the village buzz

chile verde at grandmas

i have no idea how many of you folks know what chile verde is, but i am sure that just about everyone out there knows what breakfast at grandmas means. for some reason, breakfast at grandma’s house is so good that the day could end there and everything would be fine. i lost my grandma over christmas this year. this is a photo of the last breakfast i had with her. we had just sat down for breakfast, and i snapped a photo. my grandpa looked at me, went to say something, then just shook his head. while i know that my grandma is gone, i suppose it doesn’t feel like she’s gone, as i spent a good deal of my teen years learning how to cook like her. i figure if i can cook like my family, then they will still live on long after we are all gone. although i can’t cook as well as my grandma yet, by the time i have grandkids running around looking for some grade a menudo and tamales, i should have my game on. i miss my grandma.. alot.. but i am really glad she left something with us that we can continue to pass on.

Breakfast Club

this is merle. on saturdays, a bunch of friends and i work at a soup kitchen called “the breakfast club..” there’s an official name for the breakfast club, but it’s not very memorable. so much in fact, that i don’t remember what it is..

merle is one of our regular clubbers.

one saturday, he asked douggie (seated on the right) what $50 could do for a needy family. douggie said it could probably do alot, feed them, clothe them, etc.. so merle pulled a benjamin out of his pocket and said, “take this, keep fifty for a needy family, and make the other fifty into more.. and bring it back to me in a few weeks..”

so, to make a long story short, douggie challenged his church congregation (he called it merle’s challenge, but i thought merle’s millions sounded more snazzy..) and they went nuts. they sold pennies for a buck, sold freshly roasted coffee, sold photos, all sorts of things..

in the end, they turned merle’s fifty bucks into somewhere over two thousand bucks.. amazing. the coolest part was that this all came from within the ranks of breakfast club and helped out a family right here in town.

without all the bureaucracy and headaches, merle took the bull by the horns proved that people really can help each other out in a meaningful way..

that rocks..

if someone out there worked on this project, i would totally dig if they left in the comments the total brought in for merle’s millions and left some links where people find find more info..

thanks, merle..

if my calculatoins are correct.. today would have been the birthday of my boy ayche..

although i only got to see him every month or so, i did get to tune in to his show on wruw every week.

i could go on and on about ayche stories, but i think i have an “all ages” audience here.. kids.. if you are lucky enough to run across a kid like harold in you travels, consider yourself lucky..

ayche, ol buddy.. i am sure you are still cranking out a great radio show, wherever you are .. and i am sure that you are still the most knowledge guy around wherever that might be..

i bet if we all put our heads together, we could put together some sort of antenna that would catch your show..

anyone else out there remember old ayche?

click here to share some stories..

this is noah thomas quevedo. it seems like us ruiz kids wait a long time before doing things that most people rush into.. settling down, growing up, and reproducing. with all three of us finally settled down, it was a race to see who would be the first to deliver the first offspring to my parents. most of my parents’ friends were grandparents 20 years ago or so, so the pressure was really on. leave it to my sister (dominique) to finally be the one to deliver the goods. i think most of the time i spent with noah, he was just confused. this big giant beaner comes into town, looking like his mom, but with a five o’clock (or 3,000 mile) shadow. he put up with it without too much fuss. i rolled into long beach LATE at night, and i wanted to roust him out of bed.. but my sister said.. “you wake my baby, and i’ll kill you..” so i saw him the next morning..

unrelated stuff…

my good friend cathryn beeks (at one time, when i was a polygamist, she, along with the great courtney baker, the little yellow haired chickie baby, and vandrinkula were all my wives) has released a new album. i listened to it all across the us.. it’s a great album..

for my mini review of cathryn’s new album, click here.. if you want a great road trip album, buy it..

just to keep everyone up to date.. i was in california the week before last. i was there for a little over a week, and it has taken me a week to get back into the swing of things. i rode my motorbike out there.. i did 7,000 in 9 days.. that rocks.. one of the things i wanted to do was see the place i grew up. i had not been there in 20 years, and i was curious to see the place where i got wired up. most of the photos i took there would not be that interesting to most folks, so i will only post a few from the trip. so this is mary. i was sitting in a coffee shop (the santa paula coffee company) on main st. in santa paula while i was working on some stuff for the office in ohio. we struck up a conversation, and i told her i had just ridden into town and was checking out where i grew up. she was a nurse in santa barbara, and had moved to sp to retire. she asked if i would take her around main st. and tell her what i remembered about the place. the walk through main st. with mary was awesome in that it forced me to think about all the things i remembered from being a kid. where i got my shoes, where the leather fixing guy had his shop (i think his name was jess), the place where i learned photography (john nichols gallery), and the places where i came of age. we talked mostly about the people who influenced our lives and made us who we are. she vowed to me that she would start working in the library, teaching kids to read and write english. that rocks. it would be the coolest to know that sp still pumped out people who cared about each other. rock on, mary..

were there people who made a huge difference in the course of your life? at some point, make sure you go out into the world and let them know this.. it’s important..

more unrelated stuff…

there is absolutely no way i could express in words how awesome it was to travel our country on top of a motorbike. i would do it again tomorrow, if i could. BUT! there are some very important things to consider..

i wrote them all out in a rough sketch for anyone who is thinking about hitting the open road. if you need someone to go with, i’ll go..

click here for the full story..

the smiths in review.. i just had and article go up over at scoremusicmagazine.com. for those of you who just can’t let go of the 80’s, be sure to check out my review of the new smiths dvd..

go here for more info..

when i was a kid, back in the 70’s, there were tons of movies about killer bees, PLUS, right afterward.. there was always the obligatory story on the 11 o’clock news with randomly colored in maps showing how the bees were coming up from brazil, and settling right around our house. it scared the shitsky out of me then.. the other day, at work, we found this little beehive thingie on the sidewalk under a tree. we went out to see if they were killer bees, but we weren’t sure how to tell how much killer instinct they may or may not have. while everyone had their face up in the hive, steve kicked it, to see if they were hostile. they may not have been killer bees, but they were REALLY pissed.

and, like every day lately, there is an unrelated side note.

i did the photography for a slasher film earlier this year.. this film is now up for a scream award as the most anticipated horor film of the year. it would ROCK if you helped us out and voted for us.. all the details on this can be had by clicking here…

this is a little tiny frog that we found in the back yard. we have a koi pond in the backyard that is KILLING me with algae this year. i think it’s because it’s been 10,000 degrees every day around here. anyway.. we usually get a bunch of pollywogs, but the koi eat all but about two. this year, we have about five BIG frogs.. but these little guys also showed up. these guys are fully grown, but still SUPER tiny. for reference.. in this photo is a hand, a landscaping rock, and the little guy..

on a side note.. i am putting together my playlist for my trip. i am doing albums, rather than songs, since it will be so long.. i need help!

click here to see my current list, and help me add to it!

i totally forgot to mention why i was riding around on the train. on that day, we were celebrating 4 years of the girl’s legal contract to put up with my poop. i would say that i was under the same contract, but there really isn’t much poop to deal with. then, i started to wonder. maybe there might be a chance that she doesn’t think that there is much poop to deal with. maybe my workaholism and wanderlust isn’t that bad of a thing. maybe, after all these years, i have stumbled onto how to actually do this thing right.. find someone who doesn’t see all the poop in your lifestyle as poop.. but accepts it as normal. hmm…you never know.. we’ll have to see..

on the side, i am a wedding photographer. in alot of cases, i think because i am always really curious about everyone’s stories, i end up as a makeshift wedding/marriage couneselor. it is at that point where i get really scared of saying the wrong thing. i usually just say whatever comes to mind anyway…

now, here’s something i need from you guys.. if you have some good advice that i can share, and spare my couples from my silliness, i would love to hear it.

go here to let me hear your advice!

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on a different note.. i picked up the latest simon and garfunkel dvd the other day. it made me think alot about the nature of friendships and relationships. if you have something to say about it, check this, and leave me a message!

simon and garfunkel dvd review

before i was so rudely interrupted by some wussy server issues, i was talking about the train ride i took in the middle of ohio. when you get on the train, there is a real live engineer and a real live ticket lady in there. on the trip back, it was a crazy! most of the folks who were up there were REAL SNOOTY. they were the kind of folks who like to talk to each other REAL LOUD. most of their conversations tightly revolved around how rich and powerful they were. we were out in the open, you could order beers in the great oudoors and everything.. yet most of these guys were talking REALLY LOUD on their cell phones. anyway. on the way back, we got stuck with a bunch of these guys. after a few minutes, it turned out the some people go on the wrong train, and it had to go back to the station. the whole way, these grown men were whining their asses off about how they were gonna be late for some meeeting about how important and rich they were. what a mess! i would have been annoyed if i wasn’t so amused.

the other day, i got to ride on a train through the cuyahoga valley. you get on in cleveland somewhere, and it rolls around akron somewhere.. it then spits you off in a little town called Penninsula. you get to drink beer and stomp around on nature trails. one thing i learned was, mosquitos like drinking the beer from the inside of people. i was happy to see the train coming around the corner with some yellow on it, as that’s just about the only color i can see really well..

i will send some more pics over the next few days, but if you are interesting in rolling around on the train, you can check it out here..