Good morning and greetings, rock and roll fans. It’s been a wild week on the news front, with my favorite story coming out of Pyongyang, where fun-loving North Korea is talking about obliterating the good ol’ US of A. Standing smack in their crosshairs is Hawaii, which is being threatened with a nuclear tipped missle, topped off with a side order of short ribs. Think what you want about that little dictator, Kim Jong-il, but this pint-sized maniac, who gets a kick out of starving his people and locking up a couple of our journalists, is now threatening to devastate the Aloha state .

I am heading over to the islands in August for a warm water meditation retreat. Before the threat from this “proud nuclear power,” my biggest concerns were sunburn, overipe pineapples or a wandering school of jellyfish, not radiation poisoning. Over in Oahu, they still remember the horror of Pearl Harbor the same way I continually dream about not being ready tests in school. But I’ve always shared a special kinship with Korea, ever since my basketball coach had us playing a demilitarized zone on defense back in high shcool.

And then there was the tragic passing of the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson, who died last week at the age of 50. I believe ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel summed it up best when he said, “What’s especially sad is that most people of a certain generation only know Michael Jackson as a crazy guy who had a lot of plastic surgery — whereas the truth is, he was not only an unbelievably talented, groundbreaking performer, he also helped break down the racial prejudice in this country. He was an extremely powerful symbol — a black performer who whites could relate to and then later in life, a white performer who blacks could relate to.” I loved the Jackson Five, especially Reggie, when he played rightfield for the Yankees.

Of course, there are the crazy goings on in Iran, the continuing and escalating violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, the wandering governor from South Carolina and the death of Farrah Fawcett. We’ll cover some of those topics in our late night comedy segment but let’s move on to our photo finish.

Today’s colorful theme takes us back to my favorite place to shoot the sunrise on the central coast. We’ll be seeing lots of Lighthouse Point and Its Beach throughout the summer as I blaze my own Appalachian trail through my photo archives. There has been very little color in the June skies due to fog, the marine layer and the breakup of Jon and Kate. So today we are journeying back to 2007, to a time when Phil Spector was still a free man, John Ensign was still faithful to his wife and Bernie Madoff sons still spoke to him.

The first three shots are from a sunrise in early March that came before a huge storm, where the rain was coming down harder than PETA did on President Obama for swatting that fly. This magnificent moment of Disney color came and went very quickly before the skies turned gray and the deluge began, much the way the greedy bankers bought into the bad mortgages and we, the taxpayers, were forced to bail them out. These bailouts still have many people, including yours truly, scratching their heads, much like suffering the heartbreak of psoriasis.

Our second dawn pleaser came a few weeks earlier. As a landscape photograher and part-time hand model, I am most attracted to the vibrant colors in the sky. These two sunrises reflect the kind of the moments I like to capture and the reason I get up before dawn even cracks. So you can look forward to a cyber summer of sunrises and sunsets as we bring the best of the central coast skies to the pages of Sunrise Santa Cruz.

On to the late night experience. Hey, you know what is going on over in Iran with the election? Have you been following that? Oh, it’s crazy. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (who makes a great chicken salad,) has declared himself a winner. Had a victory party. And he came out at the victory party and he thanked the 148% of the people who voted for him. This Ahmadinejad guy, during all those protests, keeping a very low profile in Iran. His staff said he was hiking. And President Obama, this guy takes everything seriously. He’s very upset about what’s going on in Iran. As a matter of fact, today he announced that he’s going to stop smoking Camels.” –David Letterman

“Today, President Obama signed a bill that prevents tobacco companies from using misleading labels like ‘low tar’ and ‘light.’ The tobacco companies said from now on they’ll label their low tar cigarettes as ‘less cancerific. A British furniture company was caught trying to slip advertisements into Twitter by linking them to the Iranian election crisis. Isn’t that the lowest? Yeah, probably the most shameless had to be, ‘Tired of all the unrest? Try our Serta Perfect Sleeper. Today the governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, who’s the head of the Republican Governors Association, held a press conference to reveal he had an affair with a woman from Argentina. People were shocked because Republicans traditionally don’t do well with Hispanic women.” –Conan O’Brien

“You guys remember Dick Cheney? Vice President for eight years? Listen to this. He’s written a memoir about his life. Not just a memoir, a thousand pages! It’s a great book. You can actually use it to stand on to reach a better book. This guy doesn’t say anything for eight years, and now he’s got a thousand-page book? Talk about torture. There’s your torture right there. John McCain is being more outspoken about President Obama’s foreign policy and his Iranian strategy. And today, McCain got so loud and so angry, and he was screaming, that they asked him to leave Denny’s.” –David Letterman

That’s news, weather and sports. On the travel front, my two favorite children are leaving today on a fact finding mission to Costa Rica, which is being led by my brother Brad, as part of his Media Services Without Borders group. Which means that another guest blog will be coming down the pike from Aimee. And if we’re really lucky we might squeeze one out of Jason, but it will probably be in Spanish.

So congratulations go out to the Golden State Warriors, who last week lucked out and selected sharpshooting guard Stephon Curry in the NBA draft. This was a coup for the Warriors, who in the past have taken front office incompetence to a new level. I haven’t been this excited about something in Oakland since they opened up Raiderette tryouts to the public. So enjoy the day and we’ll catch you somewhere between the Carribean Queen and the Atlantic. Aloha, mahalo and later, Costco Rica fans.

Good morning and greetings, Allman Brothers fans. There are times when I sit down at my computer and I feel like “I’ve been tied to the whipping post. Good Lord, I feel like I’m blogging.” And this is after days of waking up with the “Statesboro Blues.” But, “Lord, I was born a ramblin’ man. Tryin’ to make a livin’ by posting the best material I can.” And to sum up the southern rock experience, we know that “Crossroads seem to come and go but the gypsy flies with sweet Melissa.”

So yesterday was Father’s Day and the first day of Donna summer. I think Seals and Croft summed it up when they said, “Summer breeze, makes me feel fine. Blowin’ thru the jasmine in my mind.” The group America, while riding thru the desert on a horse with no name, put a good take on summer with, “When the days are longer and the nights are stronger than moonshine.” As I frequently tell my Tucson-based fact checker and former back-up singer to the Moody Blues, Nancy Mager, everything can be said in a song. This includes my haftorah, which I sang on my bar mitzvah day like a young Neil Diamond. That’s a whole lot of “Holly holy.”

So let’s move on to today’s photo journey. In our salute to the summer solstice, which is the longest day of the year, we return to 2008, before Bush was exiled to Main Street. The date was January 23, the place Natural Bridges State Beach. Now the previous day was epic along the coast. The highlights included a very, extreme low tide, the rare opportunity to photograph a rainbow thru the arch at Its Beach and a spectacular display of color at dusk that wowed sunset fans lined up along the cliff. It was a day, much like my circumcision or when the U.S. invaded Grenada, that I will never forget.

So this was the following night, and as I headed down to the beach I was still buzzing like John Edwards on health care reform before he was caught with his pants down. I could see from the way the clouds were lining up that this was the kind of night I wanted to make sure I didn’t run out of film, even though I was shooting digital. My batteries were extra charged as in the words of Buddy Miles, “Well, my mind’s been going thru them changes” as the sky was going thru them phases. We started off with a rustic gold, then moved into a smooth blue, outstanding orange before hitting Tahitian tan, wild salmon before finishing off with riviera red. All in all, a stunning display of clouds, reflection and color. I hadn’t seen anything that magnificent since the first time I saw Michelle Obama go sleeveless.

At the same time I was shooting at Natural Bridges, a Davenport-based photographer named Ed Dickie was taking in this same celestial display up at Waddell Creek. His panoramic shots of the north coast sky were dramatic and utterly superb, much like the breakout first season of “Petticoat Junction.” We’re talking Billie Jo, Bobbi Jo, Betty Jo and Uncle Joe, who we know is “moving kind of the slow at the junction, Petticoat Junction.”

On to the late night experience. “It’s a little different over there when they have an election in Iran, because the women, they get to vote. Unlike our ally Saudi Arabia. But in Iran, the women get to vote and it’s great, because they’re already wearing the booth. But what do you expect from this country? It’s run by a wacko, driven by oil companies. It’s Alaska.” –Bill Maher “Politics is very similar over there as here. Ahmadinejad says if he’s elected, he’ll bail out the camel industry.” –Craig Ferguson

“But this guy, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he claims victory and he is very unpopular. And the danger politically of this, he could ruin the political career of his brother, Jeb Ahmadinejad. Here’s the breakdown of the Iranian election: 63 percent of the vote for Ahmadinejad; Moussavi, he’s got 34 percent of the vote; and 3 percent of the vote goes to Ralph Nader.” –David Letterman

Here now are a few choice puns, courtesy of my son Jason, who every night before he goes to sleep thanks God for creating “The Office”. A farmer is milking his cow and as he is milking, a flu comes along and flies into the cow’s ear. A little bit later, the farmer notices the fly in the milk. The farmer says, “Hmph. In one ear, out the udder.”

A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. “But why?” they asked, as they moved off. “Because,” he said, “I can’t stand these chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.”

And here’s my favorite. A doctor liked to stop at a bar after work and have an almond daiquiri. One day, Dick the bartender ran out of almonds, and used hickory nuts instead. The doctor took a sip and said, “Is this an almond daiquiri. Dick?” And dick said, “No, it’s a hickory daiquiri, Doc.”

That’s our salute to Frankie Valli and one of the four seasons. A word on Father’s Day. My father is 92 and still living the somewhat good life in Santa Cruz. I feel so blessed in being a father, as I have two children who each day make me feel, much like Lou Gherig, that , “I am the luckiest man alive.” So I’ve got a lot to be thankful for. Sometimes, I get so caught up in the day to day stress that I tend to forget these blessings, but seeing these children reminds me to focus on the important things, like having your health, the ability to see, hear and laugh and the upcoming season of “Sons of Anarchy” on FX.

So let me sum up my thoughts by quoting President Barack Obama, who says, “If I could be anything, it would to be a good father. Being a parent isn’t an obligation, it’s a privilege.” Enjoy the long days, the warm nights and the kids playing of beach volleyball. We’ll catch you somewhere below the rim. Aloha, mahalo and later, Peter Vecsey fans.

Good morning and greetings, Beach Boys fans. That’s right, “God only knows what I’d be without you,” my favorite cyber audience. Now, “east coast girls are hip, I really dig those styles they wear, and the southern girls with they way they blog, they knock me out when I’m down there. The midwest farmer’s daughters really make you feel alright, and the northern girls with the way they kiss, they keep their boyfriends blogging all night.” But rest assured, sports fans, “the west coast has the sunshine and the girls all get so tanned, so it’s the “California girls” who are driving this runaway train. And thank you, the dedicated readers of this blog, for all the “Good, good, good, good vibrations.”

Now that I got that important salute to the beach girls of the Golden State out of the way, we can move on to today’s risky business. Or in the words of Rebecca DeMornay, “Are you ready for me, Ralph?” (That was my salute to Tom Cruise.)

So today on NBC we are going to take a walk on the wildlife side. One misty morning in early June, I was driving home along the boundries of Natural Bridges State Park. And who do I see loping down Swanton Boulevard but none other than Mr. Wile E coyote (photo #1). It was like a dog day afternoon, but it was morning as watched him stroll along the wet grass, searching for a snack of perhaps a tasty gopher, a wandering kitty cat or a chocolate-filled croissant. When I took this shot this wild dog was less than ten yards away and didn’t seem the least concerned with me or my back seat companion. My dog had a stunned look on her face, or the same expression that most of the free world exhibited when John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate.

After a while this prarie wolf tired of me watching him like a mental patient, so he took off on a run and ducked under the fence back into the park. I then drove home, made myself a vegan cheeseburger with some organic sweet potato fries and started work on my memoir, “Every Day is Saturday.”

The next shot takes me back a couple of years to the sands of Four Mile Beach, where I caught this elusive juvenile bobcat (photo #2) less than 100 yards from the water. It is very unusual to see one of these creatures in the sand, no less putting on sunblock-it happens about as often as a Republican politician says something positive about Michelle’s Obama’s hubby. Ten minutes after I took this shot, I thought this wild cat was going to attack me. And as many of you out there know, multiple puncture wounds can really put a crimp on the day.

A couple of days after I shot the coyote beautiful, I was Pablo cruising down Western Drive when I saw doe (a deer, a female deer) and her two fawns trying to cross the street. It was fascinating to see the mother make sure her two children looked both ways before they crossed and then waited to make sure that they were safe before she went. This was then followed by ray, a drop of golden sun. They were photographed on the hillside by me, a name, I call myself.

Moving along, a couple of years back, my daughter and I were returning from a fact finding mission at Its Beach when we came across this Vietnamese potbellied pig (photo #4) and her lovely owner. She was just taking her prize dwarf breed of a domestic swine on an outing, and afterwards were going out for some Chinese food. I believe she told me that they slept in the same bed, which she said wasn’t a problem because she didn’t snore. Sometimes a playmate would come over and they’d all sleep together. You guessed it, the old pigs in a blanket.

Back in late May, I had just finished running Summer, my golden retriever, when we came across a turtle (photo #5) in a field by Antonelli’s pond. I figured it had crawled over and was lost so I brought it home to show my daughter and to later have it race the rabbit that lives next door. Aimee quickly built a shelter for it in our backyard, fed it some chips, salsa and guacamole, as we figured we’d see it in the morning.

Well, for the next two days, no Yertle, not turtle. I figured it had James burrowed somewhere and it was history. Later that morning, I received a phone call from my frantic wife, who informed me that there was an animal in the house that was tearing and shredding the furniture and using the spam filter on my computer. Summer was upstairs barking and shaking and wishing she was a German sheperd. I rushed home and raced inside expecting to perhaps find a raccoon enjoying a Trader Joe’s four cheese pizza. But not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

I then looked out the back at the sliding glass door to see the turtle standing outside wanting in. At this moment the realization came over me that perhaps this was not a wild mutant ninja turtle, but someone’s recently emancipated pet. I then brought him down to the local pet shop and discovered that he was a red eared slider, who much like myself is semi-aquatic and can only eat in the water. It was a good move not releasing it into Antonelli’s Pond as it is much more voracious than native turtles and would have wiped out the fish population faster than you could say, “Entourage.” So we dropped it into the big tank at the pet shop and it immediately dove underwater and starting synchronized swimming with a box turtle from the Bronx. Last I heard it was sold to the Sultan of Brunei and has its own chef and waxer.

For our final photo we return to West Cliff Drive. Last year I photographed these cormorants building their nests along the edge of the cliff. We followed them as they laid their eggs and then gave birth do some of wildest-looking chicks I’ve seen since my freshman year at Syracuse University. We’ll have a blog on this later in the summer when they give birth. It’s a fascinating process to watch and I saw my first egg the other day. If you want to check it out, it’s on the cliff right before the entrance to Natural Bridges. Tell them Geoff sent you and that Eli’s coming.

One more note. This past Friday, on my morning walk with one of my newest friends of Swedish descent, we spotted a beautiful little creature popping its head out of the hole in the park at Natural Bridges. It had a white ring around its face and incredibly beautiful golden tan fur. It was not scared of us or man’s best friend who was with us and was very curious to check us out. Of course, much to my dismay, I was not carrying my camera because this would have been a perfect addition to this blog as it was less than 100 yards from where I photographed the coyote. It would have been the perfect Glenn closure.

I thought it was a ferret, and my fjord-loving, morning companion later emailed me to let me know that it was a black-footed ferret, which I found rather odd since none are located in California. Later that afternoon I went over to the Visitor’s Center at Natural Bridges and poured out my heart and soul to the ranger, who told me to get some therapy and that this beautiful beast of burden was a southwest long-tailed weasel. Right before I spotted him, I could swear I heard a little sound. That’s right, (and you may see this one coming,) pop goes the weasel.

On to the late night comedy experience. “Boy, this is a weird story. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is at LaGuardia and she breaks her ankle. This happened, like, two days ago. And in a 5-to-4 ruling, the current justices have voted to send her a get well card. In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in a tight race. This guy is everywhere trying to drum up support. On Sunday, he was on the Iranian talk show, ‘Eliminate the Press.’” –David Letterman “Speaking of Republican icons, Nancy Reagan this week was in the capital to unveil a statue of her late husband, Ronald Reagan, and she had lunch at the White House with Michelle Obama. I’m not sure she really knows who Michelle Obama is, cause she told her to really dust, not just move things around.” –Bill Maher

“Earlier today, President Obama spoke at a town hall meeting in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Yeah. Yeah, half of the Wisconsin crowd had never seen an African-American, and the other half had never seen a skinny person.” –Conan O’Brien “President Obama is proposing a new national healthcare plan that’s both inexpensive and accessible. He’s calling it Have Your Surgery In Mexico.” –Jimmy Fallon “President Obama gave a big historic speech yesterday in Egypt. President Obama impressed listeners by beginning his speech with the traditional Islamic greeting, “Salaam Aleikum.” Yea, it’s very cool. Yea it was especially impressive because a year ago, President Bush opened with ‘Shalom Amigos.’” –Conan O’Brien

“I am Stephen Colbert, and I am reporting for duty. Folks, right off the top, I want to thank the USO for bringing me and my show to our brave men and women in uniform in Baghdad, Iraq. Thank you so much. I have to say, this place is great. I’ve always loved the beach, but I hate the ocean, so this is perfect! You know, folks, a lesser man would try to pander to you. But I’m not going to do that. Besides, you would never fall for it, because you are the sharpest, coolest, sexiest fighting force in the history of mankind. You know, it’s my first trip to Iraq. I don’t know why I haven’t made it here before, but it’s hard to explain to the people back home just how hot it is here. Let me put it this way: When Saddam Hussein got to hell, I’m guessing he asked for a blanket.” –Stephen Colbert

That’s my salute to the animal planet. Congratulations go out to the Orlando Magic, whose blunders and missed free throws in a critical game 4 allowed Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers to capture their 15th NBA title last night. Which means, with the exception of the upcoming NBA draft, we basketball fans have nothing to look forward to, except Karl Rove perhaps being indicted. It all comes down to what my wife always whispers in my ear before we go to sleep, “Basketball is life, the rest is just details.” We’ll catch in the lockeroom. Aloha, mahalo and later, Laker fans.

Good morning and greetings, Elvin Bishop fans. That’s right, “I fooled around and fell in love” with my Canon Digital Rebel and as a result, we’ve created, celebrated and consummated the Sunrise Santa Cruz experience. So you may be thinking, why Elvin Bishop, why not Leo “You make me feel like dancing” Sayer or Don McLean, “Bye, bye Miss American Pie,” cake and ice cream? Well, the answer is that there is no LeAnn rhyme or reason, or in the words Jesse Colin Young, “I live on a ridgetop and lord knows, I like it just fine. Where’s it’s windy and foggy and I’m thinking about the blog most all of the time.”

So for today’s photo fun box we return to last Tuesday, which according to my Lindsay Lohan lunar calendar was June 2. The afternoon sky was full of all kinds of exotic clouds, leading me to believe that we might be in for some sunset hijinks. But as evening rolled in I found myself over on the eastside, attending a psychology class on Earthquake Awareness entitled, “Stop the blaming, it’s not your fault.”

Thus, I was not home to receive a phone call from my Aptos-based field scout, Jerry Hoffman, who at the time was during his Tiger Woods impersonation at the DeLaveaga golf course. Quoting my former Sportstalk radio partner, “There’s an incredibly bright rainbow extending arch to arch over Aptos” who then went on to say that he hadn’t seen anything that impressive “since we were judges at the Miss Miller Light Swimsuit contest down at the Boardwalk in the late 70’s.” That was as close as I was ever going to get to the Supreme Court and to this day I still wonder if we made the right decision in the historic Roe vs bikini.

So I missed the rainbow but was determined not to miss the sunset. But I found myself in Scotts Valley as the sun was dropping and the clouds were changing in texture. So I raced home like Paul Newman on a triple mocha latte to catch this cloud convention. As I approached the sound barrier along Mission Street, I was thinking that I was probably missing another photo opportunity. This had been pretty much par for the course (Pebble Beach) since back in October when the Warriors fell out of the playoff race. Back then it seemed like I had a great future behind me.

But this night, lady luck, instant karma and Diet Sprite were on my side as I drove up to a little park near my home. I long jumped out of my car just as the sun was dropping thru the clouds (photo #1) before setting over the mountains behind UCSC. The sky then turned some interesting colors-we had orange creamsicle, purplish pink and a little cherry garcia. It was the most colorful sunset I had seen in months which left me with the feeling of hope, crosby and gleason.

And then came the highlight of this June juncture-lighting, thunder and mosquitos the size of Buicks. I failed to capture the lightning but I did corral the thunder. Much like my introduction to electroshock therapy, after three good rounds of bolts it was over, and then giants raindrops fell for 30 seconds as the curtains and drapes came down on the evening. I heard from my buddy Bruce Meyers up in Contra Costa County that on Wednesday during his son’s championship little league game, a rainbow was glowing out in center field. I believe this is what John and the lovely Michelle Phillips were referring to when they wrote, “California Dreamin, on such a winter’s, er, spring day.”

On to the late night comedy experience. “Talk about a guy who won’t go away. How about Osama bin Laden? I mean, come on. And there’s another one of those aggravating tapes that he sends out from time to time and they put them on the Al Jazeera network. People say, ‘Well, how do we know this is a current tape?’ Well I’ll tell you how you can tell that this is a current tape. At the end of the tape, he wishes Jay luck on the new 10 p.m. show.
And in the new tape, it’s a long, crazy man, lunatic rant condemning President Obama. Oh no, wait a minute, that’s Cheney. That was Cheney doing that. How about that Dick Cheney? He’s really quite busy here lately. He’s talking. He says now that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. Well, no harm done. And to get that information, Cheney admits that he had to waterboard himself.” –David Letterman

“Did everyone see Brian Williams’ special with President Obama? Yeah? Anyway, in the special, President Obama showed Brian Williams what tricks his new puppy, Bo, could do. Isn’t that cool? Yeah, in fact, Bo has already learned to sit up and beg for federal bailout money.” –Conan O’Brien “Rush Limbaugh said today he might change his mind about something. I’m like, what?! He said he might support President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court. Wow! Sounds like someone got a new prescription.” –Craig Ferguson

“A new poll shows that Americans have a more negative view of Muslim countries now than back in 2002. That’s because the media never reports any of the good bombings. As part of their restructuring plan, General Motors is selling off an entire division to a Chinese company. The new division will be called General Tso’s Motors. Today in New Hampshire, the state Senate approved a bill that would help legalize same-sex marriage. Yeah. Their new state motto is ‘Live Free or Bi.’” –Jimmy Fallon

So that’s it for today’s regularly scheduled program. Tune in again next week as we’ll circle the animal planet and take walk on the wildlife side. Until then, enjoy the last two weeks of spring as Donna summer is rapidly approaching. And remember, every day (except Thursday) is sacred. We’ll catch you down in low post. Aloha, mahola and later, Connie Hawkins fans.

Good morning and greetings, Grand Funk Railroad fans. That’s right, folks, “I’m your captain” and thanks to my paint-by-the-numbers GPS system, “I’m getting closer to my home.” And dammit, “We’re an American Band. I saw Grand Funk guitarist Mark Farner play last summer at the Friday night concerts down at the Beach Boardwalk and he rocked Santa Cruz. I also saw Mr. Eddie Money, “Back in the 70’s when I was here, I was snorting South American countries” and the Gin Blossoms. We are talking tremendous rock and roll shows for the price of free.

For many years I passed on these mini-Woodstocks down at the beach and then one evening checked out Peter Noone and Herman Hermits and I was hooked just like Mrs. Brown and her lovely daughter. The sand, waves, barking sea lions, annoying tourists, alcohol, litter and cigarette smoke-it doesn’t get much better than that with rock and roll music blasting out over Monterey Bay. To quote the great Duke Ellington, (not to be confused with North Carolina Ellington,) “Music is my mistress.” And as Pablo Cruise once told me, “Love will find a way.”

For today’s photo fare we are going back, as the Chambers Brothers would say, in “Time.” As I’ve mentioned before, I joined the digital revolution in 2005, and much like when I broke down and ate Chinese food for the first time, a new sweet and sour world opened up for me. I had been shooting with a Canon AE1 for many years and was happy as a clam with the format. Focus, shoot a roll of 24, develop and see what I’ve got. A surprise in every envelope. Sometimes joy, sometimes disappointment, like seeing my SAT scores. But today we are going with some jump shots that worked for me, like an open 18-footer from the left side of the key.

For our first image, I went with one of my many cypress sunrise shots, this one entitled “Sky on Fire.” For years I shot the sunrise in front of the cypress tree along West Cliff before one day I finally dawned on me (no pun intended,) that this damn tree was blocking too much of the sky. I then joined moveon.org and started shooting down at Lighthouse Point.

Which leads me to photo #2, which in honor of Tommy Gavin and the “Rescue Me” boys, I call “Fire Engine Sky.” For a month in my late youth I shot with the slide format, and this red alert is a result of my slide period, which I also refer to as my first year of Algebra 1. I was using some film called Kodak Extra Color and as you can see from the rouge and the purple haze in the sky, they definitely didn’t cheat me on the color front. Not to toot my own Lena horn, but the Communist Party named this shot their 2004 photo of the year.

For our next two vertical entrees we move north (although some might say west) along West Cliff Drive. For some reason this morning I mistimed the sunrise. I woke and saw a beautiful red cumulus ribbon covering the sky. I then scooted down to the cliff and caught the aftermath (or was it afterscience) of the sun rising over the fog bank which I call “Glory Clouds.” Karma, clouds, parsley, sage, rosemary and time were on my side that morning.

We then move up to Swift Street to see a double rainbow doing stand-up in the Pacific. This was the beach that I lived across from during my West Cliff wonder years from 1975-1989. Living on the edge of the continent and photographing rainbows was not easy, with the daily distractions of migrating whales, countless chains of sea birds and endless droves of roller skaters. And definitely not in that order.

For our last two shots we are moving out of town but staying in state. The fifth shot is from New Year’s Day, 2004, back in Palm Desert, when the sky lit up with brilliantly colored, cotton-puffed clouds that just blew my mind. As I’m writing this I’m reminded of another fantastic, blood-red sunset from Palm Desert that I will feature later this summer. Due to technical difficulties, I did not make it out to the desert this year but from what I hear Sherman’s Deli (with two convenient locations in Palm Springs and Palm Desert) is still doing major rye bread, corn beef and chocolate rugala business without me.

The final shot was taken in lovely Hermosa Beach sometime in the 1990’s. There weren’t a lot of memorable moments of color in the sky during my decade in the southland but this was one of the nights of photo greatness. Living in the most densely populated city in the U.S., I found myself engulfed in the warm Pacific while the sun was setting from April thru October. Throw in third row season tickets to the Lakers at the Fabulous Forum during the Magic Johnson years, which was a magical and James Worthy experience in itself and sunsets took a back seat to the Laker Girls. Hermosa Beach was like living in a giant outdoor health club, but that’s a sideout story for another blog.

On to the late night news. “Well, the big story is the Supreme Court. President Obama has found his nominee. She is a Federal appeals judge. Sonia Sotomayor, a Latino woman, how about that? So, you know what that means. Ruth Bader Ginsburg no longer the hot chick on the court. If confirmed, Sotomayor would be the country’s first Hispanic judge. In fact, her first order of business, deporting Lou Dobbs.” –Jay Leno “History was made today when President Obama nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the first female Hispanic justice to serve in the U.S. Supreme court. Obama said this should help keep the court from leaning too far to the white.” –Jimmy Fallon

“North Korea tested another nuclear bomb. The fear is that North Korea will sell this nuclear weapon to some unstable, volatile world leader, you know, like Dick Cheney.” –Jay Leno “There are some people who are saying that maybe Dick Cheney is setting himself up to actually run for president. You know, it makes sense. Republicans are looking for fresh blood, and Cheney just had some yesterday.” –Bill Maher

“Barack Obama and Dick Cheney have been going at each other all week. This is like big-time wrestling, isn’t it? Man, it’s like charisma versus arrhythmia. I can’t believe Dick Cheney keeps giving speeches. He’s appearing on TV news shows. It’s like he thinks he is still president. A new pentagon report says that 1 in 7 inmates released from Guantanamo Bay has gone back to terrorism. Surprisingly, the other 6 are working in customer service.” –Jay Leno

So I hope you enjoyed today’s blast of colors from the past. And congratulations to the Lakers and the Magic, who will meet in the NBA Finals that begin on Thursday. What this means is no LeBron James, who put on an INCREDIBLE show during the playoffs but who failed to show up for the Game 6 postgame press conference. It guess it all comes down to the words of Mahatma Gandhi who once said, “Defeat is worse than death, you have to live with defeat.”

As you can imagine, there are few more Fuji like images in the archives that we will later revisit. On Friday morning, I took a few shots of a coyote in the misting rain which we’ll see coming down the pike. So enjoy the Kodak colors and we’ll catch at the Staples Center. And welcome to June. Aloha, mahalo and later, George McGinnis fans.

Good morning and greetings, Santana fans. As Carlos once told me, “You’ve got to change your evil ways, baby.” And of course, I did, because I was in search of a white magic woman. More about that later. I saw Carlos and his crew play at the Woodstock Music Festival back in 1969. Those were three days of peace, love and an incredible amount of people dancing around naked. Quite an experience for a 16-year-old, defensive-minded point guard from New Jersey.

So welcome to our 175th post. That’s right, sports fans, the big 175. So what does it all mean? Well, for starters, it means that I’ve posted 1,050 images on this blog site. And not one shot of myself or the June Taylor dancers. So why blog? Why not river dance? What is this obsession with pictures and words? What not spend my time meditating or doing tai bow? The answer, my friend, is not blowing in the wind. That’s just pollen. It’s all about the asteriods of thoughts careening around in my head. Sometimes I just have to let those meteorites loose.

As I’ve seen written on many a Hallmark card, Angela Jolie’s bicep and notices of rate increases from my health insurance company, April showers bring May flowers. April baths bring nothing except rings around the tub. We started off magnificent May with a look at the loveliness of the Robert plant action at the UCSC Aboretum. We are returning there today but under different circumstances. Where the skies were once blue, now there is rain. As I was the only person strolling thru this menagerie of moist colors, for this day, according to Counting Crows, “I am the rain king.”

So as the water flowed down from the heavens, I grabbed my Scooby Doo raincoat and flew into action. As you can see from the photo array, the proteas and friends had no problem holding onto the droplets that fell from the clouds. It’s always exciting to see flowers in the rain and this day was no exception. I, myself am very good at holding onto things, just like these flowers with raindrops. Or to quote the Cowsills, “I love the flower girl. She seemed so sweet and kind, she crept into my mind. Was she a reality or just a dream to me?”

Which leads me to this. Today is an historic day as my wife Allison is hitting the big 50. It is also a big day for me because I’ve never slept with a 50 year-old-woman. It has been a somewhat difficult year for Allison on the health front but she is coming through it and feeling stronger every day. So I want to wish her a happy birthday and tell her that the NBA playoffs should be over in a few weeks. It’s not easy finding someone you want to spend the rest of your life with so I’m one of the lucky ones. As she once said to me, “You love basketball more than you love me.” I replied, “That may be true, but I love you more than football and baseball.”

On to the late night action. “Well, here is a shocking statistic. This is shocking. One in four Americans admit to texting while driving. The other three are illegal immigrants who are texting while driving.” And according to a Rasmussen poll, when asked if English should be America’s official language, 85 percent of the people said, ‘Si. Well, last week, the FDA scolded General Mills for claiming that Cheerios lowers your cholesterol by 10%. Well, they’re not stopping there. Today, under pressure, Captain Crunch admitted he lied about his military record.” –Jay Leno

“Ladies and gentlemen, there’s good news for the environment. They’re cleaning up the Hudson River. It had gotten so bad that the salmon actually had to swim upstream every year for their hepatitis shots.” –David Letterman “In a reversal of his position, President Obama this week said he now opposes the release of photographs showing terror suspects being abused in Afghanistan and Iraq. Meaning we’ll just have to wait for Dick Cheney’s Christmas card.” –Amy Poehler “At the White House the other night, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a night of poetry and music featuring musicians, authors and poets, to which President Bush said, ‘Now, that’s torture.’” –Jay Leno

So that’s it for our holiday blog. If possible, spend a moment today thinking what this holiday means, and I’m not referring to what to marinate for the barbecue. For you NBA fans, the first five games of the conference finals have been, as Jack Nicholson might say, “As good as it gets.” Or “You can’t handle the truth.” We’ve had intensely fought, epic, down to the wire contests with amazingly dramatic finishes, which reminds me of both my wedding night and my first year of rabbinical school.

So birthday wishes today also go out to our friend Jo Ann Martin and my longtime Motown pal Marc Techner. And get ready for June as we’re going to be blasting out the colors like LeBron and Kobe launching game-winners from beyond the three point stripe. So have a great holiday weekend and we’ll catch you at the Pepsi Center. Aloha, mahalo and later, Kevin Johnson fans.

Good morning and happy trails, Quicksilver Messenger Service fans. During San Francisco’s psychedelic days of the 60’s, John Cipollina and Quicksilver boys were jamming away at the Fillmore West with “Who Do You Love?” But today we are talking sky, like Hannah Montana in big sky country. And Norman Greenbaum, that one hit wonder and “Spirit in the Sky.” And less we forget the great lefthander, Jimi “Scuse me while I kiss the sky” Hendrix. And finally the Beatles, who gave us, “Lucy and Ricky in the sky with diamonds.”

If we go back to the 1950’s, before there was history, you might recall a TV show that featured a very dramatic beginning, “From out of the clear blue of the western sky comes…Sky King. I loved Penny and the Songbird. Then it was on to “Look!” Up in the sky. It’s a bird… It’s a plane.. No, it’s today’s super collection of our favorite 2008-2009 magical morning moments from Sunrise Santa Cruz.

That’s right, boys and squirrels, for today’s photo appetizers, I have selected a six pack of my favorite sunrises from the winter collection. Actually, the last shot is from the spring but who’s a counting crow? Six Lighthouse Point/Steamer Lane experiences that were exhilarating, inspiring and delightful, or the same sensation I feel when I wake up and get dial tone.

Now for any of you who know me, or have downloaded my psychological profile, I’m not big on change. I’ve always been a photo purist. Every year I have a sign up at my Open Studios, “No Photoshopping” along with “Tips are Welcome.” This fixation means never altering or boosting any of the colors of the images that my Canon has digitally inhaled.

I first heard about a little feature called the Fill Light, not to be confused with Phil Lesh, in a class at Cabrillo. It was presented to me by my professor who also informed the class that you can never take a good picture on automatic focus. So either I’m extremely lucky or a savant. Anyway, I was reintroduced to it when my brother Brad forced it upon me on a visit about a month ago.

Well, this fill light is another term for MAGIC. And for once, I’m not talking Johnson. If I’ve ever had a problem with my photography, it’s that, not being that master of technique, many times my pictures are a tad darker than I wish. Well, thanks to the wonder of my parents having a third child (Brad,) I am now able to go back into the archives and add light where there was once darkness. Like the recent transition in the White House. And while we’re on the subject, will someone please tell Dick Cheney to shut his negative, war mongering, second guessing trap.

So maybe you’re wondering, why am I discussing Dr. Fill? Has the pressure of not watching in the NBA playoffs in high definition finally gotten to me? Well, what it means, sports fans, is that I am now in possession of hundreds of pictures that have never been seen by the viewing public because they were too dark. Now there is light and the colors and images are flowing like the river Jordan. I’m talking dozens of blogs worth of clouds and colors and candy and ice cream that have never been properly displayed. It’s going to be wild and you, my cyber friends, are going to have a front row seat.

So let’s move on to some late night comedy. “The price of a postage stamp went up to 44 cents this week. Isn’t that unbelievable? They said they had to raise the price because fewer and fewer people are using the mail these days. That’s government thinking, isn’t it? ‘Hey, nobody’s buying our product. Let’s raise the price.’” –Jay Leno “Anybody ever mail anything any more? Well, the price of a stamp is going up to 44 cents. Pretty soon, it will actually be cheaper and easier to just put a little glue on a dollar bill and stick it to an envelope.” –David Letterman “The Post Office announced that the price of a stamp is going up to 44 cents. This is getting out of control. Yeah. If there were just some other way to send written messages that were free and a million times faster. If you guys think of something, e-mail me.” –Jimmy Fallon

Dick Cheney was on the news this week, and he said that it would be a mistake for the Republicans to moderate their policies. He said they should remain true to their core principles: gay bashing, war profiteering and torture.” –Bill Maher “The NYU graduation speaker is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. And she told the grads, ‘Work hard. Save your money. And one day you might be able to afford to attend a Yankees game.’” –David Letterman “A 12-year-old boy has officially filed to run for president of Iran. They’re calling it the craziest thing to happen in Iran since a woman drove a car.” –Jimmy Fallon

“Governor Schwarzenegger says he is trying to get marijuana legalized here in the California. He wants to legalize it. Yeah. Yeah. I believe his campaign slogan is ‘Change We Can Breathe In.’” “Saudi Arabia held its first beauty pageant over the weekend. And already they’re embroiled in their own scandal. Seems topless photos of the newly crowned Miss Saudi Arabia surfaced today. You could see her entire forehead.” “Oh, the FDA now scolding General Mills for claiming that Cheerios can lower your cholesterol by 10%. They say that would be considered an unauthorized health claim. The FDA also said there is no evidence that Lucky Charms are magically delicious.” –Jay Leno

That’s today’s show. Congratulations to Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Laker defense for finally showing up on Sunday and knocking off the Houston Rockets to advance to the western conference finals. And my heart goes out to Bill Simmons, Tommy Heinsohn and all those Boston Celtic fans who saw their team go down to defeat yesterday at the hands of the Orlando Magic. That means, NBA fans, that it’s once again LeBron James time as his Cavaliers head to the eastern conference finals. At 24 years old, this 6′9″, 260 pound monster in sneakers is as good as anyone you’ll ever see on a basketball court. With the exception of the Miami Heat dancers.

So enjoy the skies, try to savor each day and we’ll catch you at the free throw line extended. I don’t know about you, but time and Newsweek seem to be flying by. Aloha, mahalo and later, Bob Cousy fans.

Good morning and greetings, Jefferson Airplane fans. As you may know, here on the central coast, the air is certifiably filled with all kinds of bird life. Just take a stroll along West Cliff Drive and you can view pelicans, cormorants, exotic pigeons and gulls just wanting to have fun. Stop by at Natural Bridges and you see snowy egrets, great egrets, great blue herons and maybe Gil Scott Heron. Which brings to mind the aviary thoughts of David Crosby and The Byrds, “There is a season, tern, tern, tern. And a time for every purpose, under heaven, during the NBA playoffs.”

Our first set from the flight deck takes place over on the east side at Twin Lakes beach. It was back in December and as I drove by, I thought I was in a Jonathon Livingston Seagull novella as these gulls were learning about life, flight and the pursuit of happiness. I’m always fascinated by birds in motion, as earlier in the week I stopped my car to watch a snowy egret cruising the skies. When I asked Petula Clark where that bird might be heading she replied, “Downtown.”

I believe in this situation I would have been better off talking to the gangster of love himself, Mr. Steve Miller. After all, this space cowboy knows birds. As he once said, “I want to fly like a sea gull, to the sea. Fly like a sea gull, let me spirit carry me and Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA Finals.”

We then venture photo wise back to Natural Bridges to check out a great egret in flight. This large, long-legged Dwyane Wading bird has a wingspan of almost five feet and a vertical leap of 48 inches, which makes it tough to defend in the low post. They are truly magnificent in flight, much like Dr. J or Michael Jordan taking off at the free throw line and throwing it down like my son Jason on an 8 foot hoop.

We then see a group of happy pelicans discussing politics and LeBron James selection as league MVP, as their compradres land and take off from the remaining arch. That brings us to our final photo of a hummingbird receiving its nectar fix from the pride of madera flowers. I took five shots in a five second sequence and in only one photo did the maroon thrush appear. I’m not sure what to make of it but either way, I won’t thrush to judgement.

Now here are a few fascinating facts about our flittering friends, the hummingbirds. These little fellas have the most rapid wing beat, 80 per second in normal flight, 200 beats/second in courtship flight and 400 beats per second on the night of the actual honeymoon.

Hummingbirds have hearts that are proportionally larger than any other animal on earth, accounting for 2-4% of their actual total body weight, not including socks and shoes. Their hearts beat at an average of 500 times per minute at rest, 1,200 times in stressful situations and 1,500 when being audited by the IRS or driving on an LA freeway.

These little hummers may consume 50-100% of their body weight in food per day and 200% of their weight in water per day. That’s why you often hear female hummingbirds ask, “Do I look bloated to you?” And lastly, four of five dentists recommend sugarless nectar for those hummingbirds that do chew gum.

Now on to the late night action. “Well, here’s the latest. The White House says, as of now, the swine flu not contained. It could continue to get worse. And they were just talking about Joe Biden.” “Cheney, he overreacted, too. Today, he waterboarded a pig. There’s no reason for that. No reason.” “President Obama spoke on the phone this weekend for 20 minutes with Mexican President Calderon on how to cooperate on fighting this swine flu thing. Afterwards, he said the people of America and Mexico have found common ground. I believe it’s called Los Angeles.” –Jay Leno

“They say that swine flu is not as potent as they originally thought. You know, like the Yankee pitching staff.” “Supreme Court Justice David Souter is stepping down. Now this guy has been called a reclusive loner who is against marriage. It’s like I have a twin.” –David Letterman “A vacancy on the Supreme Court. This is something we haven’t seen in awhile. Let’s just hope the president is better at picking a justice than the justices were at picking a president.” –Jay Leno

“Barack Obama and Joe Biden made a surprise trip outside the White House yesterday for burgers. Yeah! Obama ordered a cheeseburger and Biden asked for whatever comes with the toy.” –Jimmy Fallon “Hey! Some happy news. As you may have heard, the White House has a brand-new puppy. I believe his name is Arlen Specter.” “And a Georgia man is recovering in Pittsburgh after becoming the first U.S. recipient of a double hand transplant. Got two hands transplanted from another guy. He used them for the first time today to grab his heart when he saw the bill.” –Jay Leno

So that’s our show for today. Earlier this week I hit the Arboretum again at UCSC and captured some great moments of May moistness which we’ll peruse later this month. I’ve got to mention the sports highlight of the week, which took place on Wednesday, when my daughter Aimee got both the win and the save in her softball game against a very tough New Brighton/Cabrillo Crushers squad. In the final inning, with the score 10-9 and the bases loaded, she stuck out their biggest hitter to end the game and the place just exploded. Well, maybe not exploded…perhaps a sitting ovation. The win and the save-stats the way it is and was.

And finally, congratulations go out to my brother Paul and his lovely wife Wendi, who hosted their daughter Samantha’s Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, amongst the redwood trees up in Marin County. It was a quite the experience, kind of like the wailing wall meets the Jonas Brothers. All I can say is mazel tov and what about those Houston Rockets? So enjoy the birds, don’t forget to smell the flowers and we’ll catch you in the paint. Aloha, mahalo and later, Dominique Wilkens fans.

Good morning and greetings, Gin Blossom lovers. I always like to jump start the new month with some spectacular color, usually from the skies above our central coast. But instead, today we are drawing our May cornucopia of oranges, reds and deep purples from Father Earth, who is not to be confused with Father Time, Father Flanagan or Father Knows Best. As trombone player Jimmy Pankow of Chicago Transit Authority wrote, “Color my world with hope of loving you.” But more importantly, sorry about that game seven loss to the Celtics, Bulls fans.

So what is it, my fascination with color? What’s the deal or no deal, what’s so special about this Jesse Jackson rainbow coalition of rhythm and blues, collard greens and mellow yellows? I remember growing up in the early 60’s during the days of JFK and Camelot, watching “The Honeymooners” and “Sargeant Bilko” on black and white TV, and thinking, yeah, this is great. Then color TV strolled into my life and I thought, this is even greater. And then I got my braces off and I thought, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, “Free at last. Thank God Almightly, my teeth are free at last.”

But I think the seminal moment for the color infusion harmonically incurred at a friend’s house. My old New Jersey pal, Steve Margolin, had a live-in maid named Minnie. In her room was a black and white TV, on which someone had cleverly placed a striped color screen and voila, before you could say, “This is Walter Cronkite,” she had herself a color TV. This was truly a Kodak moment. The setup, in the words of Guiness Beer, was “Brilliant!” Or to paraphrase the words Mr. Phil “In The Air Tonight” Collins, “I saw true colors.”

I’ve never had any real interest in shooting with black and white film. I’ve always felt that since life, at least for us lucky ones, is lived in color, why go ebony and ivory? Although according to Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, “They do live together in perfect harmony.” Ansel Adams was never one of my boyhood idols. I was more of a Mickey Mantle, Seymour Hersh and Raquel Welch fan. I think I may have been ahead of my time as my credo has always been, if you shoot in the black and white, the terrorists win.

So here’s a collection of floral finery that I spotted as I made my rounds along the westside of Santa Cruz. I took a good shot of a hummingbird feeding on those purple cones (pride of madeiras) that will be coming down the pike. Unfortunately, none of today’s beauties are from my front yard, although I’ve got more variety of weeds than a San Francisco cannibas dispensary. Neil Young says rust never sleeps. Well, weeds keep the rust company at night.

No late night humor this week as I didn’t see much that tickled my fancy. “You know who really needs to worry about the swine flu? Kevin Bacon.” So we’ll go with a joke from my English literature loving son, Jason. Police are investigating an accident in which two trucks loaded with Roget’s Thesaurus collided as they left a London publishing house. Witnesses were stunned, startled, aghast, taken aback, shocked, stupefied…

So enjoy the color and the tower of flower power that Misty May brings to the table. And of course, the second round of the NBA playoffs that hopefully draws us closer to the LeBron /Kobe slugfest of basketball greatness. And try not to sweat the small stuff, they’ll be time for that later. Seize the day and the rebound. We’ll catch you on the screen and roll. Aloha, mahalo and later, Rick Barry fans.

Good morning and greetings, NBA playoff fans. Once every few years, a gorgeous sunrise paints the skies of Monterey Bay but does not end up on the pages of this website known as Sunrise Santa Cruz. This non-harmonic convergence is usually due to few factors, among them my karma, my trouble with Algebra 1 and those damn Somali pirates.

That being said, for some reason the big guy in the sky had me oversleep (6:15) last Tuesday, and when I woke up the sky was glowing like the Alabama Crimson Tide. Or in the words of Kid Rock,”Singing sweet home Alabama all summer long.” Big, reddish-orange billowing clouds filled the sky as I looked on in shock and awe and then semi-disbelief. The sunrise was peaking as if Timothy Leary had just walked in the room, so I tuned in, turned on and then dropped out. It was a spectacular event as even Moses would have been impressed as the the surf at Cowell’s Beach must have looked like the Red Sea.

So now it’s few days later and my leg was still a little sore from kicking myself. So I thought, how do I make it up to the dedicated readers of this blog, who depend on this site to see the best of what appears in the central coast skies? There was only one thing to do, so I stopped waterboarding myself and began to search for Mr. Peabody, Sherman and the Wayback Machine. (This previous reference will only be understood by fans of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show folks broadcast in the late 50’s and early 60’s.)

When that quest proved unsuccesful, it was time to hit the photo archives and fortunately, they are as full as Bernie Madoff’s cell is with hate mail letters. For today’s photo fest we are venturing back to late December, 2008 to check out this previously unseen sunset. The place was the most Natural of Bridges and the sky was poised to light up like fans at Cheech and Chong concert. As the twilight show was about to begin, I flashed on Mick Jagger’s take on the sky. “Hey. You. Get off of my clouds. Don’t hang around ’cause two’s a crowd.” And I replied, “Sorry, Mick. But on a night like this, wild horses couldn’t drag me away.”

This spectacular December sky was followed by a gorgeous red sunrise the following morning, which was in the same league as the one that I missed on Tuesday. So as it all comes full circle, one must wonder, what did I learn from this whole experience? In the words of Mr. Edwin Starr, when asked the question “War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.”

On to the late night experience. “And as the economy lags, the Army is getting more and more selective now. The Army announced this week they will no longer accept drug addicts and felons. But the good news is there’s always Congress, the NFL, and show business. Nieman Marcus announced they’re selling a diamond-studded dog collar for $3.2 million. Well, finally, it’s nice to see one big company that’s not out of touch with mainstream America. More bad economic news. Southwest Airlines announced they lost $91 million in the first quarter. Now they say they’re going to have to start cutting back. Cutting back? Have you ever flown Southwest, huh? What, are they taking the glass out of the windows?” –Jay Leno

“Next month in Toronto, Canada, former President George W. Bush will debate former President Bill Clinton. The question of the debate — is it worse to lie to your wife or lie to the entire country? And former President George W. Bush said today he does not remember seeing any of those torture memos. But to be fair, to Bush, any memo on his desk was torture. “I’m not readin’ that.” During an interview with The New York Post, Rudy Giuliani said that he is against gay marriage. He feels marriage should be between a man, a woman, the other woman, and the other woman he met after that.” –Jay Leno

“The Justice Department says they want to make an example of this Somali pirate guy. And I thought, really? In terms of making an example, I don’t think you can do much better than shooting the other three guys in the head. “But Dick Cheney is now criticizing President Obama, and he’s saying that his recent actions around the world are ‘disturbing’ and ‘not helpful.’ Yeah, yeah, things were so much better when Cheney was president, weren’t they?” –David Letterman “Even Dick Cheney was into Earth Day. Did you see what he said today? He called for the use of only recycled water when waterboarding prisoners.” –Jay Leno

“President Obama has kind of a happier outlook on torture. He says instead of waterboarding terrorists, he’s going to put them in dunk tanks.” –David Letterman “Happy Earth Day to everyone. President Obama celebrated Earth Day by flying his enormous plane to Iowa today to visit a wind power plant. There was a huge crowd on hand to greet him, partly to hear him talk about the importance of reducing our dependency on fossil fuels and partly to show their kids what a black person looks like.” –Jimmy Kimmel “Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, once two of the most powerful men in this country, are now suffering from Balzheimer’s disease. Why didn’t I see it before? Balzheimer’s is a terrible illness that attacks the memory and gives its victims the balls to attack others for things they themselves made a career of. There is no known cure” –Jon Stewart

So that’s today’s prodigal sunset. And since I took a few showers in April next week’s blog will be bringing us some May flowers. So enjoy the week and remember to be grateful for the simple things. Like TiVo. And speaking of which, I love those firehouse boys on FX’s “Rescue Me.” The characters are sensational, and the dialogue, written by creators Denis Leary and Peter Tolan, is simply brilliant. So remember, defense is desire and we love full court pressure. Aloha, mahalo and later, Nate ‘Tiny’ Archibald fans.