern County Fair blah blah blah..."
I bust out laughing as Kendra eyed me strangely.
"Jungle Fever" as you may or may...
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This is Bakersfield.com's new Halloween blog. Come back often because there will be contests and alot of other fun stuff leading up to Halloween!
So, are there any haunted buildings in Bakersfield? We would love to hear your stories!
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Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy effects over a million people, yet little is known about it. My daughter Ashley age 15 is trying to get help to hold a Benefit Concert to help others that suffer from this terrible disease.
She has already raised over $1,000 in donations and auction items but needs...
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Rap music has taken a beating for its worship of bling, its fasination with promiscuous sex, and its emphasis on violence as the primary means of problem solving. Furthermore, critics claim that rather than lifting the listener, and elevating the mind, it caters to the lowest...
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In existential philosophy and it's offspring, humanistic psychology, there exists the premise that human beings operate in accordance with two pervasive, all-consuming fears: Fear of life, and fear of death. Life and death, in these schools of thought, go well beyond the notion of a physical life...
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Thanks to all who responded via email with myriad German to English translations, varying dramatically in terms of precision. The winning translation comes from Erika who has German friends in high and low places. Here it is:
Ein Song über die Bee Gees von Dr. BLT [A...
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People who drive drunk are playing Chicken: the solitary version. Others on the road who are driving sober don't ask to play the game. We are S.A.D.D.! We are S.A.D.D. for all those innocent victims who lost their lives at the hands of a drunk driver. We are S.A.D.D. that people are still playing...
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My guitar and I have always been partners in rhyme. One early spring day in May, 2003, in front of a nationally-famous establishment that serves coffee on Coffee Road, in Bakersfield, California, my guitar was apparently an alledged accomplice in an alleged crime. I was an alleged witness. I...
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One morning while I was sitting right next to Starbucks at Rosedale Highway, working on a brand new song, underneath the Rubio's umbrella, a young man who worked for Starbucks who had been listening to the song I was struggling to write, politely waited until I stopped playing for a moment, and...
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Most of us experience feelings of rejection from time to time. I did recently, after being banned at the Marketplace for breaking Castle and Cooke's rules against performing as a way of raising money for charity without a permit. Music is against the law in Bakersfield. I'm kidding. I was...
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When I used to play for small change up in Sacramento, it landed me a cameo on an award-nominated MTV hit music video. News crews would stop by every few weeks and have me write a song on the spot to share with early birds on their way to work in the morning. All of this over my decision to opt...
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Barber Honda will temporarily sell cars out of the former Robinsons-May store at Valley Plaza mall over the holidays — which is believed to be one of the first such arrangements in U.S. Shopping mall history. Barber Honda will occupy the vacant space from October through...
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Hi-yo, your friend the Theatre Addict here to tell you about cool stuff coming up this weekend and beyond in the world of Bakersfield drama. From a free costume workshop to a "beer pong" fundraiser, this weekend is packed with fun things to do. Here's the low-down, but keep...
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It happened one morning, on April 19, there he was---old Mick Jagger, in the middle of my dream. I had one back-stage pass to an old antique store. Mick stood there smilin', as he answered the door. He was packin' his clothes, he was slick in his duds---painted felt shoes, and he wiped off the...
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You may find yourself forgetting how to spell his name, but you will find yourself by losing yourself in his books and articles depicting the "optimal human experience." Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has made it his passion to observe common elements in human activities which allow individuals to lose...
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Finally... I'm almost done with this series! Here is a portrait of Kelsey Grammer as the Beast, in X-Men's The Last Stand. One more to go and the series is done!Actually, I think this series is the start of a few interesting projects. Another artist here at The Californian is working on a...
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Freud believed that religion was a crutch for people who could not face their problems. Carl Jung, a student of Freud's, on the other hand, considered spiritual factors to be central to the study of the human psyche. He regarded religion and religious symbols to be a core element in the...
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If you ever stop by Starbucks on Rosedale Highway on your way to work in the morning, there's something you can depend on even more than the myriad coffee drinks and pastries that Starbucks has to offer. The group I proudly gave the name "The Starbucks Bible Boys" to will be there, gathering...
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Daniel, I knew you could do it. It's now been officially one month, and nobody has even dared to challenge your title as Kern County's King of Christian pop. The contest never ends, so it's not too late for those of you who feel you are up to the challenge. Simply review the original blog...
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I was wondering if any of you out there could provide a translation of the text linked below. I need to know whether the Germans are making fun of my music, whether I'm on my way to the top of the German top forty charts, or something in between. Once you hit the link, you'll need to scroll down...
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Well, it's been nearly a metal month, and, so far, no Kern county metal band, or any metal band for that matter, has stepped up to the plate to challenge Metal2Metal for the title as Kern County Kings of Heavy Metal. If you're band enough for the challenge, review the simple rules and...
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Can CAUTION and CANDOR co-exist, or does CAUTION kill CANDOR and CANDOR kill CAUTION? When he was recently asked if Muslims go to heaven, Billy Graham said he would leave that decision up to God. Ask his son, Frankin Graham, who has inherited his dad's ministry, the same question and you will...
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I need your help please!! I am trying to get my own little cleaning service up and running and well it is going slow. I have put up at least 100 flyers here in bakersfield, I put them on cars and in shops and any where else I could put one. I am hoping that you nice folks can help me out....
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Sorry for the silence folks. I have been very busy with work and so this latest drawing has taken longer than should have. The others were done in a day or two but this one took over a week. Just not feeling up to much of doing anything but I knew I have to finish what I started here.
Not to...
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T'was christMAS in September, and all through the Nile, all the creatures were dancing, they did it in style. The stockings they wore, were worn out on the floor, as the Santa delivered a dozen or more, Salsa songs flavored with Latin and Rock, and Reggae and Jazz, as we rocked 'round the clock....
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There are many questions that could be asked concerning a local radio interview with members of the infamous folk duo, Prussian Blue, and their misguided mother. Did local radio host Inga Barks fan the flames of nationalism, racism, and anti-semitism when she hosted twins Lamb and Lynx Gaede in...
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This is the question of the hour, the question of the day, the question of the decade, yes, perhaps even the question of the new millennium: ARE U DOWN WITH O.P. Stylee???!!! Sandwiched between an interview with Pat Boone, and what looks promising in term of a forthcoming interview with John...
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Here are some funny photos I took at the recent low rider nationals here in Bakersfield!
I was amazed how much money ordinary people must of spent on the hydrolics on their cars to make them stand up on end just for this contest!
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What is Fuddy Meers? What does it mean? Is it a concept? A person's name, perhaps a long lost relative of Elmer Fudd? What do those words signify? What is the play about?
I don't want you to know. I think you will be better off if you don't....
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This is the first in a sub-series from the grand series: CRYSTAL PALACE STATUES. It will feature artists present in the collection of bronze statues housed at the Crystal Palace. There's no better way to bring Buck back, and keeping the spirit of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos alive than to pitch...
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Welcome to my first blog in the Crystal Palace Statues Series. The first collection of blog threads in the series will feature Johnny Cash. I'm kicking it off today for reasons that will be obvious to true Cash fans.
I was moving in to my brand new home in Bakersfield, California. It was...
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On 9/10 as I was sitting out in my backyard with my guitar, I reflected on the events of 9/11 as I experienced them in the city of Sacramento, where I lived on that date. Then I wondered how somebody else with a completely different life, living in a completely different part of the world...
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Testify
Current mood: weird
Category: Art and Photography
I saw "Fuddy Meers" last night at The Empty Space, and also had a chance to view some of the "Burn The Witch" art...and stuck around to watch Blacklist too. I must say...
Wow. Fuddy Meers is...
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A few weeks after 9/11, I received a letter from John, a student of a Psychology of Music class I was teaching at the time, who had been absent for a couple of classes. He warned me ahead of time, that he could be deployed at anytime. He wrote me from Afghanistan, where US and allied forces...
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On 9/11, a collosal ground swell of patriotism emerged from ground zero. For most of us, our sense of patriotism has diminished to some degree, only because of the passage of time has made the events of that horrific day seem decidedly more distant from our individual and collective psyches. In...
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Was Jesse Jackson justified in breaking with liberals by remonstrantly standing in opposition to the decision to snuff out the life of Teri Shiavo? Researchers warn against generalizing recent findings to individual cases such as the Teri Schiavo case. But will new findings (involving brain...
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Just thought I would share a series of drawings I have been working on during my lunch breaks and in the evenings once the days are over. Each pencil drawing measures 4.25"x6.25" and are being framed three to a frame. Please let me know what you think of these and what would you like to...
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The Crocodile Hunter:
words and music by Dr. Bruce L. Thiessen, aka Dr. BLT c 2006
Here come the animals
two by two
the crocodile rocks
and the rattle snake rattles a tune/like a modern-day Noah
you were their good friend
and we're saddened to learn
'bout the way that your...
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Im looking for a person I used to hang with.
I like to get emails wolfdaycare@yahoo.com
IF YOU KNOW MIKE GIULIETTI, TELL HIM HIS LITTLE GIRL LOVES HIM AND MISSES HIM. He means more to me than I can tell him...
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Most of us don't suffer from a full-blown clinical case of Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder). But it is rare for an individual growing up in this millennium to avoid the occasional mild identity crisis, marked by a sense that one's sense of self is...
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Well, it's no secret that the DVD, United 93 is out, but perhaps the best-kept secret is the song---the unofficial theme song for the movie. It gets better. It's by a local, unofficial guy---the humble guy who happened to stumble over an invention called Blog n Roll. What's most exciting about...
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I still need posters from the Gaslight and Rat...but here's all the rest. If I'm missing any others, email or IM me.
Want to go see one? Theatre Calendar.
THIS WEEK IN BAKERSFIELD THEATER:
Week ending September 10, 2006
OPENING:...
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There has not been a better friend to animals since Noah, who shielded them from the flood by filling up his ark with them. On Friday, September 8, 2006, I will be releasing CROCODILE HUNTER (A Tribute to Steve Irwin) worldwide on the web as part of a Donate to Download song to raise money for...
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What I learned in school in Germany about the Untied States of America, wasn´t so much. So now I am searching for information about the history here in California.
It was my choice to live here, now I want to be prepared when people have a conversation about the great history of this...
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On Boone's farm, you'll find a crop of hit songs, a crop of hit movies and a even some successful books. Pat tells me there's a brand new memoir in the works that involves his reflections on his first 50 years in the entertainment industry. Following my interview with back in December...
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Touring multiple apartments in a short span of time can be a challnege to the memory when decision time comes. Taking snapshots of each vacancy can make the decision easier without needing to go back for another look. Here are a few snapshots from some of Bakersfield's apartment...
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One of the first hypotheses I was exposed to as an undergraduate psychology student was Dollard and Miller's Frustration-Aggression hypothesis. It suggests that when individuals and groups encounter frustration, they are inclined to act out in an aggressive manner. This is, of course, of...
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