Just the Dawg in Me

This is how the show started.




Atomic Dog baby!!!!!! The problem with this video is you have to stand still to shoot video. However unless you're a corpse you cannot sit still when Atomic Dog is playing live!

Tha Mothership Connection

One summer morning back in 1994 I woke up excited for Lollapalooza. The lineup that year was awesome. I turned on the TV and MTV (back when they played music videos) was playing a George Clinton video. He was on the lineup that year and the song was kickin!' So I was officially excited for Lollapalooza and got out of bed to get ready. Skip ahead a few hours Clinton comes on stage yet I'm not there waiting. I'm farther back in the field eating and resting from over exerting myself during the earlier bands. I could hear Clinton, but was too far back to enjoy it. Over the years I regretted that moment.

17 years later came my chance at redemption. I was driving past the Arena Theatre and I saw the sign reading "George Clinton on April 8." I bought my ticket. Granted the Arena Theatre doesn't leave much room for dancing like the Sam Houston Raceway Park (back in 94) did. People were awaiting the trademark rainbow weave when an old man in a gray suit and a hat came trotting onto the stage about half an hour into the show. Even without the rainbow we all recognized the man as Clinton. He wasn't as active in the show as in years past. I understand the experience now won't ever be like it was 17 years younger. Yet I'm happy I got to cross paths with Doctor Funkenstein again.

Church Garage Sale

Come the weekend people are focused on relaxing, doing chores, and extra curricular activities such as rummage sales. People grab stuff they don't want anymore and rather than throw it away maybe someone will want it and buy it! A couple of hundred people show up repeating "one man's trash is another man's treasure." people scope decades old movies, paintings, furniture, appliances (I wonder what that 80s model television set with the turn knobs went for), bicycles, and who knows what else! By the end of the day old stuff changes hands and life goes on.

Dot's Coffee Shop & Diner

For years while driving south on the Gulf Frwy (that's I-45 south for those not familiar with Houston) I noticed this sign. This restaurant is located at 7006 Gulf Frwy in Houston. It's part of the Pappas restaurant chain.











I don't know when it was actually built but the decor is of a 1960s/1970s diner and this is what attracted me to the place.















I finally decided I was going to stop in and eat. It helped being hungry as I ordered my first chicken fried steak in years and couldn't finish the plate. I even had coffee with it. I enjoyed the simulated retro dining experience with my coffee and looking at old pictures of Houston on the walls. I wish this 24 hour diner was near my job giving me another cozy place to eat at 4 in the morning.

When the City Sleeps 4

IHOP at 4 in the morning.

When the City Sleeps 3

A police station manned by a skeleton crew.

When the City Sleeps 2

Had the sign on the right not been blaring you could read the "OPEN" sign and beneath that another sign reads "come on in!" I took this at roughly 2:30 in the morning. It has to be an errant employee who forgot to turn off the sign otherwise who needs their taxes done at this hour?