.

Rest in peace, Darren

Darren Spiegel, a well known bartender for Cafe Eau, was killed this morning in a motorcycle accident. Those of us in the restaurant industry with Darren respected him greatly, and he will be sadly missed. I would like to offer my deepest condolences to his family.

Darren was a local celebrity that everyone knew; even if they only knew his face. He was personable, intelligent, and one all around great guy. He was always quick with a joke, and had a razor sharp wit.

Rest in peace, buddy.

Update:
I was able to find some information on the memorial service. The memorial visitation is Thursday, September 14 at 4 p.m. and the the memorial service is at 7 p.m. The interment is going to be private.

KUTIS AFFTON Chapel
10151 Gravois
St Louis, MO

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to:

Australian Shepherd Rescue of St. Louis
1716 Shiloh Valley Dr.
Wildwood, MO 63005

Nature Conservancy
4245 North Fairfax Dr.
Ste. 100
Arlington, VA 22203.


Busy busy Johnny

My last two weeks have been nothing but resumes, interviews, writing samples, and hours in front of a computer screen. It looks like I have a new side gig that’s going to be pretty interesting. I’ll fill the holes in when it starts rolling, but just know that I’m excited about it.

I’ve also been taking Rita into lab for midnight ninja raids. For those of you who don’t know, my girlfriend Rita is working on a doctorate in molecular cell biology at Wash U. Since most med schools are built in semi dodgy neighborhoods I always escort her to lab if she has to check any experiments late at night.

Spent a couple of hours tonight doing some basic webspace maintenance and blog cleanup. All the red was giving me a headache so we’re shooting for cooler colors again. The new masthead is a blow-out illustration of a 1908 Colt pistol from an old manual. It’s got a nice Phillipe Starck feel to it, I think.


Watching a dream come true…

I was browsing Ars Technica and saw that my friend Stasis is COVERING E3 this year! I know that he’s had his heart set on it for quite a while and I’m happy to see that it’s becoming a reality.

Below the fold there’s a picture of Stasis7 being too cool for school.
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Rest In Peace, Sparkleford

Sparky Brookheart passed away today.
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Don’t Trash the Natty

Just came back from my bi-annual trip to Cincy, and it was a great weekend. Twice a year I kick around with all my internet nerd friends, and just like the internet it’s a rollicking good time. I saw fuzz, and Squiggs, and Kamidake, and Zapgun, and Psyber, and AmishJosh, and EVERYBODY. It was great. There is almost nothing so cool as walking into a bar full of thirty of your closest friends and the room just erupts with shouts and cheers and clapping and whistling and welcome. That was truly a rock and roll moment, and I loved it (thanks guys).

DeadpanThe Wade Money drove up from Carterville, Syro came down from the north side, and we rocked out the Merc to Cincy. St Louis down 64 to Louisville up 71 through NKY to the Natty. That route is five hours at five miles over the limit. Seems to be a lot faster than the Indy path we normally take.

The Anchor in Covington, KYOf all the places we saw, the most impressive was The Anchor. St Louis has a plethora of greasy spoons in the metro area, but none compares to the one around the corner from fuzz’s house. Their motto is “We might doze, but we never close.” Opened in 1946 it looks like it hasn’t been touched since it opened. It’s a small time operation that might seat 50 at max capacity. Service is slow, the food is bad, and it’s a dingy hole. I loved it, but wouldn’t eat there more than once a year.

Johnny firing a 1911On Saturday we went to “The Farm” to bust some caps, and hang out around the campfire. I have to say, my buddy Dave Loken is a mean shot with a pistol. As soon as he stepped up every target fell down out of fright. I hope that he’s on my side when the revolution comes.

Wade Money and I popped out to Niccola’s on Saturday night. While it was a very nice restaurant and the food was very nice; it didn’t really jive with the Money and I. A hundred bucks for a couple of cocktails, some decent pasta dishes, and two cups of coffee. Honestly, I liked the place, but it felt a bit pretentious. In their defense I feel that way in any place that’s more of a restaurant than a bar. We had a great waiter named Yuri, and his service was top notch. One complaint that I have is that they do the white tablecloth annoyance of placing the napkin in the lap. C’mon people, only a select few are invited within striking distance of my genitals.

We then drove to Mt Adams to check out the restaurant scene there. In a word: Dissapointing. Longsworth, The Wine Cellar, and The Pavilion were all equally uninspiring. I did appreciate the multilevel design, mosaic bar top, and sweeping murals at The Pavilion, though.

One high point was finding the Mount Adams Bar & Grill. Just like Dressel’s, but a wholly Republican place. The pictures on the wall were of GWB, Ronald Reagan and Richard Milhouse Nixon. It was originally a speakeasy during prohibition, and that character shines through in a way that made me feel at home as soon as we walked in. It was one of the nicest small houses that I’ve seen in a long time.

All in all, a great trip and I can’t wait until the next one.

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A little something from the archives

While digging through C:\TEMP I came across this great video of my buddy AndyFB from Arsclan shooting a tommy gun while on holiday from Dublin.

Hit the “Read More” link to see the video.

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Ran into an old friend…

Saw my buddy Phillipe on a set of crutches and covered in road rash. Apparently a hit and run driver T-boned him while riding his motorcycle. The little guy is lucky to be alive, honestly.

I’m just glad that he’s A-ok.


My 25th Birthday

The first thing to do is start the day off right:

johnnyrockandroll.com and wademoney.com brushing their teeth

Then WadeMoney and I goofed around for the day talking to our nerdfriends on IRC, and went over to Rita’s house in the late afternoon for dinner. She spent two days cooking a traditional Mexican feast for me, and it was great. :)

My woman even made me a cake!

Johnnyrockadnroll.com blowing out the candles!

WadeMoney bought me a great SunBeam 20-in-1 panel for rerouting all my audio/USB/Firewire ports. Very thoughtful. Rita gave me an iTrip radio adapter for my car. Yay! I’m guessing that she was just sick of listening to the same three CD’s in the car all the time. Rita also gave me a couple of cowboy belt buckles, and a really nice gunslinger belt.

We hung out at Rita’s place watching TV for a bit and playing with Saffron, and then WadeMoney and I went off to find some birthday adventure. Went to the Pepper Lounge (Warning: Lots of Flash) where the doorman told me to take off my hat. I didn’t feel like removing my lid so we went down to Lucas Park to listen to a good band and drink a Glen Garioch 15. Wade and I aren’t heavy drinkers. We were just out for one, and then headed off to the casinos.

Where I was promptly turned away because I sat on my driver’s license and tried to fix it with tape. Apparently a slice of tape on a license makes it invalid proof that I’m 21. :( I don’t really like to gamble, but I like the hustle and bustle of a casino floor.

It was a great birthday, and thanks to Wade and Rita for making it special once again. I’d also like to thank all of mi amigos that threw me birthday greetings on IRC. :)


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