And Grant slept...

More party pictures.

Birthday Girl Kirsten and other party shots

The Birthday Girl arrives on the scene. Stunned and amazed at the festive party atmosphere. She was totally surprised, too. And we can observe several guests doing guestly things: playing with crutches, begging for table scraps, scrutinizing CDs. You know. Like you do at a party.

More random party shots

Guests and Grant. All having a kick-ass time! Note the beauteous cake. Kirsten and Luis have a combined age of 72.

Birthday Boy Luis and random shots

Luis was the first to be surprised! Note the look of shock and awe on his face (and note the cool 'happy birthday' streamers he had to crash through to get into the room, heh heh). He totally didn't suspect a thing. The rest are random party shots. Several guests are observable.

First Party

We had two surprise parties. One at Kirsten and Mike's and one at Ginger and Luis's. These are from the first one, that started off casually upbeat and ended up rock-star extreme. We snuck in like ninjas and decorated. Grant "helped."

Katie

In memory of Ginger and Luis's precious Katie. A well-loved and loving dog.

Right on, Fanon

I've been finishing "The Wretched of the Earth" by Franz Fanon and provoked to think. This morning a passage made me think about the PBS music specials. The Doo-Wop specials. Have you seen them? They round up a bunch of famous musicians from the 50s (the doo-wop special always showcases Black musicians) who sing and perform their old hits to a lily white audience. Now, let me quote Fanon:
"And it is not utopian to suppose that in fifty years' time the type of jazz howl hiccuped by a poor misfortunate Negro will be upheld by the whites who believe in it as an expression of negritude, and who are faithful to this arrested image of a type of relationship."
Spot-on, Fanon.
The second picture is by a New Orleans artist, Margo Kren and is titled "The Wretched of the Earth."