The Bio
April 29, 2007 | Filed Under Main | No Comments
Yeah. I know. It’s still blank. This is not easy. What do you say? What don’t you say? Forty-seven years is a long time.
By the end of this week. Promise.
Added to iPod
April 29, 2007 | Filed Under Music | No Comments
Spoon - “Kill The Moonlight”. I bought this the other night at the concert. And a t-shirt. I love buying swag at a show. I have many many t-shirts.
Stevie Ray Vaughan - “Couldn’t Stand The Weather”
The Beat - “Special Beat Service”. That puts all of their CDs in the library. They still rock.
The Beach Boys - “Pet Sounds”. I am not a Beach Boys fan. I was a Beatles fan. But I have to give this album props. It set a standard for pop music - way above anything else they ever did. AND it has all my favorite Beach
Boys songs. But this is probably the only record of theirs I would listen to.
Coming May 1st - The new Tori Amos - “American Girl Posse”. Can’t wait!
Ah, Spring!
April 29, 2007 | Filed Under Main | No Comments
Yes, it’s finally here. Still a bit wet (my basement may never dry), but it’s warm and cloudy with hot bursts of sunlight. Everything is blooming – my perennials, the trees, the weeds. Even my son’s Chia Pet! Just waiting for my roses. But they are probably waiting for me since I have not spent any time with them. I need to feed them and get new mulch to put around them. Dust them probably. Don’t get the idea I know anything about gardening. It is survival of the fittest in my lawn. I plant and water. From that point forward it’s “live or die” (like in the SAW movies). Especially grass. God grows grass. I can’t grow grass. See, my front yard is the domain of a large collie. There are places that he is down right cruel to grass (lately, I’ve been thinking of putting astro turf there…). And plants! No plants in the front yard. Jules is a digger and he LOVES plants. Plants rarely survive his love. Little wire fences are no match to the hundred pound collie who needs to dig. That’s the other thing about Spring. The ground is soft now so Jules can dig with abandon! Age has not slowed down his digging. He builds himself beds and he buries his Frisbees… all along the foundation of the house. Sure – he has one hole right in the center of the yard, but the majority of his tunneling exercises are right up against the house. I ‘m sure to come home one day and see the whole house listing to one side… that is unless Jules is thoughtful enough to prop it up with Frisbees.
Spoon
April 25, 2007 | Filed Under Music | 1 Comment
I’m going to bed early tonight. See - I was out late last night. Yes! Out late on a school night! Didn’t get in until after one in the morning. This is because I went with some friends to see the band Spoon at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park. it was a great show! Spoon is a very cool band. They are easily the best pop band out there. Tight songs, fun lyrics, perfect rhythms. I came across their most recent CD -”Gimmie Fiction”- last summer and was very impressed. You’ve heard them. Their song “Sister Jack” was in The Wedding Crashers and they performed most of the soundtrack for the movie “Stranger Than Fiction”. Well, they are pretty good live, too. Britt Daniels is the lead guitarist and singer - though I think he actually played rhythm guitar all night and coverted it to lead when he needed to. Which was only a few times but they were great moments. They aren’t flashy or goth or glam or androgynous. They’re just… perfect. The band was obviously having fun onstage, but I was just amazed at their precision. The songs are simple - nothing showy. But the structures are unique and clever.
Then after leaving the Pony - we needed food. After calling around and everyone reminding us it was 11PM on a Tuesday in New Jersey, we found a bar open in Long Branch. AND right next door was a sandwich place that was open until 4AM and delivered to the bar. Heaven! After a beer and scarfing down some perfectly unhealthy small burgers and fries and “pigs in a blanket” w/cheese, we sprang for desert. This evil little sandwich shop served fried Twinkies and Oreos. In one hour, I believe I had all the cholesterol I can handle for the next two months.
But it was damn good!
Added to iPod
April 24, 2007 | Filed Under Music | No Comments
In keeping with the 70’s motif, I added some singles:
“Birds of a Feather”, “Indian Reservation” and “I Had A Dream” by Paul Revere & The Raiders, “Wait A Million Years” and “Temptation Eyes” by The Grass Roots, “Me & You & A Dog Named Boo”, “Don’t Expect Me … Friend” and “I’d Love You Tow Want Me” by Lobo, “One Fine Morning” by Lighthouse and the ubiquitous “Life Is A Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)” by Reunion. Go ahead - laugh. What were YOU listening to in 8th grade?
Also:
“The Crane Wife” and “The Tain” - Decemberists. They appeal to the prog-rock in me.
Heroes?
April 24, 2007 | Filed Under Main | 3 Comments
So I’m addicted. My son and I follow “Heroes” religiously. It is the BEST show on TV. A good ensemble of actors, a twisty-turny story line and superpowers. That’s a recipe for hard-core fandom - especially from an old comicbook geek like me.
SO - our show has been on hiatus for over a month. They left us hanging - HANGING! - between life and death and the cheerleader. Finally, last night, The Return. Chris comes home ten minutes before the start after his lacrosse game. I’m already waiting, bracing myself for the excitement to come. On the edge of my couch (sort of) before “Deal Or No Deal” comes to another pathetic end (how much are those spokesmodels being paid? Where do they come from? Are they cloned?)
So there we are: fed, watered and poised for the return of “Heroes” and finally… static. Not total static. But the cable was breaking up. The picture. The sound. As if everyone had tourettes or something. Okay, we were on HD. Let’s try regular TV. No better. Channels 5 and 7 (in the New York area) are doing the same thing. Cracking. Breaking. Spitting. Fine. We’ll live with it. But it was HORRIBLE! After all this anticipation, we didn’t hear one complete line or see one scene that didn’t look like some unscrambled porn channel. It was misery. Dejected - we went to bed right after the show.
Someone owes me…
Added to iPod
April 20, 2007 | Filed Under Music | No Comments
6,022!!! New goals are required….
Split Enz - Time and Tide. This is their best album, IMHO
Talking Heads - Fear of Music
Denis Leary - Lock ‘n Load
Liz Phair - Exile In Guyville
Various Artists - Have A Nice Day. This is just a sampler from the box set. But here is my youth - the 70’s - in all its cringe-worthy glory! “One Fine Morning”, “Precious and Few”, “The Night Chicago Died” and many other one hit wonders. These were actually hits! I listen and marvel. I’ll have to get the whole set now so I can have “The Ballad of Billy Jack” and “Me and You and a Dog Named Boo”. Good times, good times….
The Zimmers!
April 19, 2007 | Filed Under Main, Music | 1 Comment
My favorite new YouTube clip. You’ve gotta love this…
Go Rangers!
April 18, 2007 | Filed Under Main | 1 Comment
All apologies to my brother Mike. I didn’t believe…
Guns
April 17, 2007 | Filed Under Main, Politics | 10 Comments
After all the news yesterday, I am afraid some conversations will still lay dormant in this country. That is the gun conversation. The one neither the media or our gutless politicians want to have.
So let me begin….
I have nothing against hunting or sports. They are fine. They have always existed and always will. Shoot a deer. Shoot a fox. Shoot a duck. Go ahead if you enjoy that kind of thing. But you’re not using a nine millimeter to shoot a deer. A duck doesn’t require armor-piercing bullets. And a magnum doesn’t leave much of a fox or a rabbit.
Handguns were created for wars to kill humans. If anyone buys a handgun, they are planning on killing humans. Period. No discussion. There is no other purpose for them. They were invented for ONE purpose. And - in our instant gratification society - a handgun has become weapon of choice for anyone who is momentarily unhappy about something. Upset with your ex-girlfriend, ex-wife or children? Grab a handgun from the local WalMart and fire. Realize that you just shot someone? Fire again - point blank into your head. Why think about it? Why give yourself time to get over your screwed up feelings? Wipe it all out in less time than it took you to get your freaking driver’s license! And when is the female population of this country going to realize that THEY are the number one target for any idiot with a handgun! I have seen these stories every week in the papers. Maybe Mothers Against Drunk Driving should should change course and focus on the guns. Maybe - but I doubt it.
Let me repeat again - If you buy a handgun, you are planning to kill a human being. How does that make you feel?
Clover
April 17, 2007 | Filed Under Theater, Writing | No Comments
Another of my short plays. This one is funny - honest!
Under Written Works.
Added to iPod
April 16, 2007 | Filed Under Music | No Comments
yeah, I’ll hit 6,000 before my trip to Vegas in May…
Moby - I Like To Score. Great version of “New Dawn Fades”
Soundtrack to “US vs John Lennon”
Hole - Live Through This. No matter WHAT you think of her, this was one of the great rock records of the ’90s.
John Adams - El Dorado. John Adams is my favorite modern classical composer. I am not an expert on classical (or jazz). I can’t give you time or place or talk about movements or techniques. But I understand his music. It grabs me. I enjoy it. It moves me. What more is there?
Red Devils - King King. One hot, live honky tonk blues record produced by Rick Rubin for Def American. One of the best you’ll ever hear. Check it out!
Rain Over Me
April 15, 2007 | Filed Under Main | No Comments
And it keeps coming down here on the Jersey Shore. Not just raining, mind you – POURING! It has not stopped since sometime last night. I am definitely thankful it is not snow or tornados or hurricane winds or other Mother Nature destruction. Pretty awesome indeed when you think about it – I can’t remember when I last saw this much hard, sustained rain. I had a dream a few weeks back. Very strange because my dreams are never based in the real world. But I was trying to figure out where we should go – what to do with the family – when the floods came. What state was the best to drive to – where would we be safest? What car would my old dog go into? How much time did we have? Very, very weird. And here we are now – Noah knocking on the door. We went by the marina in town earlier. Luckily, there were few boats in the water. (Unluckily they were the fishing boats – party boats.) The water was up to the bottom of the docks and there was still two hours before high tide. We had to bail out the basement twice so far. I had forgotten that the amazing Shop Vac can be used for water! The problem is that, once you have filled Shop Vac, you have to do something with the water. So Kerry, Chris and I formed a bucket brigade. Fill the machine, empty the machine. Repeat. Shop Vac says it holds 14 gallons. I filled it at least five times (though my lower back says more). So I took at least 70 gallons of water out of my basement. And no – I don’t have a sump pump. Hell, my basement barely has a floor. The concrete is only half an inch thick (I swear!). I’ll probably have to do it again in the morning.
So today was my last day of vacation. Back to work. See you all in traffic…
Added to iPod
April 14, 2007 | Filed Under Music | No Comments
And the new computer works like a charm!
Nilsson - Pussycats. With John Lennon producing. Crazy times. A brilliantly messy record.
Morcheeba - Big Calm
Dropkick Murphys - Warrior’s Code. This one has “Tessie” for all you Red Sox fans.
Horslips - Best Of. Mainly selections from Book of Invasions, Aliens and Man Who Built America. From Ireland, late 70’s. You’ve never heard of them.
More to come…
Next Page »