***FAIR WARNING: The hyperlinks in this article don’t contain nudity right off the bat, but some workplaces might frown on seeing the word “Playboy” in your URL history.
Playboy Mobile is a website geared toward mobile devices. What sets it apart from the online playboy.com is that the stories are about 140 to 200 words so they can be read easily on a mobile device.
You know, so you can read the articles.
Playboy Scout is a blog module within Playboy Mobile that covers some of their favorite things, and this website just happens to be one of them. They recently did a writeup on the GunsandTacos blog that I thought I’d share with you.
Next time you get caught flipping through your cell phone looking at airbrushed gals in their underwear, you can blame it on me, I guess.
For close to a year, I’ve been employing different tactics to get Chamillionaire, a successful Houston-based rap artist, to follow me on Twitter. I tried tweeting him several times, and I tried approaching him through his online forum, which was eventually shut down. Paul Wall, another successful rap artist from Houston (and friend of Chamillionaire), started following me on Twitter last week, and right then I thought I had it in the bag. But when you’ve got close to 80K followers, I guess it’s tough to read every message you get. I had to try another angle, so I went to see Chamillionaire and Paul Wall perform at the House of Blues in Downtown Houston in person.
Obviously I couldn’t go talk to him, so I stopped at CVS and picked up a posterboard and a fat Sharpie, then crudely fashioned a sign that said “FOLLOW @GUNSANDTACOS ON TWITTER.”
Since I would be holding up this sign in front of a bunch of angry people, I wrote “GunsandTacos.com” on the back of the poster so they would have something to read while I was blocking their view. I held it up for most of the show, and worked my way through different parts of the crowd to ensure full visibility. Note to self: It is difficult to drink a beer when you are holding up a sign with both hands.
The show was sold out and packed to the hilt. Here are a few photos.
The sign worked out to an extent. He once asked the crowd how many of them used Twitter. It didn’t garner a huge response, but Cham asked House of Blues to turn the lights on. He did this so that all of the Twitter users could take photos with their camera, which I thought was a pretty awesome thing to do. Toward the end of the show,Chamillionaire gave props to “The guy with the sign, Gus or whatever”.
He’s still not following me on Twitter, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up yet.
I submitted a taco photograph to the online New York Times for a reader-driven feature, and they published it on their website. This was taken with a Canon G10 I borrowed from a friend. I like this photo because the whole image appears to be in focus. The slight haze you see is the steam coming off of these superbad Taconmadre tacos. Check it out!
While touring with the SpicyRV.com crew on our RV trip to Albuquerque, NM, we stopped at a venue called Lucha Libre Mexicana in El Paso, where I pursue my lifelong dream of wrestling a luchador.
Along with James Beck Jr, Paul Sedillo and Jason Russo, I’m headed to Albuquerque, New Mexico to attend the 22nd annual National Fiery Foods & BBQ Show starting on March 5 in a massive tour bus, because wasting gasoline is like, Steve McQueen awesome.
I’ll be regularly updating their blog and the @SpicyRV Twitter account, so check out SpicyRV.com and add it to your RSS feed for the next week or two.
Paul will be capturing the trip on video and dropping it on the site so all the viewers can see what kind of shady business we’re getting into.
James Beck Jr. will be eating things most people can’t comprehend (myself included), and at a major international hot sauce festival like this, there’s no telling what folks are going to try to feed him. It’ll get interesting.
Since we’ll likely be heading through El Paso, hopefully we’ll come across a taco stand or two as well.
And if we’re that close to Mexico, it’s going to be mighty tough keeping my ass out of Juarez. Just sayin.
Last week I heard about an event at Club Status in Houston’s Midtown district where Chingo Bling would be hanging out. You probably know who he is, but in case you live with your mom and listen to Foreigner albums all day, Chingo is a prolific rap artist who has corroborated with Nelly, Chamillionaire and Paul Wall, and he happens to live in Houston, Texas. His most recent album is titled “Me Vale Madre“.
I wanted to be prepared for this moment, so two days before this endeavor, I bought a $15 pager from a little shop on Bellfort. Out in Channelview (on my way to Karanchos), I picked up two strips of Black Cats and a length of fuse. If you’re a mercenary like myself, you know how handy Black Cats can be in a tactical situation of importance such as this.
If you live in Houston, you know how Yellow Cab is. There may seem to be other independent cab services, but they’re all owned by Yellow Cab, and you can never depend on a ride. To counter this, I forged a relationship with a Yellow Cab driver I’ll call “Bob”, since that is his real name. He talks too much, but he’ll pick me up anytime I want, 24 x 7. In return, I have to play harmonica along with whatever album he decides to play. Which is cool unless he’s in a reggae kind of mood. It’s really hard to burn up a blues harp to reggae music, I’m just saying.
Chingo Bling and Roxxi Jane
Bob brought me to the joint around 8 or so, and I waited for Chingo Bling to show up. The bar was blue, and when I turned around and looked again, it was red. It took me a while to figure out that the bar changed colors. Freaky. There weren’t any barstools at the color-changing bar, just an array of VIP sections against the wall.
Hector the bartender explained that the silver buckets were for champagne, and no, I could not use it as an ice bucket for my Lone Star Beer.
Chingo Bling arrived with an entourage of several beautiful women, and four giant bodyguards that looked like they ate a bowl of bullets for breakfast and seasoned them with pepper spray. I was prepared for the bodyguards, because I was on a mission, which I’ll share with you.
If you don’t know about #TTC3, the Houston Chowhound’s third annual Taco Truck Crawl on April 10, you must be playing Mass Effect at your sister’s house and trying to figure out why nobody is interested in sharing the box of 50 Chicken McNuggets you fervently saved up for. Hell, you’re probably asking for that godawful barbecue sauce. You probably own more than two cats. Get a hold of yourself, cat man.
Long story short,my plan was to get Chingo Bling to hang out at TTC3, hell or high water.
Once Chingo seemed somewhat approachable, I dialed the number to the pager I had given Bob. He lit the fuse to the Black Cats and tossed them underneath one of the nice cars that the valet guys tend to park up close to the front of the joint.
My plan was for the bodyguards to go nuts and fly out of the place so I could get Chingo Bling alone long enough to make my case. The firecrackers started popping. Instead of freaking out, the seasoned and wary bodyguards, who surprisingly knew the difference between gunshots and Black Cats, casually stepped outside to check it out. All but one.
Steph Marie and Chingo Bling show me the correct way to throw dueces.
Anyway, this was my chance. I approached Chingo, and as the Incredible Mexican Hulk stood in my path, Chingo called him off in Spanish. I proceeded to introduce myself to Chingo. He took his sunglasses off, ordered me a Shiner, and gave the group of hot chicks a dismissive motion so we could have a private chat.
He came closer so I could hear him over the thumping dance music.
“What’s with the Black Cats, dumb ass?”, he politely inquired .
Another bodyguard appeared about five paces away on my right.
I considered explaining, but decided to get to the point.
He cracked a smile and introduced me to the ladies.
Roxxi Jane (@Suprlatina on Twitter) is a dance/pop singer who has recently been working her way to the pop charts. You can listen to her mixtape, or wait for her widely anticipated album, Everybody Loves Pink. Our conversation quickly went to taco trucks, and she told me about some of her favorites.
I was also happy to meet Steph Marie Tunchez (@OStephy), a mariachi singer and violinist who I’ve been following on Twitter for some time. She also knows her tacos, and she suggested a few places that weren’t on my map.
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez is a greedy bandit, a real piece of work.
He’s been found guilty of murder, armed robbery of citizens, state banks, and post offices; the theft of sacred objects, arson in a state prison, perjury, bigamy, deserting his wife and children, inciting prostitution, kidnapping, extortion, receiving stolen goods, selling stolen goods, passing counterfeit money, and using marked cards and loaded dice.
He’s also a precision sharpshooter. In fact, he killed more guys in the movie than Clint Eastwood did. His gunsmithing skills are unparalleled as well. In one scene, he went into a gun shop and instead of just stealing a pistol, he disassembled three different pistols and built his own in about a minute.
Most people who watch the movie see Clint Eastwood’s character, “Blondie” as the hero. Me, I’m a Tuco fan.
I sometimes wonder how a man like Tuco, who refers to himself in third person, would get by in today’s world. He’s not a simple drug dealer or thug- he is a tactician. But how would he operate in a world of freeway cameras, electronically scanned drivers licenses and Nancy Grace?
For someone as resourceful as Tuco, you’ve got to wonder- if he had an IPhone, which applications would he use?
Thanks to Twitter and the amazing Houston foodie scene, I’ve been nominated for the Shorty Awards.
If you’re not familiar with The Shorty Awards, you’re not alone. I just found out about it a week or two ago. Basically, it’s a big award ceremony in NYC for the best Twitter users in certain categories.
“Hollywood has the Oscars. Broadway has the Tonys. Now Twitter has the…Shorty Awards” – New York Times
The image below shows the top 6 in the running for the Food category. (Yes, I know David Archuleta is on the list. Don’t ask.)
When I was a rotten kid in the cassette era, I found this amazing album in my dad’s old record collection. I’d never heard of the guy, but wow, he was playing a really cool looking guitar. And that’s important.
