Hope you don’t mind if I share something personal. I just got back from my honeymoon in Napa (no, I will not be posting photos), and of all of the tasting rooms, wine shops, and California cuisine restaurants, my best glass of juice was at Titus Vineyards. It wasn’t just the fact that I’d already blazed three dozen wineries up the Silverado Trail in my rented Mustang, like an oenophile Dr. Gonzo. This transcended my buzz (which, if you’re a CHiP officer, is pure hyperbole). This small label makes gigantic reds that are smooth but full of personality; a nice Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and a Zinfandel that will deftly remove your underwear and refuse to call the next day. I bought everything, including a Petite Verdot and Petite Sirah varietal you don’t see a lot of in the valley. If you don’t just drink, but actually enjoy wine, you won’t be disappointed.

When you’ve got Sepultura calling you on the phone to do your record cover, you could count that as a pretty good sign to keep on truckin’. It took a couple of years, but after designing the band’s Dante XXI album, Brazilian painter/illustrator Stephan Doitschinoff, aka CALMA, has finally landed his first solo show in the States. It’s been a long time coming for this talented artist, who’s broadened his project scope beyond metal bands and recently did a kid’s book about gypsies. The Fim do Mundo show at Anno Domini gallery in downtown San Jose features his most recent work — always incorporating religious iconography — and a special on-site installation. It runs till June 21.

The speaker lineup for the legendary and incredible TED Conference I attend in Monterey, California just released their speaker lineup for the event — 50 days away! — and it is seriously stellar. As the folks at TED say, their most ambitious to date (I’m not surprised, they don’t play around); a diverse group of folks like Kaki King (love her) alongside author Dave Eggers, John Knoll, Walter Isaacson, industrial designer Yves Behar (he did the Jawbone) to name a few. And of course, Al Gore will make another appearance on the same stage he announced his film, An Inconvenient Truth. The yearly brain safari I alluded to last year in all my TED 2007 posts is almost here. I can’t wait! Be sure to check out the whole program here, because you know you can look forward to them as TED Talks in the future.

If you’ve got, say, $1,500 lying around and count artists Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Frank Kozik and Jeff Soto amongst your heroes, you’re probably already registered for this weekend’s Baby Tattooville gathering happening in Riverside, California. Around 100 diehard fans with golden tickets are paying for the super-rare opportunity to hobnob with a dozen artists including the aforementioned heavyweights and if it’ll be anything like I’m imagining, a lot of people will be walking around in wet pants from all that excitement. The registration fee covers hotel fare, workshops, seminars, socials, demos and the best goodie bag in the world, stuffed with exclusive everything: a Luke Chueh original drawing (he’ll take requests), signed and numbered prints, a giclee featuring attending artists, books by Mark Murphy and a gazillion other covetable pieces and merchandise. Together, those are probably worth more than the entry fee itself. There are still spaces left, so register soon if you want to claim a spot.

Two hours north of San Francisco in Pope Valley (Napa County), a new Rocio Romero prefab is open for tour. The 4 bedroom, 3 bath home is another impressive example of the prefabricated home architecture movement, this time located on 48 acres of private land. As compared to most of the other prefabs we’ve told you about, the Napa home features plenty of room to move around in, as well as the famously modern architecture of Romero. If you need more than 3,000 square f eet to stretch your legs, the grounds also feature a 40×20 swimming pool…and if you need somewhere to film your next blockbuster, the home is also open for commercial photo, movie, and production shoots. The home’s owners are even offering consulting services for anyone considering buying a prefab, offering to walk seriously interested parties through the construction, financing, and design processes. If you’re interested in any of the above amenities, or just want to take a look around, sign up here for one of the home’s monthly weekend tours, but act fast — places are limited.

As we told you a little while back, the WIRED LivingHome — a collaboration between Wired Magazine and LivingHome, an innovative prefabricated housing supplier — is of equal interest to gadget heads, architecture fans and conservationists. Currently having its finishing touches supplied at its location in Brentwood, CA, this house combines the latest in environmentally-friendly (and tech geek-friendly) technology, with the refined architectural touch of Ray Kappe. The news we can share with you today is that the project will open to the public from Saturday, October 27th through Monday, November 5th Sunday, November 11th. In addition, we can share the project’s website with you, so you’ll know where to go to satisfy every bit of curiosity you might have about this house. At the website, you’ll find out things like what car the WIRED LivingHome has in its driveway (a BMW Hydrogen 7), and how much the whole thing costs ($4 million). What? Too extravagant for the environmental contingent? Come on, this is Brentwood, baby.

Local heroes 3oh!3 are about to hit California with a few dates in San Diego, Anaheim and Echo Park, and if you live within a 3 hour radius of any of those places, GO. I’m not really saying that in a sweetly suggestive way, either; Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte throw down a nastily amazing live show, and if you don’t make it you’ll be smashing your head on hard things once you realize what you missed. The best way to describe 3oh!3 — a band which has been around barely a year, yet manages to have some of the craziest fans I’ve ever seen — is thrashy electronic rock blended into hip hop beats, then shaken vigorously with viciously snarky lyrics and about a hippopotamus-weight’s worth of energy. Maybe even two hippopotamus’s worth of energy. In fact, the last time a brought a new inductee to a 3oh!3 show, she sort of got mad at me for not advising her to wear a sports bra. You can listen to Sean and Nat’s music on their MySpace page, but be sure to turn it up loud and only press play once you’re in a room with padded walls.

Locals: The boys are playing a sold-out show with The Faint at The Fox in Boulder tonight, but as of the hour, a few tickets for tomorrow night are still up for grabs. I’ll see you there.

A quick heads up to California readers (okay, maybe just Bay Area readers), I’ll be speaking at the Community Next conference coming up in a few weeks. Aaron and I are actually kicking the day off (gasp) with our signature Brand Utopia schpeel. The whole concept of the day is around the Present and Future of Online Communities, we think it’s going to be great fun and very useful for others. I was humbled to be invited to speak alongside the other speakers like Jeffrey Kalmikoff of Threadless, James Hong of HotorNot, Guy Kawasaki, Amit Gupta and many, many others. If you’re in the area and want to come, use the code SPEAR to get $45 off the early bird price (there are only 4 early bird tickets remaining, go get em!).

For all of you who will be in the Lake Tahoe area on or after December 15, you should definitely head over to Northstar at Tahoe and check out Burton’s new on-mountain project– The Stash. The Stash is somewhat mysterious at this point, but it is reportedly some sort of natural features park, set up to combine conventional park riding with natural features fluidity for a unique riding experience. With snowboarding legends like Craig Kelly and Johan Olofsson serving as inspiration for The Stash, how can this thing not be amazing? The brains of Jake Burton, Burton Global Resort Manager Jeff Boliba, and some of the uber-talented Burton team riders are behind this one, and Bob ‘The Chain-saw Picasso’ King is responsible for the aesthetically impressive (and jib-able) native-to-tahoe wood signs that will lead you to The Stash. Gnar-gnar-shred-shreddy.

Via Transworld

Started over 20 years ago by a local artist and mime, Summer Solstice is an annual celebration that draws over 100,000 spectators from around the world to Santa Barbara, CA. The single-day arts event is highlighted by the parade that makes its way down the city’s main thoroughfare, State Street. This year’s theme, Dream, will be highlighted as creative and wildly designed floats, music, and street performers progress from Upper State, towards the ocean, as they are cheered on by throngs of spectators that fill the sidewalks on both sides. If you come early enough, you can grab a seat at one of the many restaurants with outdoor seating, affording you a wonderful front row view of the festivities. After you finish your meal, head over to Alameda Park where you can enjoy live bands on stage, local radio contests and giveaways, and a true county fair environment with food vendors peddling everything from churros to chili dogs. Think of it as Mardi Gras meets Fantasy Fest but a whole lot more family friendly and with less beads. If you are anywhere in Southern California this weekend, you owe it to yourself to head up the 101 to Santa Barbara to check this incredible event out!

I’ve invited a few close blogger friends who run some of the most under-rated blogs in the blogosphere to help move this site to the next level. I’m kicking this week off with Scott Kobayashi, of Kobayashi 5. The California native and Berkeley graduate has a keen eye for all unique things in Art, Fashion, Design and Technology. I think everyone will enjoy his finds. Welcome Scott!

CA Boom II is 3 and a half days of cutting edge in design, and architecture at the Santa Monica Civic Center. This year they’re sponsored by our friends at MoCoLoco, Land+Living, Core77, among others. The lineup of exhibitors for the show looks great, and the opening night party is this Thursday, the 28th. Our friends from softservice, the folks with the limited edition embroidered and hand painted t-shirts, will be there in Booth FT1, stop by and tell them I sent you!