Shana Tova!

Happy New Year, Y'all,

Yes, it's another Jewish Holiday, my favorite kind. (I think we need to start Talk Like a Jewish PIrate Day come to think of it... Shiver me gefilte fish! Ah-OY maties!

I'm celebrating with The Largest Challah Bread Ever Made. It started out so small and innocent but you know how that yeast stuff can be. Before I knew it, I was looking at enough challah to feed everyone in the Old Testament and then some. See for yourself:

BEFORE:


DURING:


AFTER:

Put Your Hands Together for Knitting Camp!

I made these! And I just put up another post about my adventures at Knitting Camp.

Making Whoopie (Pie)!

[Fairy House photographed by Patty Bright my new BFF.]

Oh yes yes YES! I LOVE IT HERE. I posted still more about my adventures over at Knitting and Yoga Adventures, and more still at my column for the Austinist this week. I think they call this Web 4.0, but I just call it lots of opportunities for travel writing. Knitting Camp is SO FUN! I mean, the other day we built Fairy Houses!

And we got to eat homemade Whoopie Pie! Here's a picture I call Still Life with Whoopie Pie:

Fighting Back (Sick Fucks Part II)

This just came across my desk. For about the same price you'll have to pay for that home pregnancy test to find out you're so screwed because abortion has been outlawed... you can get political and have some fun. Here's how:

Instead of (in addition to?) us all sending around more emails about
how horrible she is, let's all make a donation to Planned Parenthood.
In Sarah Palin's name.

And here's the good part: when you make a donation to PP in her
name, they'll send her a card telling her that the donation has
been made in her honor. Here's the link to the Planned
Parenthood website:


http://www.plannedparenthood.org/

Scroll over DONATE and click on the HONORARY OR MEMORIAL DONATION link.


You'll need to fill in the address to let PP know where to send
the 'in Sarah Palin's honor' card. I suggest you use the address
for the McCain campaign headquarters, which is:


McCain for President
1235 S. Clark Street
1st Floor
Arlington , VA 22202

Sick Fucks

Do we need any more proof-- no really do we-- of what a bunch of sick fucks the Bush administration is? Okay, if you insist.

Here you go.

AVAST YE MATEYS!!!! ARGHHH!

It be International Talk LIke a Pirate Day! And so, in honor of that, here's one for ye al:

A pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel hangin' out of the front of his britches. Bartender says, "Matey, you got a steering wheel hanging from the front of ye britches!" Pirate says, "ARRRRGH! I know! It's driving me nuts!!"

Speaking of nuts-- only about ten tickets left for the Oct 8th Dick Monologues. Don't wait, mateys. Email me for reservations today: spike@spikeg.com

Off to shiver me timbers!
Arrrrrrgh!

Spike n' Ike

I have this thing about hurricanes... they excite me. Am sitting here waiting for my Galveston friends to arrive along with their four VERY LARGE cats. Spent an hour this morning driving around like an idiot looking for a shelter to drop off a bunch of water, granola bars, soup and dog food. Got lost. Got lost again. Got lost some more. Thought about that scene in the original (campy) Batman movie from the sixties-- one of my favorite lines of all time: "Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb."

So I still have a carload of supplies for evacuees and it turns out, of course, there's a drop-off spot three blocks from my house. DUH. It opens in a few hours. By then I expect the granola bars will be melted.

Meanwhile, over at the Austinist, after a bit of a delay, my latest column just posted. If you like it, please recommend it. It's all about hurricanes.

Tonight Tonight! Me and Mr. Jones (Mr. Jones Mr. Jones Mr. Jones)

Hey All Six of You!
You have heard me gush for years and years about my favorite songwriter of all time, Mr. Southpaw Jones. We're lucky to call him an Austinite. He plays Thursdays at Flipnotics in the Triangle and he is our token straight white dude in the Dick Monologues. Paw just released a new CD and to celebrate, a bunch of us are doing something a little different.

Tonight, at BookPeople, Friends of Paw will be giving dramatic readings of his lyrics which truly are poetry in motion. Please do join us. It's absolutely free and the lineup is really super fantastic. Much fun, I promise you. Here are the details:

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2008
7:00 pm
Celebrating the lyrics of CRUELTY!
BookPeople
603 N. Lamar
AUSTIN, TX
(512) 472-5050
www.bookpeople.com

Readers include:

Kristine Kovach
Spike Gillespie
Lindsey Lane
Laura Lane
Robin Chotzinoff
Rudy Ramirez
Ben Bartley
Brian Kremer
Amelia Gray
Idgy Vaughn
Maggie Wilhite
Jaycee Wilemon

See ya there,
spike

Missing Molly

I've been thinking a lot about Molly Ivins during this it-would-be-hilarious-if-it-weren't-so-damn-scary Republican National Convention. Molly was my great friend, my unique mentor, and a gift to everyone who knew her. If she were still here with us, she'd be having a field day, I'm sure. Which is why I was so grateful today, when I was reading coverage in the NYT, I came across this reader comment:

The late Molly Ivins, champion of women's rights and enemy of the crooked and anti-feminist good-old-boy network, might have said of Sarah Palin after her acceptance speech: "Women voting for this ticket is just like chickens voting for Colonel Sanders!"
— Kate Madison, Depoe Bay, Orego


Thank you Kate.
Thank you Molly.

New Austinist Post: Gillespie and Palin-- Separated at Birth?

There's been a lot of confusion out there-- people have been getting me mixed up with Sarah Palin. So, to dispel and clarify, I've written about our differences for my column this week in the Austinist.

If you like it, please recommend it.
Thanks,
Spike