I just have to say…I love it. I really, really love it.
I long time ago, I saw the movie, “Dirty Dancing.” While I love certain parts of this movie, like when Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) says, “Nobody puts Baby in the corner,” I especially love the Eric Carmen video of Hungry Eyes at the end of the DVD.
You just have to respect Eric Carmen for managing all that hair. I can’t seem to locate the actual video that played at the end of the DVD, but this one will do. If you want to see the long hair, check out the second video.
Now mind you, the first line of the song is, “I run a comb through my hair.”
I was just telling someone at work here a very funny story from my long torrid past. This is a good, but short, one.
Back in sixth grade, I had this girlfriend named Janet. I am not sure why I had a girlfriend at such an early time in my life…she may have seduced me. My story included how Janet and I had a massive note exchanging operation. It seemed like every time we saw each other, we passed notes to one another. I was also saying how I really never had anything to write because she was a grade above me and I really didn’t have anything in common with her. Why were we going out? I am not sure. Even though, receiving the notes was pretty fun because you just never know what you are going to get. Sadly, there wasn’t all that much good content.
I used to like to go to flea markets. The Stormville Flea Market was the best in the area. One time, when I went there (I think) with my good friend Rob (who never calls me anymore), I picked up an Iron Maiden t-shirt. I wasn’t really a metal band fan, but perhaps one day I could be. The real reason I bought one of these t-shirts was because they had the coolest graphics on them…I mean cool. The one I bought had those cool blue 3/4 sleeves with black material for the inside with a skull and chain graphic. This thing was badass.
One day, while wearing my new t-shirt and exchanging notes with Janet in middle school, I was approached by a dirtbag. You know who they are…the ones you stay away from. This dude comes up to me and fist grabs my t-shirt and pushes me against the wall. He said in a really tough voice, “Tell me one song that Iron Maiden plays.” I just stood there up against the wall looking around. How the hell would I know what Iron Maiden played? I was just wearing the damn shirt. I told him I had no idea and he said, “If I ever see you in this shirt again, I am going to kick your ass.” I thanked him for explaining the importance of knowing a little something about the band on the t-shirt you are wearing. Then, I grabbed his wrist, pulled it off my shirt and shoved him back a few feet. I stepped forward and karate kicked him in the chest. He fell on the floor and started to get up when I bent down and grabbed his hair. I gave his face two swift punches to break his nose and knock out two front teeth.
Ok, the last part didn’t happen. He let go and I walked away in shame. Janet still was my girlfriend, but we did break up a short time later. I am not sure if it had anything to do with this incident. I think we all know the lesson we should learn from this story. I’ll leave it there…
We went to the International Celtic Festival at Hunter Mountain yesterday. It was a good day and reminded my very much of the Oktoberfest at Hunter Mountain. They had kind of the same setup and the skyride was open, so we could ride up the mountain.
We took Rt.28 into the Catskill Park into Phoenicia. Then, we took Rt.214 to Rt.23a and made a left into Hunter.
It was pretty cool. We got to see the new building they made a few years ago. That’s where we paid our $12 admission fee (each) and the $8 skyride fee (each). Right after we got in, we grabbed two Guinness. That beer isn’t too fancy, since we drink it all the time, but it was the darkest one they had. Then, we (or I) ate my traditional funnel cake and Laura had her traditional Sauerkraut. The Sauerkraut was really good.
There was a long list of entertainment at the festival. Here it is –
- Black 47
- Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul
- Glengarry Bhoys
- Andy Cooney
- The Barley Boys
- Liz McNicholl
- Seamus Kennedy
- Schenectady Pipe Band
- Donny Golden Irish Dancers
- Broesler Irish Dancers
- Ceili Country
- Tim Quinn
- MC – Frankie Curran
After we ate, we went up the skyride. This is the real reason I went there. For the Oktoberfest, I went for the beer, for this one, I went for the skyride.
If you go to Hunter, you gotta go up the mountian. Believe it or not, the guys were still there carving the Rip Van Winkle thingy in the rock. I was wondering why it was taking so long, but I just learned on the web page that they only carve on festival days. This is so the public can see the progress. It’s pretty cool.
At the top of the mountain, Laura and I found the absolute best place to hang out and chill. There were a few benches in a partially shady section of grass. It was very relaxing…so relaxing that I spread myself out on the ground. Those pictures are a little weird, but I did take one of the grass while I was down there.
The weather was good yesterday. It was actually kind of chilly on the way down the mountain. The wind was going up the mountain, so it was a bit breezy, but that didn’t inhibit the view at all.
When we got to the bottom, we stood and watched the Irish pole toss, or whatever it was called. It is a good time to see people try to throw different sized wooden posts. Some make it, some don’t. After we watched for a while, we decided to leave.
On the way home, we always pass this little area near a lake. It is part of the Devil’s Tombstone Public Campground. If you decide to stop there to look at the lake, be careful. The guy is poking around to ticket whoever doesn’t pay. I almost got one, but I smiled my way out of it.
Whenever someone wants to name their new band, I am sure there is some creative process that goes on. I always think of the band sitting around in some kitchen in Yonkers with a fluorescent tube light hanging over their heads. They go back and forth until they come up with something they can agree on. Usually, the longer this conversation goes on, the dumber the name gets. I think the best names for things just pop in to people’s heads while driving or rowing a boat or something.
We have all been there. We have all tried to find a name for something. Sometimes you think of something great and run around to tell everyone, but sometimes the name you settle on is a little weird and you avoid telling people what you thought of. Personally, I have always had a problem with thinking of catchy domain names. That’s why I just name them what they are now. If I am setting up a blog, I call it something like “jaysblog.com.” On the internet, the name really doesn’t matter anymore anyway.
I am having a little issue with some of the bands today. Firstly, they are all sounding alike. Secondly, they are coming out so fast that their names are just plain silly. I really like a song by Finger Eleven, but c’mon, what the heck is with that name? It sounds like they tried too hard. Also, Pillow Face is probably the most annoying name I have heard of to date. That was almost topped by a band name I just heard of a few minuted ago…Drowning Pool.
Maybe it’s just me. It usually is. Maybe back in the day, The Police and AC/DC sounded dumb, but we got used to them. Maybe in the future I will think that Pillow Face is a great band and I will tell people proudly that Pillow Face is my favorite group ever.
For our television enjoyment, we had satellite service installed way back when we moved in. I remember it was a Thursday. With this, comes a bunch of channels we don’t use, but there are a few channels that I come across that have something that makes me pause. One such channel has the “Dukes of Hazzard” reruns showing a few times a day, every day.
I always liked the Dukes of Hazzard. It was sort of like the little boy’s version of “Little House on the Prairie.” My brother and I had this little thing going…we would want to know which car was faster, the General Lee or Kitt from “Night Rider.” Personally, I think Kitt is faster, with the Turbo Boost and all.
Anyway, today I was watching “Beauty and the Geek” and I discovered that one of the “Geeks” is the vice-president of a Dukes of Hazzard fan club. I thought this was pretty interesting, so I searched Google for his smiling face. I couldn’t find it, but I did find this pretty exciting fan club. Luckily they came up first in the search results. I didn’t go too far down the page. I looked on their “Fan Club Bios” page, but didn’t see any geek from the TV show. Oh well, you should take a look anyway.
If I woke up last night not knowing where I was, I would’ve thought I was on another planet and all the people around me were aliens. If you haven’t guessed, I was in Connecticut. Things are strange in Connecticut. It’s amazing how many variations of cultures we have in this country, even ones that are quite close to one another.
We pulled in to Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT. Of course, the traffic was filling up the parking lots. We were guided to a nice spot in a back lot. Right after we shut the car off, most of the other cars and trucks around us started popping their trunks and setting up BBQs, tables and food. We didn’t have anything but our bodies. Since we were early, we sat in the car for a while, just to watch what was going on around us. The crowd was like a big white mass of insurance workers. I saw a lot of blond hair and I can imagine many of the guys were named, “Tom.” They all had this look about them…they kind of all looked like Pilgrims. I guess they were cool…just different. Odd crowd. I was eavesdropping on a conversation to the right of us and heard this little exchange…”Yeah, put that in an Excel spreadsheet.” “Yeah…DOUBLE UNDERLINE!!!” I just love dorky work talk among coworkers.
So, the show started off with Fiction Plane. These guys were really good. I thought the lead singer sounded strikingly like Sting. Laura kept saying that he could be a mini-Sting. She mentioned that when Sting kicks the bucket, this might have to be her replacement. Well, as it turns out, the lead singer of Fiction Plane is Joe Sumner…Gordon Sumner’s son…AKA, Sting. How cool is that? I am sure I am going to hear about this from Laura because if there was one man she would leave me for, it would be Sting. Geeesh, now there are two. I guess I gotta clamp down.
A funny little story about Joe Sumner and Laura. As we were sitting there last night waiting for The Police to set up, Laura told me a little something about Fiction Plane. She said that they had opened up for Sting during another concert. After the concert, she was out getting a t-shirt or something and someone asked if she wanted a Fiction Plane autograph. She said (out loud), “I don’t want an autograph, unless it’s Sting’s.” She told me that she thought the Fiction Plane guy heard her. Well Laura, watcha got to say now?
Fiction Plane was really good. They played for about a half hour…from 8PM to 8:30PM. It took about 45 minutes for The Police to set up, but it was worth the wait. The Police played the first song without the big video screens on. I think Laura was getting nervous. Then, after the first song and a little in to the second…WHAM, the colors from the Synchronicity albumn came up and faded to the live action. Pretty cool stuff.
Yeah, the concert was pretty cool. Nice loud sound and great visuals. They played all the good old stuff, obviously. The bad part is that I was taking pictures with my cell phone, which I would not even waste posting here. The lady next to us had a digital camera and was taking shots the whole time. I was waiting for the end, so I could hand her my business card and ask her to email the photos to me. Towards the end of the show, I looked over and they were gone. Man!!! I would’ve loved to post them up to show here.
So, if anyone has original photos and you are willing to allow me to post them here, please let me know. Thank you.
Here is what they played –
1. Message in a Bottle
2. Synchronicity II
3. Walking on the Moon
4. Voices Inside My Head
5. When the World is Running Down
6. Don’t Stand So Close to Me
7. Driven to Tears
8. Truth Hits Everybody/Regatta de Blanc
9. The Bed’s Too Big Without You
10. Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
11. Wrapped Around Your Finger
12. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
13. Invisible Sun
14. Walking in Your Footsteps
15. Can’t Stand Losing You
16. Roxanne
Encore
17. King of Pain
18. So Lonely
19. Every Breath You Take
Encore
20. Next to You
Also, for a great, in depth review of the show, check out this site.
I think I wrote a while ago that Laura and I like to go to Tanglewood, up in Lenox, MA. It’s a pretty sweet thing to do. This weekend was the “All-Beethoven Weekend.”
Now, I am not saying that I am a big Beethoven fan or anything, but the show was pretty good. The whole thing is that you get to lie out under the stars, while listening to the music. It’s pretty neat. Last summer, when we went up for the first time, all we brought was a blanket. We were eaten alive by the bugs and I had to buy two plastic cups of red wine and some cookies for about $20. This time was different. We made a list and everything…here is what we brought…
…all in a big cloth bag. The only thing we were missing was our sleeping bag to throw over us when it got a little chilly later on. To improvise, I just moved everything off the blanket we had and rolled ourselves up in it. I started to doze off towards the end of the show, but I was quite comfortable, so you can’t really blame me.
Here are some photos that I tried to grab…
This is right after we parked the car. We were walking up towards the gate and I realized that I forgot my camera. I had to run back and grab it…alond with this photo of the parking lot.
I took this photo of the Koussevitzky Music Shed on our way in. People are getting set up on the lawn.
Here is a great view of the lake and the Berkshires in the background.
This is the house right behind where we set up our blanket.
Laura had to run to the little girl’s room, so I decided to get fancy and set up shop.
Ahh, the music is on…
I took this photo of the gift shop on our way out.
I think the show ended around 11PM. We drove all the way down past Stockbridge and through Great Barrington. Then, we followed Rt.23 to Rt.9H down into Red Hook, NY and then crossed the Mid-Hudson Bridge past Kingston. It was a good drive, but we were getting way tired. We stumbled in a fell right asleep. We woke up this morning at about 11:15AM. I haven’t done that since I was a teenager. I felt pretty guilty about that type of laziness. Man…
When I work at home, I usually sit at the computer in silence. The TV might be on in the other room, but generally, there is nothing going on. Every so often, I remember to click a few music files that I have on computer.
Last year some time, I ripped about 50 CDs onto my computer. When I play the music while working, it really lightens the mood. My head turns to so many other things besides just work.
Last night, Laura was watching the movie “Great Expectations” in the living room. It has a pretty good soundtrack. I was just doing some site upgrades which requires a lot of uploading and downloading, which can get boring. I decided to listen to some “Steve Perry” from his greatest hits album.
Every time I listen to this album, I start off with the song, “It Won’t Be You.” It’s pretty laid back and relaxed. Steve Perry is a very talented artist…if you are a “Journey” fan, you know what I am talking about. It’s the kind of music that you close your eyes to. It brings you somewhere else. I remember a few times while I was living in Atlanta with my friend Rob, I would lay on the floor with my headphones on listening to something good. One time, Rob came home from work and had to step over me. He told me later on that he knew I was in the zone, so he didn’t want to interrupt me.
Music changes people’s lives…it’s a wonder that I don’t listen to it more. After listening to a few songs last night, I was so inspired to write about it right then and there. I was way too tired, so I decided to wait until this morning.
One of my most memorable times ever listening to Journey was the ride from Ocean City, MD. I was around 18 years old and had finally talked my friend, Craig, into taking the trip with me. It was about 9PM when we got in thte car to drive South. We stayed in Ocean City for a day or two and then drove straight out of town North on Rt.1. This is a really nice drive by itself, but the conditions of this drive made it even better. Craig was in the passenger seat, just looking out the window at the ocean to the right. I was looking out the other window to the fields on the left. It was around 7PM. There was a huge rain cloud directly over us making things wet, but to the left, you could see the line where the clouds stopped and where the sun started. The best part of the trip was Craig’s “Journey – Greatest Hits” CD. We listened to all the greats…”Who’s Crying Now,” “Don’t Stop Believin’” and everyone’s favorite, “Wheel in the Sky.” It was nice to drive with no talking while listening to the best music out there. It really made the trip.
We made it up to Lewes to take the Cape May-Lewes Ferry to Cape May, NJ. This is a really cool ferry that cuts a lot of time out of your trip, if you want to stay on the coast. You get to drive your car on it. At the time, I was driving a 1985 Honda Prelude with some decent sound. Since the ride takes about an hour, I opened the doors and let everyone else listen to a little Journey as well, even if they didn’t want to. That was one of the greatest trips of my life and the music played a big part of making it so great.
A really nice guy, Jack White of “Segway of the Hudson Valley,” stopped by work today to show us some of his good stuff.
Jack owns a few companies that sell high-end mobility products. He is quite informative and really knows his stuff. Anyway, today was the day of the Segway.
When Paul and I were leaving to go to lunch, we noticed a truck in the parking lot. I ran over to the truck because there was a Segway sitting on a trailer type thing on the back of it. I was so excited…I have always wanted to ride one of those things. I kept looking around for the person the Segway belonged to, but couldn’t find them. We were getting hungry, so we hopped in the car and left.
So, we ate and had a nice lunch. We hung out on Main Street, Beacon. Then, we drove back to work and pulled in the parking lot. We saw a few people standing around the back of the truck with the Segway nearby…but wait, there were two!!! Man oh man, it was our lucky day. Jack kindly offered to let Paul and me take both Segways for a ride around the parking lot. I have to say, those things are quite handy. They can be quick or just stay slow and they turn on a dime. They are really easy to learn too. Within about 2 minutes, I was up and at ‘em.
Notice the two different Segways…one with the smaller tires and one with the bigger tires. I like the one with the bigger tires better. I would like to go on a ramp or hit a jump or something.
I just have to tell you…one of the funniest TV shows that Laura and I watch these days is Rob & Big.
Their show airs on MTV on Tuesdays at 10:30PM. I know that you are asking yourself right now, “Jay and Laura, what the hell are you guys doing still awake at that time of night?” Well, we are watching Rob & Big, of course.
Here is a trailer from their show…
Now, this is a very funny show because of the dynamic between Rob and Big themselves. Rob is a more, kind of, irrational guy and Big kind of gets pulled around, but comes out of his shell at times. They even have a Wikipedia page.
I liked last night’s episode. Rob and Big took a trip to Ontario, Canada to visit with a guy with a time machine. The guy was all adamant that his time machine worked and it has made him disappear, along with his car. He also disclosed that his wife thought he was nuts.
Rob and Big showed up to try the machine. Big tells Rob that if it doesn’t work, he gets to smash it…Rob agrees. Of course, Big tried the machine and it doesn’t work. Then Rob tried it…nothing. The guy who made the machine tells them that if they had a full moon, they would see a huge effect.
The funniest part of the show is right after that happened, when Big said, “You know what time it is?” Rob handed over the time machine and Big brought it out on the sidewalk to stomp all over it.
Now that is one funny ass show. I even left out the bulldog and the little horse.
