It's Thursday, just Thursday

It's now time for 'normal' people to be getting ready for the big night....the offices have closed early....the party platters are waiting to be picked-up, there are millions of brightly colored paper hats and streamers....confetti in ribbons, confetti in little chad pieces (which, by the way, was the origin of confetti). Soon people will be gathering for meals, drinks and other forms of fellowship....some will get drunk and need a ride home....some will get drunk and drive home anyway....some will not make it home.

Ever since I finally got on the road to sobriety back in May of 1983, I have become less and less interested in New Year's Eve (NYE) for it is, at its core, all about drinking. Rare indeed is the social gathering that meets tonight without any alcohol to help lubricate the proceedings. Yes, I know that my fellow Christians can and will be meeting at each other's homes and for those select few, there will be a rampant rash of sobriety abounding.

Fact is, I don't much care for NYE ever since I quit being a musician back in the bad old days. Back then NYE was the big money night....you would walk off with a nice wad for the same amount of work you did on all the other band nights.....more like what you should have been getting paid in the first place.

So now I don't "do" NYE anymore for three reasons:

1. It's dangerous. I used to drive home for an hour in a total alcoholic blackout. The last statistic I knew twenty years ago said that 25% of the population had an alcohol problem. What's that like today, especially when you add drugs into the mix? I don't want to be on the road when I know that at least one in four vehicles on the road is being piloted by someone who is as bad off as I used to be.
2. I don't play music in the secular world anymore and there are no gigs for Christian musicians on NYE in my area so I guess I'm not going to be getting geared up for a big bash tonight or any other NYE.
3. The biggest reason is that I don't drink. No booze equals very little reason to 'party'. If I had an invitation to share the eve with Christian friends it would definitely be with the understanding that I would leave early anyway to get home and crash at a human hour. So by the grace of a loving Higher Power that I call God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, I am free from the deadly obsession of booze one day at a time. God bless the beautiful, simple precepts and 12 steps of AA for helping me get started back on the road to the true healer, Jesus.

So to all my loyal fans, all one of them, let me say "Have a Happy and Safe New Year!" May God continue to bless us all in this coming year as He always has.

Ya think?........

There is now a new television commercial that features one of Hollywood's truly lovely women, Ms. Brooke Shields, in an ad for a new elixir that is used for, get this, growing fuller eyelashes. Hold on, it gets worse.

What's remarkable about the ad, aside from the obvious appeal of someone like Ms. Shields, is a line in the copy being delivered by the voice-over narrator. At one point he says: "...for inadequate or not enough eyelashes". Now....correct me if I'm wrong but aren't "inadequate" eyelashes and "not enough" eyelashes the same thing?

To be fair to Brooke I have to say that she wouldn't know what the voice-over would be....in Hollywood she would come in, do her two or three scene setups, and go. The post-production people would then take over and assemble the final product into a complete ad for the client. Ms. Shields would never know what the final ad would look or sound like.

But I'm still embarassed for her and the client who spent money to have this ad done. They should have made sure that a qualified proofreader (such as my esteemed self "truly a legend in his own mind....") reviewed the copy and caught this blatant boo-boo before it escaped onto the small screen. Oh well, I guess they'll call me next time they have have something for me to review or look over (tongue-firmly-in-cheek).

Nothing to Say......

The title of this post is the title of a song often heard on Christian radio and it's by Andrew Peterson, a singer-songwriter of great talent. The title appealed to me because I decided that today is a day off. It's a strange day: it's like the day Joni Mitchell wrote about in Chelsea Morning:

Woke up, it was a Chelsea Morning, and the first thing that I knew—

There was milk, and toast, and honey,
 And a bowl of oranges too,

And the sun poured in like butterscotch,
 And stuck to all my senses......

Oh—
Won't you stay,

 We'll put on the day,

And we'll talk in present tenses.

Anyone who knows me even a little bit well knows that I'm a long-time fan of Ms. Mitchell even if she is Canadian :-) I know, she can be profane and terminally cynical at times but her lyrics are eerily similar to my own thoughts, or my thoughts as they often used to be. You see, I have actually gotten over my desire to fly like Peter Pan and to be a real boy like Pinocchio. I did something both wonderful and horrible....I grew up.

I don't have the same dreams I used to have anymore. As I've gotten older, my desires, tastes and aspirations have become transformed, twisted around, refined, chewed up and finally disgorged as something the cat never even considered dragging in. In short....I'm different.

The apostle Paul said that when he was young he did young guy things; then he grew older and put away childish pursuits. For some of us this is good....for others it may mean having to avoid trading toy guns for real ones or you could end up like Charlton Heston, waving a rifle at a NRA meeting (personally, I don't think that's all bad....I'm on his side).

So when did we trade youthful zeal for aged contentment? Where did the fire in the belly get to? It moved into the fireplace to warm our aching bodies is where. And what about stamina? Remember how you could stay up for three days straight, stay out all night Friday Saturday & Sunday with three different girls (or women if you were lucky), play volleyball for six hours, ping-pong for four hours, cram for a physics final, take the final and pass, eat at least one whole garbage pizza, drive to the next state for ice cream, etc.....then get 5 hours sleep and be totally okay? Can't do that anymore, huh? I'm lucky if I can stay awake after dinner these days!

My body now makes sounds like my electric can opener (which I need for my arthritic hands) groans like my lawnmower (self-propelled of course 'cause my legs and feet are bad), Wheezings like my coffee maker, makes clicking and grinding noises like my car; also have shoulders and knees that go crackle and crunch every time I try to move them too far, and, oh yes, I have 3 degrees of eyeball enhancers with various stages of magnification: Normal vision, mid-range (for computer) and close up, allegedly for reading...except I know no-one who sits in the bathroom with a magazine held up 4 inches from their nose (Does anyone really read like that?). Come to think of it, I haven't seen anyone read like that sitting anywhere.

So there it is....I'm getting older. It's a tough thing to face at times, but face it we must because there ain't no stopping it or going back. And you know what? I don't wanna go back....I'm kinda likin' who I've turned into (by the grace of you-know-who) and now that I'm sixty-three years old and in such lousy shape, I have only one question......what's up for the next sixty-three years Lord? Bring it on!

Dirty lil’ Ditty-- Mike Rowe WORKS

If you are a fan of the Dirty Jobs tv show as I am, you'll like being able to go to the official Mike Rowe website and click on the video of the official Dirty Jobs theme song. No, not that lame musical blurb that they use to open and close the show or go in and out of commercial breaks; I mean the full-length song that gives the real low-down on all that is Dirty Jobs. Click on this link then click on the big arrow in the middle of the picture to start the fun.

It's really a hoot. The video quality is not great (at least on my hi-res screen) but there ain't nothin' wrong with the audio.

http://www.mikeroweworks.com/2009/07/dirty-lil-ditty/

It's only rock 'n roll but I like it!

I am a really big fan of an internet site called accuradio.com. It's a "radio station" streaming audio with very limited commercial interruption....and it's free. You can make donations if you like, they are totally dependent on the listeners for their support.


If you haven't heard of it yet you need to get there and check out their selections; they have, literally, every kind of music from classic rock to "hair bands" to California surf party to Christian contemporary to world music to classical, to....you get the picture. If you can think of it, or even if you haven't thought of it, they have it. There is almost too much to choose from.

I love to put on my classic rock channel, then sub-channel "64-71" and listen to the songs I love best.

Go to accuradio.com....I bet you'll love it as much as I do.

Flash....Global Warming in Remission!

Found the following posting on the excellent Blog High Fliers. It can shed some much needed light on the myth of global warming. Make sure to check out the American Thinker site to read the entire posting on that very good blog.


*******************************************
American Thinker has a good summary of the issue so far. Leading "scientists" (read fraudsters) manipulated data, criminally resisted FOIA requests, and colluded with each other ("hey, could you erase all those emails from me...including this one") to perpetrate fraud on the world community. Serious black eye for science. If I were a scientist I would demand a thorough investigation and house cleansing. I'm wondering if that's what we'll see.

As the Washington Post points out, two of the perpetrators cannot be reached for comment. Big surprise there.

"Neither Jones nor Santer could be reached for comment."

Spam should be cooked, not read.

I have gotten, oh yet another, of those internet chestnuts that refuse to die. This one has very nice pictures to go with it; pictures of Bill Cosby, pictures of Bill Cosby at his amiable best, supposedly posed so as to lend legitimacy to the accompanying article which declares in no uncertain terms that Dr. Cosby, hold on to your hats, is.........running for the U.S. Presidency in 2012! The article also lists a number of very good campaign platform issues worded in such a way that no good American could ever disagree with them. Trouble is, Dr. Cosby never said that stuff.


Whoa....didn't we go through this before? Gee, wasn't it 2008 the last time we had to put up with this bit of wisdom flying through the internet ether? Did anyone bother to check the veracity of this story in 2008?

I think not!

Has anyone bothered to check the veracity of this article presently?

I dare say...no way....Jose.

Heaven forbid that anyone should spend the three or four minutes it would take to go to a hoax-buster sight like Snopes.com and check out whether or not it may be true. Let's face it, there are so many ways to waste time with a computer and reading false e-mails is not one I care to pursue. This kind of stuff almost amounts to a unique kind of spam, and one which is not easily cured by a simple delete. If you're a fact freak like me, you do bother to check out this garbage and end up wasting the 3-4 minutes the original sender should have taken in the first place to verify the truth of the article! Stack up enough of those 3-4 minutes and you start to get a serious waste of time.

Oh, I'll be alright as soon as I calm down. There...I feel much better now...just had to get that off my chest.

Okay, now let's talk about people who forward e-mails with the last seventy-five headers still attached.......

Totally Unbelievable

This just in to the "Is He For Real?" Department.........


"See – we have a problem,” [Chris] Matthews said. “How do we know when someone like Hasan is going to make his move and do we know he’s an Islamist until he’s made his move? He makes a phone call or whatever (looks at paper)....according to Reuters right now. Apparently he tried to contact al Qaeda. Is that the point at which you say, ‘This guy is dangerous?’ That’s not a crime to call up al Qaeda, is it? Is it? I mean, where do you stop the guy?” [emphasis mine--AEB]

-------Chris Matthews on MSNBC commenting on Major Hasan who committed the first act of terrorism on American soil since 9/11.

YES CHRIS.... WE DO HAVE A PROBLEM! It's liberals like you who can even ask an unconsidered question like that! Is it a crime to call up the group who murdered nearly 3,000 people on that bleak day of 9/11/01? That doesn't need nor deserve an answer. I'm basically stricken dumb by this.

As for you and your kind: "You will recognize them by their fruits" (Matt. 7:16a ESV)

Honing, er...homing in

The title of this post says it all. This is another one of my pet peeves when it comes to our American language. When you want to sharpen a knife to the Nth degree, use a hone; when you want to describe the act of trying to zero-in on something, use home-in, or skip the confusion entirely and use the aforementioned zero-in.


Hey folks, you can put this one on your usage list along with comprise, irregardless and the others I've been ranting about. You know, if I was smart and greedy (in other words, a true capitalist) I would sell you a special three-ring binder with indexes for you to keep all your American language usage notes in!

But hey, I'm retired now and it sounds like it might actually involve something like work, so I think I'll pass....your wallets are safe for now, relax.

"....You're Adrian!"

The title of this posting is part of what Barry Tashian said when I snuck up on him and asked "Excuse me, are The Outskirts playing here tonight?" The first part of his exclamation ("Holy s---,) is unprintable in its truest form. To find out the story behind his shocked response, read on......

Monday, October 26 2009, was the evening of a magical event when I got to re-unite with two old musical friends that I hadn't seen in over 28 years. It was also the occasion for me, as a recovering alcoholic (26 years) to do my required ninth step and offer to make amends to these people for the problems I had caused them with my drinking. They were extremely loving and gracious and not only accepted my apology but offered much-needed forgiveness as well. This was an important step in my recovery even after all these years of sobriety. Praise God!

The venue was the Sarasota Sailing Squadron facility on Sarasota Harbor on an open-air pavilion. The weather was almost perfect (just a tad, bit much humidity). The occasion being Barry and Holly Tashian on tour, making their one-nighter here in little old Sarasota (SRQ) so I just had to go see them.

I first met B&H in 1976 when I answered a newspaper ad for a bass player for a country band. I tried out and got the job. From there we formed The Outskirts doing country and vintage Rock music. The original lineup had Barry playing drums, Holly on rythm guitar, Charlie Gillen lead guitar, and yours truly on bass. For our first few months we also had an excellent pedal-steel guitarist, Tony Prior, but he left for some reason I don't remember. Except for Tony, we all sang and all did harmonies and lead vocals. Our first gig was at Levitt Pavilion on June 5, 1976. The show started with Barry's other band, The Schemers doing vintage rock-n-roll followed by The Outskirts with the sound of country and more rock-n-roll. The band went through one minor personnel change for a while when Barry decided to devote his energies to The Schemers so we ended up with a different drummer. He didn't last too long and finally Barry came back and brought the drummer from The Schemers, Peter "Pico" Rankin, so Barry took over lead guitar duties. This was the band lineup until I eventually moved on in 1978 after getting an offer to play guitar, which was my first love, for Nashville Express, another local band in the Southwestern CT area. I still stayed active with The Outskirts on a part-time basis, working with them on off-nights (meaning, not Friday and Saturday) as they needed me for club gigs.

Eventually they stopped playing for a long spell and we basically just drifted apart completely, I think in late 1979. They ended-up heading for the bright lights of NYC where things really started to happen and, long story short, Barry got a gig playing with Emmylou Harris as part of her Hot Band throughout most of the '80s. He had known Emmylou very well in the '60s when they all lived in California and all were involved with Gram Parsons and his various musical endeavours. Barry was an early member of the seminal International Submarine Band, and later his very well-known, Boston-based band, The Remains, was the opening band for The Beatles on their 1966 American tour. The Outskirts' move off to NYC in the early '80s is about the time we lost touch but I followed their musical career as much as possible and later via the internet.

When I saw this SRQ concert date listed on their tour schedule I just had to go. It was fantastic to catch up on news and events and try to cram as much as possible into basically just a half hour. They were totally surprised and shocked to see me, especially here in SRQ. I told them that they have a standing invitation to get together any time they come here, especially if they can budget enough time to 'do' lunch or dinner.

I know in my deepest heart that God allowed this to happen at just the right time. I know it because it felt right and all came together effortlessly. I sincerely hope that there will be more opportunities to see them again. Life is getting shorter and I sure hope we can squeeze in a few more good times.

If you read this guys, it was absolutely fantastic to see you again...you really haven't changed so very much and the music is totally awesome. I really hope we can do it again!

See more of Barry & Holly, read about them, listen to choice album cuts, buy their CDs and follow their tour dates on their web site. You can also get a copy of Barry's book, Ticket to Ride, which chronicles the adventures of his tour with The Beatles. Their web site link is in my 'Interesting links" on the sidebar at left. If you like top quality country and a bit o' bluegrass music you'll enjoy getting to know these two veteran performers.

What Have I Done

Today, just a few minutes ago, I finished my online application for Social Security retirement benefits. I didn't think I would ever live long enough to reach this age (But I'm sure glad I did). It seems that it was just a few days ago that I was fighting off stage 4 lung cancer, which was followed by an attack of brain-eating bacteria (hence the lumpy hole in my skull where they scooped out the bad stuff), a fractured hip that left me with a limp, two cracked vertebrae that needed surgery, and a host of other minor plagues that descended after I hit the tender age of 59.

But in all, I am actually quite content to be looking back on that period of my life as one of serious change, a period that culminated in the death of my wife last October, 2008. Since then I feel that I have been given yet another chance and that God, for reasons I'll never understand, still wants me around. I know He has plans for my life and I firmly believe in the 11th step: "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our concious contact with God.......praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out". I left out the part about "as we understood Him" because to me there can be no other way to understand the Lord of the universe and creator of all, except as the one, true God of our fathers, forefathers and founding fathers.

So that's where I am today and every day.....praying for that knowledge of that will. Maybe I'll never rise any higher than being the bass player in a small suburban non-denominational church, maybe I actually will cut my own CD (or I should get modern and say "Burn" instead) and watch it climb the charts (with a bullet!). Maybe I'll find another life companion, a mate and helper to share things with, the laughter and tears...who knows? Only God.

We'll see. It's all up to Him anyway, no?

Say What?

Words cannot express my horror about what is happening to my country, and especially with the alleged leaders that we (well, not all of us, just the brain-dead ones) have installed in the nation's capitol. I say 'alleged' because these democrats, as soon as they took power, started behaving like kids let loose in a candy factory. Not only did they start salivating at the sight of all that nice, free money that you and I provide for them, but they ran amok throwing it hither and yon at every little project they could think of....and claiming it's all for the good of the nation.

I don't think these clowns, led by that scrawny ringmaster Mr. Obummer, really have a clue how to operate a radio much less a sovereign nation like the U.S. We are in the middle of an economic meltdown (read: depression) almost as severe as (Shhhhh.....whisper this)the great depression of 1929. The only reason it's not as bad is because there are still one or two people in the nation that still have jobs. Mr. Obummer's solution is typical democrat: throw non-existent money at it. At this rate we'll be mortgaging our great, great, great, great grandchildren's assets to pay for all these bailouts. It's very scary, and sad, to think that the Federal government is now the major stockholder of General Motors. Let's see....I guess that would mean they own the old girl! Good, now all the jokers who just have to have a Hummer can exhale, your precious cars will be around for a while. Now I guess the next step is to fully nationalize the company as they simultaneously nationalize the health care industry. As Jack Paar used to say: "I kid you not". This will probably be just the beginning if they have their way.

President Obummer is downright scary. I'm not so sure that I'm very happy about where he's taking the country nor how fast it's happening. Change generally is good, but ya gotta have a plan, ya gotta communicate it in an intelligible way to the people so even a third-grader can grasp it (three grade levels below where most government publications are targeted), and ya gotta have a way to pay for it.....now, not in 200 years.

I just hope I never end up with a Government Motors vehicle that I have to drive to Washington for servicing all the time. We know how long that'll take.

Requiem

There's no way to get around the complete and utterly frustrating feeling that grief brings on. I just found out that my dear, dear brother in the Lord, Mike, went home to be with his creator a few days ago. I am sad.....for his darling wife, Sandi, who is left alone, for the multitude of people at his church and elsewhere who loved him and gave of themselves and their resources to help out Mike and Sandi....and of course I'm sad as a musician that one of the greateast guitar players I've ever had the honor of working with is now silenced.....but if I know my brother Mike, he's probably got a praise band going up there as I write this!

But there is definitely a grace in the passing of a loved one....he is at peace...he no longer has that cruel disease eating away at every part of his body....he is now perfect, healed and complete in the love and comfort of the one who comforts all. His new body will never know disease or infirmity.

Goodbye Mike, you sweet, loving and beautiful man..... the world is a sadder place for your passing, my brother.

Keep up with the latest news on arrangements for Mike on "Mike's Space" listed under "Interesting Links".

Another Look

I mentioned this in a previous post but it seems that the abuse of the word in question is so widespread that I feel compelled to repeat and elaborate on my earlier rant.

There is a word which, when properly used, explains itself nicely but when misused is the epitome of poor language and may even leave the listener feeling that the speaker is less than erudite (to put it politely).

This poor member of the language is regardless.

Here's a news flash people....it's fine all by itself.

When one attempts to reinforce the use of this word, to give it more emphasis or color by saying irregardless, one is really using a double negative to mean something that the basic word itself already expresses! The word irregardless tries to mean without regard (for) which the word regardless already means.

Bottom line, strike this monstrosity from your speech and end up sounding like someone of learning.

Quo Vadis English? redux

Don't you just hate it when authors try to dazzle us with fancy foreign phrases peppered into their writings that they then proceed to not translate? It's a snob thing, like....you're supposed to know dahling. Quo Vadis means "Whither Goest Thou" in the classical translation or "Yo, where you gettin' to?" in the street version. Furthermore (one word, by the way) Redux means 'revisited' so I trust you will now be able to figure out the posting title . You can pronounce it American style= ree-DUCKS or correctly as in the French= reh-DOO. Nobody in this country will bat a false eyelash either way. Face it, the vast majority would rather face root-canal than admit they don't know something.


Got a few more goodies for you, some under the category of 'Howcum"?

1. Facilitator-- this is a blatant new-age, politically correct construction that replaces the word 'teach' and all its other forms. Why? Because to have a teacher in the class is to put a person in a position of power over the other members of the class and someone's self-esteem might be crushed (I kid you not). What really bothers me is that Christians have bought into this garbage too.

2. Dump-- as in to get dumped. This is a word most often associated with garbage and in some cases, very crude references to a bodily waste function. So how is it that now no-one 'breaks up' anymore? Someone is always dumping or getting dumped. This ties in well with goodie #3---

3. Slam-- this has replaced the perfectly valid word 'insult'. Why?

4. Hit on-- Whatever happened to "asking someone for a date" or "making a pass at" or "make a play for"? Not quite up to date, eh? Now it sounds like a major act of aggression one degree removed from outright assault.

Here's the secret to these three howcums---- in all cases they're very accurate reflections of the underlying anger secular folks carry for each other in this society. Simple concepts like breaking up and being insulted are replaced by words and terms that are far more brutal than they need to be. Trouble is, the general population just accepts them and moves on. Whatever happened to that 'kinder, gentler' nation we were supposed to be getting?

Quo Vadis English?

Americans mangle the English language and, indeed, have flogged it so badly that we can truly say that we now speak and write, very poorly, something called American. I present here some of my favorite observations about the vagaries of the new mother tongue.

Take the wonderful English word 'comprise'. Things should never be comprised of. To use this word remember that parts comprise the whole, or, the whole is composed of parts. Remember, if you're going to use the word of in your sentence, you will use compose. Here are some other gems:

Trendy words that sneak into the language and replace perfectly valid words that , somehow, have just lost their allure. The newbies sound far more important, right? To wit:

*Impact- and all its cousins, especially the hideous verb form "impacted". Last I knew this was a dental problem. The very good word "effect" is still available and can be made more "impactful" (I couldn't resist) by adding modifiers to it.

*Dialogue- has basically obliterated the very good words "discuss" or "talk about".

*System- Something that performs a task. Something used to be a vacuum cleaner, now it's a "cleaning system".

*Unpack- I think the clowns that use this one (too many Christian broadcasters too, I'm sorry to say) actually mean "explain", and sometimes, "exposit".

*Campus- Any institution with more than one building now is a campus, regardless (see horrors below for more on this one) of whether or not it's even in the same location. By definition, campus facilities would be in one spot, like a collection of university buildings. Not like the company I used to work for that had buildings in many different towns. Management loved to refer to each building as a campus. The only thing they had that was campus-like was their cafeterias. It's that kind of limit-pushing that I'm kvetching about.

Here are some horrors of usage I'll bet you didn't even realize:

*Irregardless- "ain't" no such word. This is a double negative. What you want to use is regardless all by itself.

*Pedophile- this is commonly accepted as PED-oh-file, which makes it a foot problem. It should be PEED-oh-file as in pediatrics.

*Homophobe- One of my favorites! This doesn't mean anything like the world intended it, as in "one who has a fear of homos" (hey, they started it, not me-I personally have nothing against gay people). When you examine the word it breaks down this way (all from the Latin by the way): Homo-- combined form meaning same and phobe which is the combined form of phobia meaning an irrational fear or morbid dread of some thing or things. Hence a homophobe is really someone who is morbidly and/or irrationally afraid of sameness. I'm not making this up.

*Pro-active- should never, never, ever be used by anyone wishing to appear intelligent. If you do have a mental lapse and use it then please have the decency to be a rugged individualist and hyphenate it. You'll be right but everyone will think you're ignorant anyway.

*Same goes for other compound words like infrared. If it's to be pronounced as two words then it also needs the hyphen as in infra-red.

*Ditto any word with a prefix of co. Should be co-operate, co-incidence, etc. Without a hyphen cooperate sounds like something barrel makers would do to one of their creations and coincidence sounds like the hardness of the metal used to make coins.

* When I went to school in the dark ages when real English was being taught and you actually got graded on pensmanship (you thought it was penmanship--well, now it is) I learned that to make a G soft you must follow it with an E. So how does one explain Judgment? Or Ridgway (town in CO)? I'd like to buy an E, Pat. Maybe a few.

Give me time, I'll come up with some more gems in a future installment.

Something new...something borrowed....something...oops!

I've started a new blog so that I can keep my political and Christian rantings separate. When I started out I wasn't very political, but as this current administration in D.C. has been pulling one major screw-up after another, it seems that I have had a lot to say after all.

So I'll be adding some of my material from my other blog and saving that one for church and other Christian-related items.

Be sure to check in often, I may just surprise you and write something good!