Gone Phishing! Vol. 1

Hi Folks:

I've decided to make an area of my blogosphere dedicated to those phishers in Africa trying to find that one gullible person into giving them their bank acount information so they can "deposit" millions of dollars into it. Here's one of them:

Urgent Attention,
I have a proposal for you - this however is not mandatory nor will I in any manner compel you to honour against your will. I am 50, and work with a bank (one of the African leading banks in the West Coast).

Here in this bank existed a dormant account for the past 8 years which belong to an American national who is now late Mr.Raymond Beck and Mrs. Dorene Beck who died on Egypt Air Flight 990.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/502503.stmSTATUS & NATURE OF TRANSACTION:
When I discovered that there had been no deposits nor withdrawals from this account for this long period, I decided to carry out a system investigation and
discovered that non of the family member nor relations of the late person is aware of this account. This is the story in a nutshell.

Now I want an account overseas where the bank will transfer this funds.Thereafter, I had planned to destroy all related documents for this account. It is a careful network and for the past eleven months I have worked out everything to ensure a hitch-free operation. The amount is not so much at the moment and plus all the accumulated interest the balance in this account stands at- (US$ 9.5 million US dollars).

Now the questions are:-1. Can you handle this project?
2. Can I give you this trust?
3. Can you finance this project, if so,What will be your commission? .

Consider this and get back to me as soon as possible.Finally, it is my humble prayer that the information as contained herein be accorded the necessary attention, urgency as well as the secrecy it deserves.
I expect your urgent response if you can handle this project.So if you can handle it,do get back to me immedately you receive this message with this email:Email:jamesp_m@yahoo.co
Tell:002280378834

Yours Respectfully,
Mr James Peter

Are you convinced enough to help him out? Give him a call and see if he's legit! You just might be helping out James out!

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=16074757&blogID=394121554&Mytoken=EA11C9C9-BD35-49BE-82F971E1C3E3F29D10713751

SAVE CHICAGO MUSIC AND THEATRE!

Stop the promoter's ordinance

Imagine a Chicago with no Metro or Double Door or Schuba's. Imagine a Chicago with no Royal George or Bailiwick or Athenaeum or Gorilla Tango. Imagine a Chicago where local music is only heard in the suburbs and theater is limited to Wicked and Jersey Boys.

Scary thoughts. But if the City of Chicago's City Council doesn't hear your voice by Wednesday, May 14, they can become reality.

On that date the council will vote to approve an ordinance that has the power to stifle creativity in Chicago's musical, theatrical, and general cultural scenes. With no public discourse or commentary, this proposal has been approved by the City Council Committee and is on the fast track to be pushed into law. It is up to us to let our elected officials know that Chicago's creative scene is too rich, too varied, and too vital to be regulated in such a blanket fashion.

The details:

The "Event Promoters" ordinance requires any event promoter to have a license from the city of Chicago and liability insurance of $300,000, but that's just the start:

* The definition of "event promoter" is so loosely defined it could apply to a band that books its own shows or a theater company that's in town for a one-week run.


* "Event Promoter" must be licensed and will pay $500 - $2000 depending on expected audience size.


* To get the license, applicant must be over 21, get fingerprinted, submit to a background check, and jump over several other hurdles.


* This ordinance seems targeted towards smaller venues, since those with 500+ permanent seats are exempt.


* Police must be notified at least 7 days in advance of event.


For the complete ordinance, check out Jim DeRogatis' blog on the Chicago Sun-Times.



We are collecting signatures to present to the council voicing our opposition to this ordinance. YOUR VOICE IS NECESSARY TO ENSURE CHICAGO'S CULTURAL SCENE CONTINUES TO THRIVE. Please leave a comment as your expression of disapproval. These will be presented to the City Council and to all Chicago Aldermen prior to Wednesday's vote.

Thank you for helping to protect Chicago's Culture.

Visit http://www. savechicagoculture. org

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at:
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GTA

I played GTA IV today. I got killed in the first 4 minutes of the game. Gee, Terminated Already???

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at:
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The Show Must Go On

Static Republic decided to play an open mic at Subterranean last night. I ended up on guitar since our guitar player has been drafted to work almost every night this week, thus, putting a dampener on our rehearsal plans. We had a plan to rehearse a couple of hours then hit the open mic with 3 acoustic versions of our greatest hits. At least that was the plan.

We all ran late to get to rehearsal on time. I showed up first and noticed a brand new shiny lock on our rehearsal room door. I called my singer and asked him if someone installed a new lock on our door without telling me with the nagging suspicion that the management had locked us out for a perceived failure to pay rent on time. No one knew anything about the lock so I proceeded to play my guitar out in the hall until the showed up (I knew for a fact we had all paid rent on time but this company sucks our collective ballz by second guessing our motive). The rest of the band came and we started making phone calls to the management company to see what the mix up was. We couldn't get a hold of anyone so we relegated ourselves to ge tback to the singers house to rehearse.

We got back to the singer's house and we played through a number of songs. I liked being able to help interpret what the songs needed acoustically since they were now a bit more soulful and musical. It's something I would like to bring into our electric set at some point. While we were there, the management company called us and told us they only received 2 out of 3 checks (which we knew for a fact is a lie), hence, why they locked us out. Couldn't a simple phone call to us been a lot easier to do than to just lock us out? We then decided to run them a fourth check down there and told them that we're going to double check our records to see when stuff got cashed. Hopefully this check will go towards next month's rent. Anyway, we finished up our rehearsal and decided to book on down to Sub-T.

We were third on the list after Root Shoot Leaf played about 5 songs that evening. As we sat in the bar, we kept noticing that periodically the dim lights would flare up with light and then die back down to their original level of illumination. This could only signal one thing: bad power. Having played many a place with bad electrical wiring, I know the signs of it when I see it. So, as the guys in Common Shiner played before us, the PA cut out 3-5 times during their three song set. It was incredibly annoying but funny as hell at the same time. It was cool to see them struggle through it. I kept yelling out "THEY'RE REALLY UNPLUGGED!" Then it was our turn.

We played the three songs form our demo acoustically. The first song was a bit of a disaster as the PA went out on us as well. We stopped once to see if it could be fixed and once it was back up and running, we started the song again. Guess what. It went out again. This time I yelled out "Fawk it! Keep going!" So, we huddled closer together and sang together to bring up the amplification while Myong our bassist played air guitar on his lifeless bass (he was running into the PA). We finished the song and the PA came back on. Luckily, we were able to do two more songs with the PA intact. I feel we earned the respect of the crowd by playing through the adversity. The PA went out almost immediately after we finished our last song . Gotta love it!

Overall, we played well. I look forward to our open mic Wednesday night at Fearon's Pub. Hopefully we can play three songs uninterrupted.

A Baby’s Story

I just got back from Texas where I went down to visit my first blood-related niece as well as to get a little bit of R&R before the crazy month of May! As I communed with family, baby stories regarding yours truly kept popping up; all of which are hilarious and show that my artistic talents started at an early age:

1. A Hands-On Artist
   One time while I was in my crib, my Mom went out to get groceries. My Dad was left in charge. My Dad didn't really keep an eye on me since I was in the crib. I made a mess in my diaper and decided to paint the entire crib with my essence! My Dad freaked out and decided to take me out out to the washroom and hose me down with a garden hose of cold water to clean me up. He then put me in a t-shirt vs. putting me in a new diaper as a solution. He then complained to my Mom about the mess I made and told her to never leave him alone with me. Gotta love it .
   
   
2. Make-Up Artist
   One time as a toddler I decided to head into my Mom's bathroom and grab all of her make up and cover my arms and legs with her lipstick. My tranny phase was upon me.
   
   
3. Cleaner In The Making
   One time I grabbed the baby powder from a nearby bag in my crib and decided to just shake it all over the room onto wet tile. Yeah, it was awesome for them to clean up!
   

I look forward to these kind of calamities so we can look upon them 30 years later and laugh.

Note: This was originally posted on MySpace with comments at:
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