Three Wise Guys (Yo-Yo-Yo)

Electric Hot Tuna

So here's another post. I went to see Electric Hot Tuna last night with my brother, my buddy Rick who has taken care of my pool for 5 years and hasn't taken money from me since I got the cancer almost 4 years ago, and my buddy Lee who is in the Grateful We're Not Dead group we formed. The show was fantastic. We started out by going to Brother Jimmy's BBQ on the west side of NYC for some pretty authentic Southern BBQ. I've had some down there and this stuff if pretty close. Then we went to the Beacon Theater. The opening act was John Hammond who plays acoustic blues. Good stuff. Then Jorma, Jack and the new guys came out and really rocked the place for 2 hours. It's not like the old days where they would play until the sun came up but still, it was a treat. We got some more tunes that we can add to our song list. I am looking at getting some recording stuff so I hope to be able to post some of that once I get it and figure it all out. So, there. Another post.

I Ran Out of Interesting Stuff To Say

I know that doesn't stop some folks but I think I'll sit out for a while. Be well people

Zappa vs Lofton (Laughfton)

This is a priceless, yet scary video from the CNN show Crossfire back in 1986. There was a big move back in 1986 to have the government censor music lyrics. Part of this stemmed from a song by Prince that talked about incest. This clown, Lofton, implied that prior to this song there was not an incest problem in America. Really??? There was also a group called the PMRC lead by Tipper Gore. They claimed that music lyrics create bad behavior. Zappa said that he did a song about dental floss yet that did not make people have better teeth. Anyway... after watching this gem of a show, I looked up Mr Lofton and started an email dialog with him. It went on for a week and got nowhere. It was like trying to talk to a wall. He's similar to Rush Limbaugh with his tactics only he's a religious zealot. If you do a search on him almost everything talks about what an a-hole he is.

Toy (Yoda)

She won in the end

Science on Trial

This was a great show on NOVA that I saw last night. It deals with what is called Intelligent Design or ID. What ID it is really about is teaching religion as scientific fact. I know it's a pretty hot topic. This statistic I found is scary to me. How many people believe in the Easter Bunny? I'm not trying to offend anyone but I find it hard to believe that so many people do not believe in evolution. Then again, I found it hard to believe that Bush became president for two terms...
People aren't terribly bright

The book that is on trial.

Right or Left Brain

What Do You See? It Tells a Lot About You.
If you see the lady turning clockwise, you're using your right brain. If you see her turning the other way, you are using your left brain. Some people do see both ways, but most people see it only one way. Then see if you can make her go one way and then the other by shifting the brain's current.
You have to click the image to open it in a new window.

Incredible Show

Well, the big night has come and gone. It was an incredible concert. They opened with Cosmic Debris and the best part was that Frank was doing the vocals and guitar work (thanks to video from previous shows) and Dweezil and the rest of the band backed Frank up. They did this a number of times during the show. Frank would sing vocals and Dweezil would do the guitar solos or the other way around. Then there were numerous songs where Dweezil's band did the entire song. They also had as a guest, Ray White, who's clain to fame in Zappa's band was sing the lead vocal on "The Illinois Enema Bandit" which by-the-way is based on a true story. "Justbepumpin'everyoneof'emupwithallthebagfulla... TheIllinoisEnemaBanditJuice "
I had seen Zappa back in the 70s and 80s and Ray White was with the band then and I remember them doing that song. The whole show was incredible.


Here is the set list. The songs with a V had the video of Frank

V Cosmik
Advance Romance
How Could I Be Such A Fool
Ain't Got No Heart
I'm Not Satisfied
Lonely Little Girl
Tiny Lights
V Dumb All Over
Baltimore
Eat That Question
Suzy Creamchease
Brown Shoes
America Drinks
Pygmy Twylyte
Dupree's Paradise (Save Me Bro) Ray White
Uncle Remus
Willie The Pimp
Doreen
Zoot Allures
Joe's Garage
Gas Station
San Bernardino
Illinois Enema Bandit
Encore
Dog Meat
G Spot
V Muffin Man

Star Wars' Yoda Gets His Own Stamp

Congrats My Friend!

The Birds

This is a typical afternoon scene in the fall around by our house. There are so many turkey vultures that soar about all of the time. Every once in a while we get a Red Tail Hawk or the Blue Heron flies by. There must be a lot of dead meat around though to support the vultures.
Good Lord, I hope they are not waiting for me!

click on the image for a better, larger view

Missed the can

Bald Eagles

I have a friend (in the real world) who is involved with eagle preservation and junk like that. I obviously do not know how to phrase this at all. A few years ago he took this photo in the area of the Delaware River. You have to click on this to enlarge it to really get a sense this. There are 14 Bald Eagles in this tree. Some are mature, some are juveniles, some have their backs to us. This is not photoshop trickery although I have to take two scans and put them together so I could get a copy of his printout. It's pretty amazing. I went with him one time to see some nests. I was hoping to see an eagle dive into the Delaware and grab a fish in his talons but it didn't happen that day.

Now There's a Table

1- I bet this is the most polished piece of furniture in the house.
2-I'd like to get into her drawers.



















The amount of jokes are bottomless...

How Did I Get Here?

Of course I don't mean this in the Big Picture sense, I really don't care how I got here. I'm more concered with how (and when) I'm leaving...
So who DOESN'T have a sitemeter on their blog nowadays? I know a while back I made a big deal about my site being "meter free" but I decided to put it on again even though I rarely look at it. But the other day I gave it a peek and was surprised at how people wound up at my blog. Some of them are regular visitors who have links to it but many arrive there by other means. I was very surprised to see that more than one person found my site by searching for hamster photos. How wierd is that! But come to think of it, I got my hamster image by searching the web so why not these folks.

I have officially reached rock bottom with the contents of this exciting post

Oh, I Wish...

I was the administrator of Oscar Mayer Wienermobile photogroup on a online photosharing site. That is what I'd truely like to be...

Not really, but that's what happened. So that makes two groups I'm the admin for that I didn't ask for. But I do accept the responsibility with great pride and will do my best to uphold the strick rules and integrity of the Weinermobile community. And thank you to my friend who bestowed this responsibility on me, I wish them well and hope they keep in touch when it's possible. Christ, it sounds like they're in the slammer or something...
I don't THINK they are...

Oh, you may notice that the comment moderation is on until further notice.
"It's good to be King"
-Mel Brooks

Spamalot

The final Birthday related post. Dana and I saw Spamalot on Broadway last Sunday. We had Row "A", dead center, upper balcony seats. I really like that vantage point for theater or concerts much better than orchestra seats. It was great. As funny as the movie and there's something great about seeing something live. So that's it for the B-Day (till next year)

Mt Fuji

This is rather tacky to keep talking about me and my birthday, but how often does one turn 50? Not too many times. Tonight we had the big celbration, dinner at My Fuji. It's a Japanese Hibachi Steakhouse. The views up there are incredible (especially with Autumn creeping in) as is the food and the show/presentation. The tables seat 12 people in a sort or square U shape with the chef cooking in the middle. He has a few knives and spatulas that he flings around with the precision of a Ninja. He also does some tricks like flinging the tails of the shrimp that he cut off into the top of his chef's hat. My Mom and Aunt Grace have never seen anything like it so it was a treat for them. Ealier in the day, Grif wasn't real keen on going there last night. He just wanted to hang with his cousin. He was grinning ear to ear once the cooking started. Not only is the food prepared as a show, it is also very tasty. They had combinations of chicken with shrimp and/or filet mignon. They use all fresh veggies in the dishes too.

I got this great gift from my brother. BOSE Around the Ear Headphones to use with my iPod. These have incredible sound and are also noise canceling. They run around $150. I can also use them with my guitar amp so I can play anytime without bothering anyone if I decide to crank it up.

Today I gave Dylan a big surprise. I was coming back from town after picking Dylan and his bike up from town. I normally don't do that, I figure if he rode there he can ride back but since we were going out for dinner he needed the ride so we wouldn't be late. We put the bike in the trunk and drove home. We live on a private road which translates into "a dirt road". We stopped at the bottom of our street and I asked Dylan to get the mail. I then asked him if he wanted to drive the car. His eyes bugged out of his head and he said "YES". So we switched sides and I gave him the quick rundown of the brake and gas pedals and how to out it in gear. He started off jerky but he went down the road pretty well. It's only about 1/8 of a mile but he really did quite well. His turn into our driveway could have been better but at least he didn't hit the garage or anything. He said how it was a little harder than he thought it might be. There is a feel one has to aquire in for working the gas and brake. I've let Grif sit on my lap and steer a few times and I has wanted to let Dylan try his hand at it. He was reallt thrilled to have done it, he was all giddy. We'll see how tomorrow goes but Dylan was talking a lot more than he usually does with me and I think I blew him away with my offer. It's not something that he will do often but what the hell, I want him to remember having a good relationship with me. He's at a influential age too (almost 14) so any bonding I can do with him is good I think.
Well, it's late. After 2 am. I think I'm done with this entry.

The Most Remarkable Thing Happened...

I had to got to DMV today (Division of Motor Vehicles) to renew my driver's license. Of course I waited until the deadline to do it, partly because I needed to get an eye exam and I never got around to going to my own eye doctor so I thought that I'd let the state test my eyes. I got up there at around 9:30 armed with my iPod, The New Yorker magazine and lots of patience. On previous visits to the DMV office, I've had to wait close to an hour or found out that the 15 pieces of ID were not enough to renew my license or register my car. So I get there, grab number ( they have a number system where you select what you need to get done i.e. license, permit, transfer from another state, etc.) and proceed to sit down along with the other 12 or so people who were already seated. No sooner did my butt hit the bench and my number was called. I had downloaded and filled out the form at home so all I had to do was hand them the form, have a new photo taken (it could not be worse than my old one) and hand over $51. The license if $50 and there is a $1 donation for organ donor stuff. I told tham they could have any parts of me that were woth saving (if there even are any). I was in and out of there in under 5 minutes. I called Dana when I got out and it took 5 mintues of trying to convince her that I was really done.

I took the whole day off of work today. I needed to get the license thing done plus my friend sent one of his pool guys over to help me close my pool. Stan, the pool man, is a riot. He's a real nice friendly guy who goes out of his way to help out. He has wonderful teeth too, both of them. He looks like a Jack-o-lantern in a way and one eye looks north while the other one looks south but he is a nice guy and has always been the man who helps me with the pool. He did just find out that he has some sort of spot on one of his lungs. He's afraid to find out more but I tried to stress how inmportant it is to catch whatever this is early. Hopefully it's nothing. So, long story short(er), my pool is closed for the season. We got a lot of use out of it. The warmest we got it to was 87 this year. Dana even got her butt in there a few times and Grif and I lived in it. Dylan and his friends (and I) had a bunch of great volleyball games in there too. Last, but not least, my car got the best present of all. $800 worth of presents. A catalitic converter, a few belts, some of this and some of that but now it's inspected and good for year and hopefully more as far as parts go.

Dana's got a gig tonight at the Bethel arts Center (where Woodstock was back in 1969). It's a really nice state of the art theater. She is doing a private party for a college and it playing the violin. It's a decent gig. Tomorrow we celebrate with a nice dinner

Who Says You Can't Get Anything Good For a Buck

In keeping with the wierd and wacky, look what I got for a buck! We have different vendors who come to work and sell their wares. I've gotten everything from cool guitar neckties to fresh baked amish pies to Douche Bonnets. This is perfect for a shower after enjoying some cock soup. One of our all time favorites. It's served best with meatballs.

Happy Early Birthday (to me)

The volume goes up to 12, that's one more than Spinal Taps amps

I got my present from Dana a few days early. I wouldn't shut up about wanting to buy a better amp. All I have are these little amps, so she got me this Fender Blues Junior amp. It lists for about $650, I've seen them for $450, but she got it for $300 because of her discount from one of the music stores she teachers at. The amp is only 15W, but it's a tube amp (instead of solid state electronics) so it has the punch of a 40 or 50W amp. I was floored when she gave it to me. This is the big 50 coming at me. I feel a little obnoxious talking bout my own birthday but being in the position that I am, with the cancer and all, a few years ago I didn't think I'd see this day. Well, I really haven't seen it because it's not till Friday. I still have time to bite the bullet.

Most of you regulars probably know this, but last week I was back in SK for a procedure this time. They had missed a tumor last March when they did the 4th operation, so they decided that they could get thisone by sticking a needle into my lung and heat it up and fry it. It was a success. I was in and out in about 24 hours. Much better than my usual 12-14 day stay that I usually have. I'm still on the weekly chemo, it is taking it's toll on me, I am tired a lot. I still work though so that's in my favor. After I take all my meds, I generally feel OK.

I have slowed down blogging, even slower at visiting blogs. I know it's not good manners to do that but that's how it goes.

A Drink for the Ladies

What is her plate if she Divorces?

Mist Morning

Some Photos

The Hearst Building - 57th Street


Central Park


Sunrise in NY State

Keep her on it all night

Embarrassed about your penls size?
.onghung.cn?NjQA

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
-Alvin Toffler

These spam e-mails crack me up. This one made it through though, I was surprised. I don't have too many male readers but I really don't think that this a problem with us guys. Another thing, I don't know if I want her on it all night as the spam says. I need some sleep for Christ's sake. The thing that impressed me the most was the Alvin Toffler quote.
I guess why not educate the small dicked dudes...

iTit

Apple Computer announced today that it has developed a device thatcan store and play high fidelity music in women's breast implants. The iTit will cost $499 or $599 depending on speaker size. This is considered to be a major breakthrough because women have always complained about men staring at their breasts and not listening to them.

Routine Procedure

In Good Company

Strat o Shirt

Here's two photos I took today. One of my Strat and one of my funky guitar shirt that Dana bought for me about 15 years ago.
It was possibly used even back then.
It's a one of a kind shirt for sure.

Bonus photo.
Grif has discovered the world of rock n' roll. He informed me that he does not want to play flute, he wants to play guitar. We had gotten this little strat for Dylan but he never really did anything with it. I have been able to keep it in tune (pretty much) and now Grif is showing some interest in it. I hope he really wants to learn, I have 7 guitars that someone will inherit someday...

My Big Red Pepper

This pepper was full grown in the beginning of July, but it took about 6 weeks for it to ripen.

It was the best pepper I've ever had...

Zappa Plays Zappa

I got tickets for what should be Dylan's first concert. I have always been a big Frank Zappa fan. Some of the best concerts that I don't remember were his shows. I used to see him every Halloween during the late 1970s and early 80s, he would always play in the NYC area. He died (of prostate cancer in 1993) but his eldest son, Dweezil, is on tour with a show called Zappa Plays Zappa and they are playing on Halloween at the Beacon Theater in NYC. I got us front row, center balcony seats for the two of us. Here is a sample from the show with Terry Bozio playing a Zappa piece called The Black Page. The piece was written for drums (Dylan is studying drums) and is called The Black Page because it is very complicated and has many notes, so many that the sheet music looks black from all of the notes (hence the name).

So Dylan and I are both looking forward to the show, I know it's a ways off but I like to have things to look forward to and I have been wanting to take him to see a concert for a while now. Also, the Beacon is a great venue to see a concert in. It's not too big and every seat is a good seat. The front balcony will be fantastic. I know that he is not everyone's cup of tea, but from a musical standpoint, he was an incredible composer, guitarist and performer. He also surrounded himself with only the best musicians. He was a perfectionist for sure. I'm happy that Dylan will get to see some of his music performed live by some great musicians.

Griffin

Here is a picture of an illustration that my brother's wife had painted for a school that she used to work in. The original is about 14 feet tall and is painted on cloth. It was for a play that the kids put on. It's a painting of a Griffin. She's an amazing artist. Click on the image to open it in another window and see it larger

TNT

New Grill

I Couldn't Make This Up

I found this to be too funny. There was an article on "Freaks of Nature" on the web, and look whose photo was in the right sidebar

Juggles

Here's a short video of me juggling last year.

Tagged (again)

1: I have an incredible tolerance to pain. I think I developed this when I was in my 20s and started to do bicycling trips that were about 350 miles each way. I would spend 10 hours or so on the bike a day going up and down hills. I would have to ride through pain a lot of the time at first until my body got used to it. Recently I have gone through 4 major surguries and have had to deal with much pain.

2: I'm a very good cook. I started cooking when I was about 12 or so with making pancakes, then I graduated to burgers. I lived alone for a number of years so I cooked. I don't make super fancy dishes but I can whip up a good healthy meal in about 30 minutes. I do 99% of the cooking in our house. My wife is not a good cook. She has actually melted saucepans.

3: I snore in French (le snore)

4: I have a very hard time not seeing something funny in just about every situation that I am in. I know it annoys people at times so I try to censor myself as much as I can. But I can't stop thinking things are funny.

5: I bite my nails, not horribly but enough. I was yelled at by the nuns in the catholic school I went to but I still bit my nails. Maybe the nuns were the cause?

6: I can play guitar pretty well. I can also play banjo and mandolin but not that well.

7: I can not sing at all. Some people say they can't but they really can. I really can't (honest)

8: I really am uncomfortable doing these type of things but I like Celeste so I am doing this.

I don't think I have 8 readers anymore so I'll leave it open to whoever wants to play

Batter Up?

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This cracked me up. This morning on my way into the city for my weekly visit, this company had a huge booth set up right outside the CitiCorp building on the East Side. They had a dummy with one of the masks on, they were handing out flyers and one woman was wearing the shirt and handing out flyers while sucking away on a cigarette. Lady, I think the smoking will kill you before the terrorists do but that's none of my business. I'm pretty used to seeing the cops with the machine guns outside of CitiCorp, but this shit was unreal. The great thing about New Yorkers is that most everyone couldn't give a shit about the display and most everyone politly took the flyers and then threw them in the garbage. I can just imagine an attack in the subway and someone pulls this thing out. Everyone on the subway will attack that person and steal their mask for their own use so what's the point?

My Little Garden

Here's two photos of my little garden. The first one has my 4 tomato plants (a grape tomato, two beefsteak and some other one) plus there are two pepper plants (one red and one green) and there is some lettuce and sugar snap peas. The next photo has my corn crop. I planted it as a lark to see if anything would grow. I did get some plants but it's looking like only one got polllinated. I know that you have to plant two rows in order for the pollination to happen but something went wrong. We do have a few ears growing on the one plant so we shall see what happens. If nothing else, we can use it for Halloween as a decoration. I also have (to the right of th ecorn) my strawberry plant which is startig to grow and spread. I have it covered from the birds and the deer.
A real exciting post, I know

Circumhorizon Arc

This past weekend was a great one. The weather was incredible for mid-July. It was around 80 with low humidity with incredible clouds and also we were privledged to see a Circumhorizon arc. It was like a light show for about an hour or so with all of the clouds that passed through this one area changing color. I also spent a ton of time in our pool with Grif swimming and just having fun. He is my swimming buddy for sure.

Let Me Get This Straight...

If Lemonnade is made from lemons, then...

Morning Glory

Click on the image to view this LARGE

Happy 88th Birthday Mom

Back at Work

I just got back to work today and look at the pile of stuff to due.
It's either due yesterday or tomorrow.

Vacation Time

So we took a vacation, it was great. We started off by going to Rehobeth Beach Delaware to visit with a childhood friend of Dana's, Harry and his wife Jenny and daughter Julie. Dana has not seen Harry since they were about 12. It was many years ago. We had plans to go to Ocean City NJ but we decided to make a stop in Delaware first so Dana made those arangements. In order to save a few bucks, Dana booked us in one motel one night and a differnet one the next night. I am a control freak so I decided to not butt in and let things go as they might. We pulled into the parking lot of the Budget Inn in Dover Delaware and I can swear I heard the music to COPS in the background (bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you...) We were in the wrong part of town for sure. So being the adults that we are, Dana called from the parking lot and told them we could not make it and to cancel our reservation. They had no problem with this. I got the feeling this happens often. So we drove 20 minutes further south and went to the place where we were going to spend the second night and just stayed there for both nights. It was a Super 8 motel, much nicer and only $20 more. Cheaper isn't always better.

So it was really great to meet Harry after hearing about him many times. I could see that Dana and Harry really enjoyed seeing each other too.
We stayed there Thursday and Friday then went to Ocean City NJ on Saturday morning for a week of R&R.

The house in the middle was the one we stayed in. Dana's Uncle rented it for us, her folks and her two sisters and famlies. It was so great to live in the lap of luxury for a week. He did this last year too but I was unable to make it then. We spent a lot of time on the beach and down at the boardwalk. They have a big amusement park on the boardwalk with a water park too. Grif and I spent two days down there. He was afraid to go on this big water slide at first, but after he did it he couldn't get enough of it. The ride had to be about 100 feet off the ground and you would go down it on an inner tube that sat two people and it felt like you were going about 40 mph. They had another ride that was even higher than this one and you went down it with no tube. I tried it once and it was like being in a washing machine on the rinse and spin cycle.
Here's a few photos from the vacation. My post is kind of disjointed but so am I
:-)