Wading In

Support art, artists at event By Kelvin Wade | | May 28, 2009 15:34 There's a party going on this weekend and you're invited. Archway Recovery Services is presenting a 'Celebration of Recovery' concert and art show this Saturday night at the Fairfield Center for Creative Arts. The show has been put together by my brother Tony and local music impresario Jeff Trager. Archway Recovery Services is a local residential drug and alcohol treatment center for men that has worked to turn lives around for 13 years. When you purchase a ticket to the show it benefits the community by helping people get back on track. The legendary Lydia Pense of the Bay Area rock/soul band Cold Blood will perform. Also, the V101.1 Artist of the Year Aaron Young a.k.a. 'Baby Luther Vandross' will be on hand. This kid can sing. They will be backed by an all-star band featuring members who have played with Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey and Santana among others. Fairfield's o...

Taxing our way to solvency By Kelvin Wade | | May 21, 2009 13:30 San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is proposing a roughly 33 cent per pack tax on cigarettes sold in the city to offset the cost of picking up cigarette butts on city streets and sidewalks. In light of our rejection of Tuesday's ballot measures and a state on the brink of financial Armageddon, why not follow Newsom's lead and come up with a bevy of new taxes to save the day? Newsom also wants to tax sugary sodas. It could be the first step in a general 'fat tax' on fast food. The beauty of it is they couldn't possibly tax it enough for us to stop eating that crap. The Golden Arches could be a gold mine. And what about a refill tax? Nowadays people go to fast food restaurants, order a soda, drink it and then refill their empty cup like they're at some kind of beverage buffet. When I worked for my dad at his liquor store in the '80s, if we saw someone drink a fountain drink and re...

Ammo law won't keep us safe By Kelvin Wade | | May 14, 2009 16:24 There's a proposal floating around the City Council that would require purchasers of ammunition in Fairfield to supply their names and personal data to the retailer. Police would check the purchasers against a list of those prohibited from buying ammo. This is one of those laws I can see getting a lot of public support because on the surface it feels like we're doing something. It would probably catch a few stupid criminals who attempted to purchase ammunition. But we know most criminals would simply purchase their ammunition elsewhere or buy it illegally on the street. Who would this law hurt immediately? Retailers that sell ammunition. In a down economy already, they will see sales plummet as gun owners will purchase ammunition in neighboring cities. If I own a gun store in Vacaville, I'd be hoping Fairfield would pass such an ordinance. Like it or not, the majority of the NRA-supporti...

Shaking the hand-shaking habit By Kelvin Wade | | May 07, 2009 17:15 Swine flu cases have appeared in 41 states, with a probable case in Solano County. Schools have closed. But even though in many cases there's been an overreaction to H1N1, is it time we abandoned the handshake? Donald Trump is on record as opposing the handshake. He believes it's a filthy habit. Comedian and germophobe Howie Mandel opts for a fist bump instead of a handshake. And upon first meeting then-Sen. Barack Obama, President Bush shook his hand and then turned to an aide for a dollop of hand sanitizer, as most politicians do. The origin of handshaking is a mystery. One tale says it came from ancient Arabs who grasped hands in order to kiss the back of the hand. Another says it originated in medieval times with the gesture meaning to convey one is empty-handed with no weapons. But the ancient Greeks used it as a sign of friendliness. It most likely originated because it was a way of mai...

Fast food has always been one of my weaknesses. I mean because it's fast and it's food. But I'm really sick of this Jack in the Box commercial that's currently running promoting it's tacos. I don't have the actual commercial but I do have a photo of the tacos that appear in the commercial that I'm posting here. Tasty, huh? There is not a single Jack in the Box on planet Earth where you can obtain tacos like the ones depicted. This very problem was dramatized in the movie "Falling Down." You can see a clip of it HERE . If you go to Jack in the Box and order two tacos for 99 cent, you're not going to receive two crunchy taco shells, bursting with meat and fresh green shredded lettuce with a sauce drizzled across the top. No. You're getting soggy taco shells, a meat that has the consistency of a paste, lettuce that doesn't approach that color green and a suppose there's cheese on there somewhere. They'll be thin and shoved in a wr...

It's the pandemic that squeaked. Or oinked. Or whispered. When is this disease going to get frightening? The 1995 Dustin Hoffman movie "Outbreak" was scarier. If you want terrifying reading, pick up Richard Preston's 1994 bestseller, "The Hot Zone." That'll keep you up at night wearing a mask over your face. But the swine flu? The swine flu is terrifying alright. It reminds me of SARS that swept the nation a few years ago leaving hundreds of widows and orphans in its wake. Remember Avian flu? Remember how we had to quarantine thousands and there were bodies piled up like cord wood? Or how about that devastating West Nile Virus? Shrank the population by a third as I recall it. Look, I get it. A new strain of flu that no one has antibodies built up for with the potential of it mutating and becoming more virulent and contagious is a frightening thing. I read "The Hot Zone." But A/H1N1 has infected less than 1,000 (confirmed) people worldwide. It...