FOOD!!!

Yes I take pictures of food sometimes, Tracy thinks it's funny...

Still eating the fish leftover from the deep sea trip. I did this with a Beer batter and deep fried it:


BBQ Chicken and Zucchini:

Elixir Acoustic Giutar strings with Polyweb coating

Where the hell have I been?? I never hear of these things until last week when I went to Sam Ash looking for strings for the Acoustic. I went with 10's, but should have gone a little heavier. But man these things are smooth sound great... I was so inspired that I wrote a song, lyrics and all. I'll try to record it this weekend. Oh, I watched the Martin Scorsese documentary on Bob Dylan Monday, No Direction Home. Missed part two on Tuesday... I think a friend of mine recorded it. I ripped a copy of the Essential Bob Dylan from a friend but it doesnt have a lot of stuff off the first two records for some reason... That's some of his best stuff in my opinion.

Next week off

I had to take next week off because the kids don't have school and all the day cares are full or really expensive. So I was trying to think of stuff we can do during the week. Movies!! We can go see Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit!! Shit, it doesn't open here until the 7th. Started looking on movies.com for other kids movies that are playing. The only one is that Penguin movie. Most reviews are pretty good, a couple of mixed.

One mixed review from the The Village Voice:

The Central Park Zoo is cheaper, you can walk away from the penguins after 10 minutes, and it has snow monkeys and beer.

Get a flight to NY, stay for the week, take the kids to look at snow monkeys and drink beer. Not a bad idea at all. Not going to happen, but it would be fun to take them up there this time of the year. I'm thinking Science Center, Movie?, Park, Fishing, pizza, video games. That should take care of a couple of days anyway.

Rediscovering Maiden...

Steve Harris was one of my biggest influences as a kid. I really think it shows in my style today, not that I'm even close to this guy as far as talent goes... This and Piece of Mind are the two best Maiden records with Bruce. I really don't care for anything after Powerslave at all. And of course the first two studio records are classics.

The day is dragging

Wow, it's only 3:00 seems like it should be at least 5:00 Another killer storm out in the gulf is heading towards TX this time and tons of people have been in traffic jams for hours without any movement at all. I really feel bad for them. That would really suck having to leave your home and most of your things behind...Better than staying behind though. These type types of disasters really show how unprepared we are to Handel these sorts of things. But then again, is there a better way to handle something as unpredictable as a hurricane? Don't know...

I'm practicing for the first time tonight with the new amp. This is the real test to see how it keeps up with the Rectifier and the pounding drums... Man, It's taking forever to write this, it's 4:00 now!! Busy working on important stuff. I have to remind myself that WHAT I DO MATTERS. Anyway, the status is still Processing for the Jazz Bass. Maybe a couple of weeks because it has to come from Fender. Think I may have found the Pickguard that I wanted for it on ebay. 24$ Not a bad price. Got to get going.

My amp should come today!!

It's on a truck in Orlando. After work I'm taking it up to the warehouse to check it out with the Ric. I'm sure it will sound great...

The Jazz Bass is on order from Fender and may take a couple of weeks to get here. That gives me some time to find the Tortoise Shell Pickguard that I want.

Bass Pod

Picked up a Bass Pod at Sam Ash yesterday for $299.00. Messed around with it for a while last night. This is primarily for practicing at home, but I've discovered some uses for it at practice with the band as well. The amp modeling is really cool. Here's a list of amps cabinets and effects:

Amps Based On*:
Acoustic 360
Aguilar DB750
Alembic F-2B
Ampeg SVT
Ampeg B-15
Eden Traveller WT-300
Fender Bassman Combo
Fender Bassman Head
Fender Dual Showman
GK 800 RB
Hiwatt DR-103
Hiwatt 200DR
Marshall Major
Marshall Super Bass
Mesa Boogie Bass 400+
Polytone Minibrute
Sunn Coliseum
SWR SM-500
Versatone Pan-O-Flex
Vox AC100
Line 6 Sub Dub
...and more!

Cabs Based On*:
1x12 Euphonics CXL-112L
1x12 Versatone Pan-O-Flex
1x15 Ampeg B-15
1x15 SWR Big Ben
1x15 Polytone Minibrute
1x18 Acoustic 360
1x18 Mesa Boogie
1x18+12 Sunn Coliseum
2x10 Ashdown ABM 210T
2x15 Fender Dual Showman D130F
2x15 Mesa Boogie
2x15 Vox
4x10 Bassman Combo w/ new spkrs
4x10 Fender Bassman Combo
4x10 Eden David
4x10 Hartke 410
4x10+Horn SWR Goliath
4x12 Hiwatt Bass Cab
4x12 Marshall Basketweave
4x12 Marshall Basketweave 2
4x15 Marshall Major
8x10 Ampeg SVT

Effects Based On*:
Mu-Tron III
Arbiter Fuzz Face
Big Muff Pi
Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer
ProCo Rat
Tycobrahe Octavia
MXR Dynacomp
Boss CS-1
Boss CE-1
A/DA Flanger
MXR Phase 90
Uni-Vibe
Fender amp tremolo
Vox amp tremolo
Fender Vibratone
Boss DM-2
EH Deluxe Memory Man
Maestro EP-1
Roland RE-101 Space Echo
...and more!

All the amps and cabs have pretty different sounds. I was messing with the syth effects as well. Pretty fun, but nothing I would use. I dont think...

When connected to a PC it becomes a selectable audio device from within the software you're using. Recording with this thing is going to be awesome.

Going with a GK again

The RB400 lasted 15 plus years, so I figure I can't go wrong. Over 400 watts!!

GK 700RB-II Bass Head

Bass Pod, new Bass, new Guitar on hold...

Half way through a song last night my amp started working at about 50%, after changing cables, moving things around, I finally got it back, but not for long. Looks like I'll be shopping for an amp. This will set me back on all other spending for about a year. I may still look into a Pod XT if I can get one cheap enough, but the guitars are out of the question. It really sucks, but there's not a whole lot I can do. I will be upgrading as well, so it's not so bad. At least my sound will improve. NEED MORE POWER.... The GK has been good to me, but for the past couple of years it has been problematic. I think I've had it for close to 15 years. Time for a change. The challenge is what to buy. What will go good with my Hartke 4-10, and Acoustic 2-15?? I'll definitely check out Ampeg, SWR, and GK for sure. Maybe Saturday...

Haunted Sushi

These people are crazy! They can make a fortune off this place.
Haunted Sushi story

Ernie Ball Super Slinky

Got to remember this. These strings are perfect for the Ric: Ernie Ball Super Slinky size 45 65 80 100. Hell of a lot brighter than the flats I had before and easier to play. Now I'll actually use the damn thing. I'm watching a couple of ebay auctions, looking for a Bass Pod XT. This would be great for practicing at home with head phones, and I can use it as an effects processor at practice. The USB I/O is a plus also. Not that I would use a lot of effects, but the EQ and modeling may be useful. I'm hoping to can get a used one for around $200. The Musicman is next, need to change the battery, re-string it, and fix the jack again...

Elliott Smith

Been listening to From a Basement on the Hill recently. I've had a copy for a while, but didn't listen to it a lot at first, now I can't stop playing it. Why are all the good writers dead? Anyway, this is a very good record. The production was a problem on some of his early releases, but it is perfect on this one. Favorites: Kings Crossing, Pretty (Ugly Before) and Memory Lane. My favorite Smith song is still Clementine off the first one. I don't think there's a bad song on this CD... Although some took a couple of listens to catch on. You can really hear the Beatles influence on this one. Lots of good mellow acoustic stuff, and a good amount of wall of sound guitar tunes.

Need some more new stuff to listen to. Any suggestions?

Roach in ear

A friend of mine told me that he woke up at about 3am this morning screaming. A roach crawled into his ear, and would not come out. He tried to pull it out with his fingers, but it just kept going deeper and deeper into his ear. He tried water, tweezers, nothing worked. He had his roommate take him to the ER, the Dr removed it without any major problems. The Dr told him that this happens a lot. He's remove about 50 bugs from peoples ears. I called my wife and told her about it. Her response: "That's not supposed to happen"

Hurricane Katrina

I would hate to live in New Orleans right now. It's really hard to say how bad it will be for them because the media always hypes stuff, but I imagine it's going to be pretty serious. This thing has the strength of Charley, but larger... It's much better watching from a distance. I really need to purchase a generator just in case we end up getting another one.

Anyway, this weekend we took a bunch of stuff over to Tracy's Moms house for a Garage sale. Selling one of the kids beds, a dresser, and a bunch of toys... I had to make several trips to get everything over there. 15 miles one way...

Sunday: Busy day for me. Tracy went out the night before and didn't get home until reallly late, so I knew she would be sleeping in the next day. I had to mow the yard, go to the grocery store, grill for the little get together we were planning, all in 4 hours time... and I did. Got everything done with plenty of time to spare. I did chicken and veggies on the grill, had a few beers, and relaxed the rest of the evening. Tracy did most of the cleanup, the part I hate the most.

Starting to get some rain and wind

Really bad weather right now. They're expecting up to 12 inches of rain in the central Fl area over the next couple of days. Better than a direct hit.

Giant Monkey Ghost Kills 3rd Victim

A few hundred miles to the north east, a maniacal monkey man continues to terrorize the Indian capital, New Delhi.

This week the Associated Press reported, "Mass hysteria is sweeping across India's capital after reports of a super-powered monkey man, with hairy body and sharp metal claws, attacking people as they sleep on their roofs in the sweltering heat."

Over 100 people claim to have been injured by this elusive phantom (50 of them last Monday night during a power outage), some claiming that the beast has the ability to turn invisible and leap six stories in a single bound.

"It has three buttons on its chest. One makes it turn into a monkey, the second gives it extra strength, the third makes it invisible," said Kumari, a housemaid. "But he is afraid of the light."

Witnesses descriptions vary absurdly, but most agree that the attacker about 4 ft. tall, with a dark face and large eyes, sharp, metal claws, a humanoid body, and he wears a helmet or a mask. Others claim they saw it jumping down several stories after the attacks.

In the frenzy, three people have died, the latest being Ram Prakash of Shakurpur who jumped from the roof of his home yesterday screaming, "The monkey has come!"

Vigilantes in the streets, who often mistake wild monkeys, dogs and anything that moves for the ironclad supermonster, accidentally beat two people returning home late at night.

The authorities, are struggling to maintain order amid the hysteria and have dispatched approximately 1,000 police officers into the streets, to calm the citizens' fears.

Been busy

Haven't been blogging a lot. Too much going on at home and work. Had a busy weekend as usual. Yard work, and cleaning out the Garage. Tracy went out shopping with a friend of hers on Sunday, and I recruited the kids to help me with the Garage. They were surprisingly happy to help. They lost interest about a half hour into it as expected. But I finished itÂ… you can actually pull a car in now!! Next project is TeraÂ’s room. WeÂ’re having furniture delivered in a couple of weeks, so I need to get in there and take her bed apart to get rid of it. Fun...

Good band practice last week. Got a couple of new ideas that we've been working on. I hope to get seven songs or so done by October. That's my goal, and I think we can do it. We've been getting back in the flow of things as far as song writing goes so I think it's possible.

Chris went to Winn Dixie to check out the big sale!!!

http://www.livejournal.com/users/nimicohgr/23253.html

Searching for Rob on goggle

He either works for Access Control Technologies in Orlando or owns the Lucky Lure Cricket Farm in Leesburg.

Pieces of Pieces

Going through the CD's that Geoff sent. Dating all the way back to 1985... Pieces of Pieces is kind of a greatest hits of all the old stuff we used to play in our band Pieces. Geoff, Rob, and I had a blast, but never played out anywhere. Frogskin Condom, punk version of American Girl, Super cool jams and more... I keep forgetting to bring the CD's to work so I can go through them all on head phones while I work. I listened to some stuff that Geoff and I recorded back when we were like 17 maybe. I had a strong NY accent, and higher pitch. My Wife and I cracking up! Geoff’s radio show question "What kind of a person would buy a brown car"

Birthay party and Beach

Saturday was Kaley's B-day party. Made lots of food, have lots of leftovers. John and his family came over. We didn't get a chance to listen to the old LLB stuff the Geoff sent. He'll get his copy soon I'm sure. I only invited the family to this one. My family is so big that I wouldn’t have room for them and friends. Drank a few beers and let the kids run around. John's hot dog sauce or Greek sauce or Bruce sauce, whatever you want to call it is really good. He's going to serve it at the sub shop they open. I'm sure people will go crazy over it. We ate it with Bratwurst.

We went to the Beach on Sunday with Bryan, and his wife Laura and kid. We tried fishing, but the kids were too distracting. So we ended up entertaining them most of the time which was fun. The Wives did their part as well. So it was a pretty full weekend.

I am going to try to get a good copy of some of the new stuff we've been doing in the band. I'm going to bring some extra mic’s so we can use the 8 track, and maybe keep it hooked up if we can get a burner for the warehouse. Next this is web space to share this stuff. Working on something now. I'll let everyone know if it comes together.

Got some time to kill?

http://justcurio.us/

Birthday Bear and Sabbath.

Yesterday was Kaley’s B-day so we went to the Mall after work to take her to Build A Bear. She decided to build a bunny. She got to pick from 20 or so animals to stuff (you stuff yourself) pick out a outfit, shoes… She had a great time, and it was under 50$. She named her bunny Kayla ??? Having the official party on Saturday. Bruce is brining is famous hotdog sauce, Percy will be there too.

I’m listening to Wheels of Confusion off Vol4, at the “Lost in the wheels of confusion” part. I remember listening this when I was like 9 or 10. My friend Billy and I used to walk around the neighborhood cranking this stuff all the time... The good old days.

Bill T sent this to me today - Amazon reviews

Funny Amazon reviews

School traffic really sucks

We went to pick up our kids from school yesterday and waited in a line for an hour! This morning when I dropped them off it wasn’t that bad, but it still took 30 minutes. I think I got the easy job of dropping them off, Tracy has to pick them up each afternoon, hopefully it will get better. They told us that the first week of school is always really bad.

I really need a 4 door truck, this 2 door crap isn’t working for me. It’s a real pain for the kids to get in and out. I’m thinking about trading my Tahoe in for a newer model Jeep Cherokee or something similar. Maybe I'll stop at Carmax one of these days to see what kind of trade in value my truck has.

BCBR show. Cleaning out my closet...

Woman sues video game manufacturer

Guess it’s okay for this woman’s 14 year old to go around shooting people, killing police officers, selling drugs, stealing cars…but God forbid he sees SEX! What the hell is wrong with these people! Who the hell in their right mind would buy this game for their teenager? I'm thinking that sex should be the least of her worries.

Wal-Mart, Target Best Buy, and Circuit City have pulled the game from their shelves. In other words they feel that killing is okay, but sex is BAD!! What the fuck is this world coming to?

Go get em Hillary!!

City of Sanford Grounds Maintenance dept.

Picture of me and the guys on the crew. Early 90's?

Megajerk

David Mustaine sues for use of name without permission

Fishing trip 7-23-05

Friday night, Bryan and Steve crashed at my place. Drank a few beers, caught a buzz off the Dramamine. Got up at 4:00 am, and drove out to Ponce Inlet, and of course the exit we were supposed to get off on was closed, we had to call the guy that hooked us up with the trip for alternate directions. Got there just after 6:00a am. Very nice Boat, the Captain built it himself!

We took off and went to a spot where we caught bait (small mackerel) Bryan got a hook through his finger, they had to push it through and cut it. He was ok, wish I took a picture of that. 2 hour and 20 min boat ride to the fishing spot. A 50 mile trip I think… We started off drawing number from a hat since there were six of us fishing, and max of 4 could fish at a time, but even that would be pushing it. So we started off with 2 at first. Bryan was 1, Steve was 3 and I was 5. Bryan hooked the 1st of his 4 right away, a huge Leather Jack!(Amber Jack) As you can see from the pics below, it isn’t an easy task. Then Steve got his 1st of 3 fish, another Leather Jack… my turn, I missed a few, then they stop biting… We go to another spot, and I finally get my 1st fish of 2, another Leather Jack. We stayed there for a while taking turns catching mostly Leather Jack, Mike the Snap-On tool guy caught a huge one that damn near killed him! He was wiped out after that one. Then Steve hooked into something real big, took at long time to real it in, it ended up being the catch of the day. A 38 pound Red Snapper! Awesome fish! I’ve never seen anything like that in person. I want one… We then went to another spot, caught a couple of Scamp Grouper(I think) and that was pretty much the day. 14 fish total - 310 pounds!!

We headed back, drank lots of beer and talked on the trip back to the dock. The Captain cleaned the fish when we got back, we separated it, and headed home. I cooked up some of the Leather Jack, came out great. I Fried some on Sunday night, and cooked some on the grill last night. I never had it before, great tasting fish.

Fishing trip:

Great day today. We got lots of Amber Jack, two Red Snapper, one of them was 38 pounds! As seen in the pic above, two Grouper... 14 fish, a total of 310 pounds of fish.

Getting better!

EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA COASTAL WATERS FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
414 PM EDT FRI JUL 22 2005

SOUTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 10 KNOTS. SEAS 2 TO 3 FEET.
INTRACOASTAL WATERS A LIGHT CHOP. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE DAY.

Let's see if this changes later in the day - hope not.

There's a Tropical storm out there, hard to believe that it wont have an affect on our trip.

EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA COASTAL WATERS FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
431 AM EDT FRI JUL 22 2005

Saturday:

Southwest winds 5 knots becoming onshore 5 to 10 knots in the afternoon. Seas 3 feet mainly in an east swell. Intracoastal waters a light chop. Scattered showers and thunderstorms.

Fishing trip this weekend...

Fishing trip planned for this weekend. Hopefully this one wont get cancelled. So far everything looks good. We have a tropical depression out in the Atlantic, but it looks like it will pretty far away from us. We’re heading out of Ponce Inlet around 50 miles I think… They told me to check out the 20 mile buoy forecast to see what the weather and seas will be. Looks like 2 to 3. if that’s correct, we should have an awesome day. Hopefully I’ll have lots of pictures to post on Sunday or Monday.

Tom Cruise kills Oprah!

tom cruise.mov

BCBR 1992?

Looking through old pictures last night. I only have two BCBR pics of live stuff. This is from the Afghan Whigs show at the Beach Club, I think... Oh, and our singer does have two arms.

From left: Joe Fitzpatrick, Joe Turse, Me, John Citrone.

eat mowing wash clean

Loads of fun this weekend. Cut the grass on Saturday. What a pain in the ass. Very wet and high. I didn't get started until 11:00 or so. because Chris and I want to an all you can eat breakfast bar, bad idea... Temp in the 90's. I can normally cut the front, and back without stopping. Not this time. I felt like I was going to pass out by the time I reached the back yard. I stopped for about 20 minutes to catch my breath and lower my body temp. That helped a lot, 10 minutes later I was in the same boat... and the temp was climbing. I'm sure we ended up in the upper 90's in the shade. You gotta love Fla!! We finished watching Friday the 13th later that day. It's been so long since I've seen it that I really didn't remember how it ended. Oh, and Kevin Bacon gets it in the throat.

Sunday - we got up eat breakfast, got in our bathing suites and washed the cars with Kaley. We made it fun for her. She didn't want to stop. OK the car is really clean Kaley... Made some burgers on the grill, drank a few beers. Miller Lite, nothing fancy this time. Oh, not sure if I blogged about this yet, but I tried the Dogfish Import Ale. Yuk! Not good at all. Had a weird oak smoked & vanilla flavor to it. Way too sweet for me. I drank the whole thing, but forced myself to do it. It did get slightly better as it sat, maybe around 57 degrees. My friend Steve agrees. I’ve had Dogfish before, and it was great. It’s just the Import Ale that I don’t like.

It's Frday

Friday!!

Can’t wait to get the weekend started. No plans or anything just can’t wait to get away from work for a couple of days. We’ve been really busy which is good, but stressful. The one thing that I have to do this weekend is cut the grass. I'ts been two weeks since I cut it last. I can't catch a break from the rain. Everyday in the afternoon, last weekend it rained off and on both days. Needless to say, it's pretty high.

We practiced last night. Started off with the originals, then went through all the covers. Everything sounded great. Things are really coming along. My finger was fine the entire time we were playing. I guess I just needed to work it out, and some of these tunes are pretty challenging, that helps. So I’m guessing it’s not arthritis, maybe tendonitis? It isn’t really bothering me now.

ROCK STAR: INXS
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/rock_star/

Has anyone seen this crap yet? What a freaking joke!! ROCK? These are the people that were too old to get on American Idol. They should just called it POP STAR. And INXS is not a band I think of when I hear the word Rock… do these people really want to be the lead sing for INXS? What has INXS been doing the last 6 years? And what the hell is Dave Navarro doing there? I have lots of questions. You have to be pretty desperate to get out there on national TV and kiss the ass of a washed up band. I’ve been playing and writing music for a long time now, ever since I was a kid. I think I reached a point in my life around the age of 28, where making it big (whatever that may be) was not as important as playing the music you really love… at this stage in the game, there’s no way I would compromise. I’d rather be playing in a warehouse sweating my ass off playing and making music that I love with my friends than play some crap to impress a record co rep. I guess it’s got a lot to do with what kind of music you like. If you like the stuff they’re playing on the radio today, then go for it. Since I hate most popular music, not all of it, but most, I could never get a record contract with a major label without making some big changes to what we’re doing. Enough of that.

NO Shuttle launch

And I was looking forward to it. Not that it had anything to do with it, but you have to wonder why they picked 3:30 for launch time. This is Florida and that it prime time for T storms.

Been emailing back and forth will my friend Billy. He picked up the Guitar, and is almost back to where he was about 10 years ago. Not bad for just a few months of playing. He says that he’s been jamming on old Beatles stuff (not that there’s any new Beatles stuff) and practicing every night. I’m really glad to hear that. He and I grew up together and started playing at the same time. He was good back then, and I’m sure he’ll just get better from here on.

I got a meeting to attend :(

Headphones

You can listen to the entire CD here: http://www.purevolume.com/headphones

I think I like this... No Guitars :( all synth with live drums... but good.

Eggplant rules!

Made some Eggplant parm last night. Came out awesome!! My first time making it. Even the kids liked it... I used the bottled sauce, Prego. I prefer my home made, but don’t have the time to make it. I used the Vigo Italian style bread crumbs with Romano cheese, and fried them in olive oil. So easy to make. I’m going to start posting recipes up here soon, a good way of keeping track of em.

Did some shrimp on the grill on Sunday. The only thing I would do differently is NOT put salt in the marinade… maybe do a little oil and some spices next time.

Been having a hard time playing bass. I think I’m developing Arthritis in my index finger… kind of comes and goes thankfully. I’m going to try lighter strings next time. It makes playing the Rick almost impossible... I’ve been using the Musicman when playing with the band… speaking of the band, I need to get some of last weeks tunes converted to mp3 for Bryan. We want to try recording ideas at practice then I would email the recordings to the others so we can at least hear them during the week, and try to work them out in our heads. But this requires me to do a little extra work…I keep forgetting to do it.

The St Bernardus Experience

I figured out why the monk on the bottle looks so happy. HE’S SMASHED OUT OF HIS FUCKING MIND!! This stuff will mess you up for real. There was a review I read somewhere warning you to set a side a few hours if you’re planning on trying this beer. There’s a good reason for that. It really makes you drunk. You’ll end up doing stupid stuff like taking pictures of your beer...

So they say that you should drink it around 52 to 56 degrees. I would say that it was best around 58. When I poured the fist glass, it was around 49, and had a very bitter, alcohol taste to it, but very clean. as it warmed up, the taste was much smoother, and still very clean. I think the clean finish is due to the alcohol content...10% Oh, and The first glass is mostly foam. This happened to Bill also, so I'm assuming that's normal. This beer can also help you get through bad movies, and actually enjoy them. Johnny English was hysterical!! I laughed my ass off!!

I would give it an 8 out of 10. It’s a great experience.

Plans for tonight - lets hear it for the Monks!!

Some St Bernardus and hotdogs... And some Dogfish Import Ale. Not sure about the hotdogs, but I will be drinking some beer. I haven't tried the St Bernardus yet, but my friend Bill says it's awesome. He got it at Big C on University and Dean Rd. They have over 400 imports, and are very knowledgeable.

No Kayaking this weekend due to Dennis. I was supposed to head out to the no motor zone with a friend, but I don't think it's a good idea at this point. They don't expect it to hit us, but it's so large that we will be getting rain and some wind... Some storms could be pretty heavy.

Cheers!!

Good practice again

Finished a song and added a new one. Needs work, but sounds good so far. The covers sounded really good last night. Guess it helps not playing them for a couple of weeks... I'm anxious to play out again. It's been like 5 years or something, at the rate we're going, it will be another 5 years before we do so again. I hope not. I need to be able to find time at home to write, then just organize it at the warehouse with the guys. Gets harder the older I get with all my other responsiblities. Same with the other guys. As long as it remains fun, I'm okay with whatever.

Lots of drinking and food

Went to Robs on Sunday, and Timmy's on Monday. Sunday was great for the kids because of the pool. Had some great pork tenderloin, pulled pork, and shrimp grilled with custom marinades made by Rob and Eric. They did a fantastic job... Oh, and lots of beer and stuff. Tracy drove Dave, the kids and I there and back (good thing) Dave had to leave his car at my place, and have someone pick him up:)

Went to Timmy's the next night for more of the same. Food, drinking, and fireworks. mostly Burgers and Dogs, but good. Amazing fireworks, like $1400 worth of stuff. Both my kids still have their fingers. No major casualties unless something happened after we left, very possible. It rained for a little bit, one cop showed up but never got out of the car.

No work til Tuesday!!

I’m off today, Saturday, Sunday and Monday for the 4th.

Tera and I got up this morning and went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, then Wekiva Springs State Park. The water was very high with all the rain we’ve been getting. It was freezing too... After swimming, we walked down a few trails, didn’t see much wildlife, but it was nice anyway. Beautiful park, and only a 10 minute drive from our house.

Big weekend planned, at least Sunday and Monday. Sunday, a friend of mine is having a pool party \ barbeque. Most of the band should be there. Then Monday my nephew Timmy is having a cookout \ fireworks display. Should be pretty fun. I hope Tracy’s back holds up, she’s been having serious spasms in her lower back, but the Dr thinks that it’s all muscular and not due to the bulging disk. That’s good news. oh and Saturday, mow the yard...

Weekend

We actually had a baby sitter for Saturday night, so Tracy and I took advantage and went out for the night. We headed down the HOB Orlando for dinner and whatever. The food there is really, really good. I had a burger, and Tracy had a Pizza of all things, both were amazingly good. And the price wasn’t too bad either. With drinks we got out of there for under $40. I wanted to try to see a show while we were there, but it was a punk show of bands I never heard of and all teenagers waiting to get in... Guess I’m getting old. And unfortunately, when I hear punk rock these days, I think of Green Day, Sum 41?, and Blink 182. Not Punk, more like Pop… or are the two the same these days? Anyway we ended up walking around for a while then heading home. The next day we went to pick up the kids at their Grandparents house, went swimming, cooked some stuff on the grill. The kids had a blast in the pool. And they went to see a movie (Madagascar) the night before so they couldn't complain, but they did anyway... spoiled.

Later that day, I decided I needed another grill, and bought a charcoal one this time. Real cheap, under $20, I’m sure will last many years or months for that price. Took forever to assemble… It was a project that was fun for the whole family, and the kids did help. The Chicken came out awesome, real smoky flavor. Then we let the kids roast Marshmallows when we were finished with dinner. I learned that you really need to keep an eye on the Marshmallows, or the kids will just start eating them out of the bag. Kaley could have potentially eaten 10 or more. All that sugar is a bad thing when it gets to be bed time. Overall, a pretty good weekend.

CD from Geoff came in the mail

Judas Priest
Lamb of God
Love Battery
Mark Sandman
Motorhead
Mudhoney
PJ Havey
Strapping Young Lad
Supersuckers
The Mooney Suzuki

Can only play them in ITunes though, all MPEG-4, but that's okay. I need to mess around with it a little more. Got through one of the Supersuckers, great title: Motherfuckers Be Trippin' and some of the Motorhead. Good stuff. Thanks man!!

Last night

We went to Bayridge Sushi in Longwood last night before seeing the movie. Bill and Chris got the all you can eat deal for $20. I got the Maki Combo $10. It comes with California roll, tuna roll, and spicy tuna roll I think, anyway it’s plenty of food. I wish I would have gotten the all you can eat for the variety if anything. Some of the stuff Chris, and Bill got looked really good. They said the eel was awesome… We drink a Kirin and a Sapporo both good the Sapporo was better. Not a bad price, and the place was pretty nice inside. This place used to be a Fazoli's back in the day, the bathroom is still painted the colors of the Italian flag.

The movie: Not sure really what to say about it. I think I need to see it again, and not sit so close to the screen, we were in the like the 5th row or something. It seems like they tried to cram a lot of stuff into two hours. There were some great action scenes, and special effects. It was much darker than the previous Batman movies, and true to the comic book, not sure of the League of Shadows part though. I don’t remember that from the books, but it has been a long time since I’ve read them. Overall it was a good movie. The next one should be better now that they got origins stuff out of the way.

Sushi then Batman

Bill, Chris and I are going out after work to dinner, then going to see the new Batman movie. We're still undecided on where to eat, so far Sushi is winning, but due to diets and stuff, we may need to do something else instead. Right now I’m Listening to Gov't Mule – Dose. What a great CD, I think this may be in my top 10 of all time.

While I’m on the subject:

GOV'T MULE @ JONES BEACH PRE-SALE
Gov't Mule will be playing with Trey Anastasio @ Jones Beach on Saturday August 6th. Tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster on Saturday, June 25th, but you can get first shot at great seats on Monday June 20th at 10AM through http://www.muleticketing.musictoday.com

We’re going to be doing a cover of a song off Dose called Larger than Life. Matt really liked this song, and asked that we learn it. Pretty easy song, but fun to play as all of their stuff is. I really want to get these originals down though more than anything.

I sure jump around a lot.

House pics

Here are some pics of the house that we bought in Altamonte Springs. These pictures were taken when we first moved in. We've done some work to it since then like painting and decorating, but for the most part it not much has changed.

Family room.

Family room \ Dining room

Kitchen

Living room - used by the kids most of the time. We've done a few things to it since taking this picture, I think it looks much nicer now.

Fathers Day

Pretty good day. Started with opening a present from my kids and Wife. They got me a cooler with a built in radio. They made it like a treasure hunt, I had to follow instructions on pieces of paper with clues on where to look next until I got to the place where they were hiding the present. Tracy says that it was Tera’s idea. Should be great for fishing \ beach trips. A very original idea. Tera and I made breakfast, then we let Kaley and her friend play in the slip and slide for a while. Sat around the rest of the day and watched TV. Then we went to Bubbalou's Barbeque on 436 in Altamonte. Horrible! I've had it before when they catered a work event and it was bad then, but everyone kept telling me that it's much better when you eat there. They were wrong. Tracy got sick from it... The meat is way too smokey, and the fries are way too salty. The kids liked it because there was a toy train running though the place, the tracks are on the ceiling. It kept Kaley entertained. And the got free snow-cones. We went home after that, I drink a beer, and feel a sleep watching the NBA finals game 5. San Antonio won in overtime! Good game and a good day overall.

Band practice last night

We got so much accomplished last night at practice. We got 3 songs pretty much done, and stated a new one. Bryan couldn’t make it so no drums, but that was alright, it gave us a chance to sit down and really take our time mapping parts out and working on transitions. We’re kind of heading in the direction of blues rock metal band. Nothing wrong with that… I played some of the High on Fire stuff for Matt and Eric when we were finishing up. They thought it was awesome. Eric said that he read good things about the guitarist before. (who actually plays solos) The Face of Oblivion is my favorite on Blessed Black Wings. They’re all good songs that one just stands out for some reason.

High On Fire

I was talking to my friend Geoff last night on the phone, and of course we started discussing bands and how the radio is really un-listenable anymore. He told me to check out High on Fire. So I ended up downloading Surrounded By Thieves off Newsgroups. Great stuff and heavy as hell - Melvins meets Neurosis meets Motorhead. I've already listened to Surrounded By Thieves three times. So when I got to work this morning I jumped on ITunes and grabbed Blessed Black Wings. Much better quality recording, and a better record all together.

So Geoff If you read this, excellent recommendation!! And don’t worry about burning me a copy. But I'll take a copy of some of the other stuff you told me about.

HOT AS HELL!!!!

It’s about 90 in my cubicle today. The AC has been broken all week, and it somehow got worse last night. They brought us a fan to make us more comfortable, but it’s not making much of a difference… It’s funny that I’m bitching about being hot and how I shouldn’t have to work in these conditions when I used to do landscaping for a living. In thoses days, I was paid to work conditions that were way worse than this.

Sounds of the Underground

Clutch, Gwar, Lamb of God, and many, many more. Sounds of the Underground Tour
$27.00 on 7-12 at Tinker Field.

You really can’t beat that price. A lot better then the $60 or more that you pay to go to OzzFest, and it's here in Orlando. I'll have to talk some of my friends into going. I haven't been to an outdoor show since OzzFest in '97 for Black Sabbath's first farewell tour...

New Star Wars movie

Visually entertaining, but that's about it. Darth Vader looked stupid. I laughed out loud when they showed him for the fist time... Tracy fell asleep. I can't complain too much, it was free.

Another boycott

After declaring victory over Walt Disney Co., Christian activists are now going after Ford Motor Co. Can’t these people focus their energy on something more important than going after homosexuals? Help the homeless, feed starving children...

Entire story

Star Wars: Episode III tonight!!

Star Wars Episode III tonight!!

My company is taking us all to see Star Wars tonight. Bill T and his Wife are going to meet Tracy and I for Dinner before the show, it starts at 10:00 so we'll have penty of time to grab a bite and chat for a while. Should be fun...

Band and drinking practice last night

Can’t find Busch Light in cans anywhere!!! What the hell is up with that? And the 7-11 by my house doesn’t sell Busch Light at all anymore. I had to drink Bud Light last night instead.

Anyway, kick ass practice last night! Eric showed up with his new baby, a black 2003 Les Pal Standard. Good thing it sounds awesome, it got him into some hot water with the Wife, she didn’t talk to him for a week…She just doesn’t understand, $1300 is a fuckin steal… It has a ding on the body, there’s no reason to fix it, I think it kind of gives it character.

We started off with a few covers, then worked on one of the untitled new songs. I really like what we did with it, it seemed like it was going nowhere until last night. We changed the verse to make it less busy, and added a long jam at the end for Eric to solo over. Bryan and I did some really cool off-beat (Drums and Bass) crazy stuff to it. Thankfully, I had the 8 track recorder with me, and was able to record everything we did. I can’t wait to listen to it. I have to figure out a way to get this stuff off the recorder and on the computer so I can burn it.

Another cool thing that happened was that Roger from the other band (Suburban Lockdown) threw out the other two bands that practice there. So now we SHOULD have plenty of room, it’s so tight in there now, you can barley move without knocking something over. Rent is going up $10 a month per person, but it’s worth it.

Run for your lives!! I hope this isn't true.

World record Catfish - Good Eating?

Mississippi river Fish fry

Yes it true, our beloved world record Catfish has died at age 30. I wonder if they'll eat him. Why souldn't they. He would have wanted it that way... I'm sure of it.

World record Catfish

Man pulls in a 124 pound Blue Catfish from the Mississippi River. They kept it alive and will be on display at the Cabela's Outfitter store in Kansas City, Kan

Christian group ends Disney boycott

Victory!!

A Christian group ended a 9 year boycott of Walt Disney Co. They claim that they have too many other issues to deal with. They didn't mention what these other issues are, but I imagine they probably have something to do with Witches, Homosexuals and Heavy Metal music. You know, real important stuff.

Even though Disney has reported higher earnings since the boycott, the nation's largest Protestant denomination says that they will declare a victory and move on.

Guitar lessons

I started giving my oldest Daughter guitar lessons about two years ago, but it was pretty difficult because her fingers were so short. She couldn't play most of the major chords so I ended up teaching her Iron Man and Smoke on the Water on one string, just to get her interested. So now she's 10, and I decided it was time to pick it back up again. I taught her the G and D chords and had her practice changing between the two over and over last night. She's did well. Tonight I'll show her a couple more chords and a major scale.

Priests and weirdo’s

Tracy and I went to the beach on Thursday. Nice day but, no fish again. I had quite a few bites though. Anyway, I was hanging out down by the shore watching my line, and an Asia guy comes walking up to me. He asked me if I was an expert fisherman, I lied and said yes. I gave him a few pointers on surf fishing. He then returned back to the people he was with. I noticed that the other two guys he was with were not his age, and not Asian. Weird combination of people. So he came up to me again later in the day to ask if I caught anything, and started asking me questions like where are you from, do you have kids, how many, are you married. So, I finally asked him where he was from and why he was here. He’s from Virginia, and he’s here for a conference. What kind of conference? Technology? No, a Priest conference that the Catholic Church was holding. All three of them are Priests and he’s been one for almost 30 years. He was actually a pretty nice guy.

Later that day, a toothless guy and his toothless wife come walking down the beach. They were the type of people that you look at and say “God love em” Now Tracy and I are both sitting on the sand near the surf. (Tracy was trying to dig a hole to China...I have pictures) They stop and started talking to us about the fishing and how it’s been really bad today blah blah blah... Before leaving the guy says that he’s been taking pictures of couples on the beach and wants to know if he can take our picture. I didn’t have much time to really think about it, so I said sure. After they left Tracy says “he’s probably go home and jerk off to the pictures” Now I wish I would have said no. Oh well.

The Mummies

The Mummies!! Kings of Budget Rock...
They've been around forever, pretty good stuff. Very raw sounding old school rock and rock\punk. I dont think they're a band anymore as their web site reads:

The Mummies were a stupid band.
This is their stupid Website.
You cared about them enough to get this far.
Now you are stupid too.
That's the Mummies' curse.

The Mummies

Cracker Barrel & Beach

I keep forgetting to post this. Past weekend activities.

Friday the 13th - I don’t remember anything about Friday. I’m sure I drank a few beers and sat on the porch.

Saturday- Painted one of the kids rooms, not fun, and had a Barbeque. Dave, Tracy, and I cooked out and drank beer on the porch. Chicken wings and grilled veggies. Very good. Then we watched Alien Planet on HD Discovery.

Sunday – Cracker Barrel, and Beach. There’s something I can’t figure out about Cracker Barrel, why does everyone in Cracker Barrel look like a red neck? Is it the décor or does Cracker Barrel attract red necks. A bit of both probably. After that we went to Canaveral National Seashore. Caught a couple of Whiting (fish), drank a few beers, played with the kids on the beach. We had a pretty good day overall. We didn’t get to go to the Sea Harvest for grouper sandwiches this time, that sucks but we’re going back there on Thursday, just Tracy and I. Maybe we’ll go then.

Having problems with Xupiter

I replaced my Google link with a Xupiter link, but there seems to be a problem with Xupiter today. I'll need to place a call to tech support, but I dont exepect to hear back from them anytime soon. We're still waiting to hear back form them on a question we had for them 3 years ago. So if you need to search for something you'll need to use google. Thats www.google.com.

Skunk Ape likes wet Lima beans

Skunk Ape story

"We just cracked," said Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy

Yes coach it's time to panic...or strangle someone. Not sure what he's doing in this pic, but either way the Rockets are out.

Rockets Mavs
The margin of victory surpassed the record of 39 set by the Philadelphia Warriors in an 85-46 rout of the St. Louis Bombers in Game Seven of the 1948 league semifinals.

The fourth-seeded Mavericks became only the third team in NBA history to win a best-of-seven series after dropping the first two games at home. They open the Western Conference semifinals at top-seeded Phoenix on Monday.

McGrady scored 27 points
Yao Ming scored 33
Rest of the Rockets scored 16

If McGrady would have had a better game, and we all know that he is capable of scoring way more than 27, they may have at least had a chance. It could have changed the momentum of the game. But their bench is horrible, 16 pionts. I think there are problems when you have a star like McGrady on your team. The rest of the players tend to rely on him too much. That definately happened in Orlando, guys were just waiting for McGrady to do something, and if did if he felt like it.

After the game McGrady said “All of this will make me (ME ME ME) stronger, and I love it, every bit of it because I will have the last laugh." Shut up!! I'm glad he's gone.

My Guitars

Frankenbass: Being re-built. It needs a new pickgard, and the electronics need to be re-wired. Other than that, it still plays. This was used mostly during the Black Cats & Bottle Rockets days, and in the begining of W.Breakneck. Lots of fake blood was just recently cleaned off from a Kiss tribute show at Wills on Mills six or more years ago. Dale filled in for me because I was out of town. He was Gene... I used this one when we played the side stage at Lollapalooza 1992. We played with the Genitortures and a bunch of other acts that I cant remember. One of the guys in the Genitorturers was arrested after the show for indecent exposure. He was getting soemthing pierced. YOWCH! Fond memories. I think that was the last Lollapalooza in Orlando, but I may be wrong.

Yamaha Acoustic: I didnt have an acoustic so I took a ride up to Sam Ash on Lee rd, and picked this one up. Played better than all the others in that price range. It sounds great, plays nice, but the intonation is a little off. Not too bad.

Squier Strat: This is a great guitar. In my opinion, it plays just like the real thing. I think that they may have made them better in the early 80's. I got this off of a friend of mine. I traded a Fretless Carvin for it. I think I got the better deal. My Dog Cleo took a nice little bite out of the headstock, I could have killed her, but it doesnt sound any worse from it.

Musicman Stingray Bass: Got this one when Frakenbass started taking a shit. I really needed something that was reliable. We (W.Breakneck) were playing as many as 4 nights a week out sometimes, with some pretty decent shows. So I went to the guitar store and played everything you can think of, and ended up with this one. I wanted a black one, but they didn’t have one in stock, so I went with the red one since I couldn’t wait for them to ship me a black one. It's been pretty good to me so far, a few minor issues with the input jack. But nothing major.

'78 Rickenbacker Bass: What a deal! Got this one off EBay for $690.00. I always wanted one of these, growing up I used to idolize Getty Lee and Chris Squire, though Geezer was my favorite. The tone is like no other, very easy to play. The only problem is the binding on the body, it cuts into your arm, that sounds worse than it actually is. I haven't gotten the opportunity to play this one on stage yet. Soon though if we get our act together. We will.

? Late 80's. Frankenbass...

Yamaha acoustic. Not bad for the price.

Dog mauling late 90's

Early 80's Squier Strat

2000 Musicman Stingray Bass

1978 Rickenbacker Bass

Tom Waits - Blood Money. Great gift idea for Mom on Mothers Day...

I love re-discovering good music. I bought this a few years back, and lost it for a year or so. Bill T burned me a copy...thanks Bill!! This is Tom Waits best record in my opinion. He released two in the same year. The other was Alice. Good, but not as good as Blood Money.

Manitoba Bigfoot video teaser

This is really poor quality. Horrible. I am pretty disappointed. This is only 49 seconds of the video that was taken. I hope the other 2 minutes that they didn’t show is better. A Current Affair is launching a search for the Bigfoot. They have one of the shows producers, the ex-singer for the Runaways named Jailbait, and some Bigfoot nut going after it. It's actually comical. Cant wait to see that footage.

Here's the clip from A Current Affair:

Bigfoot Teaser

A Current Affair purchased Bigfoot video

A Current Affair aired the Manitoba Bigfoot video last night. And I missed it!! They will be posting the video to their web site today.
http://www.acurrentaffair.com

It's not there yet, I'm sure they'll take their time posting it. Bastards!!

Mavs vs Rockets

haha!!

Not sure why I want T-Mac to fail this year, I guess it's because the Magic did so poorly at the end of the season. He was quoted as saying "look where they are and look where I am" when asked about the Magic last week. That was when his team was up 2-0 in the series. Now they're down 3-2. How did that happen.

If the Mavs win the series they will be only the 3rd team to recover from a 2-0 deficit. The '69 Lakers and the '94 Rockets are the only two teams so far to do this. I hope the Mavericks join them…

Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy was fined $100.000 Monday for accusing officials of targeting Yao Ming and refusing to tell the league which official was his source. And he may be banned forever from the NBA after this season. Wow, this is a pretty exiting series. Game 6 is Thursday night in Houston.

Alleged sasquatch footage reportedly sold to U.S. TV

Norway House, Man. -- Relatives say a ferry operator has sold a U.S. television show his video footage of a large, dark figure that some are describing as a sasquatch.

Langford Saunders, the uncle of videographer Bobby Clarke, said yesterday there were multiple offers for the two-minute, 49-second tape, but Mr. Clarke and his family chose to deal with people who were sincere and would not embarrass the community.

On April 16, Mr. Clarke was operating an automobile ferry on the Nelson River, about 40 kilometres outside of Nelson House, when he claimed to have seen a dark figure walking upright on the riverbank.

Mr. Clarke said he grabbed his camcorder and recorded the figure looking directly at him, then turning around and heading back into the bush. Relatives said the creature was at least 2½ metres tall.

Bigfoot exists!! This is the real deal

My friend Dave just sent me this link. There's a 2 minute video of Bigfoot walking around near a river in Canada.

http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0419rrbigfoot19-ON.html

Good practice last night

We got a lot accomplished. I wish we could practice twice a week instead, but this is better than nothing. We’re doing a cover of a song called Sin’s a good man’s brother. We learned the Monster Magnet version, but it’s actually a Grand Funk Railroad song. The big problem is the ending of the song, it just didn’t do it for me. So we ended up changing it a little by adding an additional Guitar solo at the end and wrote our own parts for it. It sounds way better this way.

We also worked on a new song. We got the pattern down, we just need to add at least one more part to it. We recorded it with just music so Matt can work on the vocals at home. We’re looking at resurrecting some of our older stuff. Some of the old stuff is still good, it may need some tweaking, but that’s easy enough to do.

Song list so far:

Bunker
Sin’s a good man’s brother
Profits of Doom
Behind the wall of sleep
New song (no name yet)
Old song (not sure what we’ll call it, needs some lyrics)

And we need a band name. This is going to be Matt’s job since he’s the singer of the band. I’m sure he’ll think of something cool…

True story – this is not made up, I swear!!

Dave asked if he could go to band practice with me last week, so of course it was okay by me. So he drove to my house, and we both rode together. So anyway, we’re driving down 434 in Longwood, and I said to Dave LOOK, that’s where Bill lives, pointing to the apartments that Bill is staying at, and then Dave says Hey, isn’t that Bill and Eva right there. And there they were pulling out of the driveway on to 434!! And of course I didn’t have a camera with me to prove this, but I swear it’s true.

Beatles Anthology DVD - old but new to me...

Trio jamming

When we were staying with John and Michelle (while house hunting), I bought The Beatles Anthology DVD box set. It’s 10 hours of Beatles footage on 4 DVD’s, and a bonus DVD that’s 81 minutes of mostly never seen before footage. Very cool…only for the hardcore Beatles freaks though. Others may just find it a bit long.

It was great watching the Beatles play shows in shitty little clubs in Liverpool when they were first starting off. I think one of the places was called the Cave. And my Wife liked their boots. Anyway, John and I watched 1 DVD a night until we were done. We both agreed that this is the most comprehensive Beatles documentary that we’ve seen (it being 4 DVD’s and all)The remaining Beatles actually get together for two more songs. The whole thing is captured on film. They even show then jamming on some stuff in between recording (old non-Beatles tunes) and some footage of them on the lawn with acoustics and a Ukulele.

Things they don’t talk about:
John and Paul’s bad relationship (made it seem like it really wasn’t so bad)
Paul is dead (nothing at all mentioned…Hmmm, I wonder?)

Things they do talk about:
John’s quote “the Beatles are bigger than Jesus” not exactly something you wanted to say back in the 60’s. And the redneck burned all their records.
Drug use
Almost getting killed in the Philippines.

There's a lot of concert footage, even a few song from Let it Be in the rooftop. I wish they showed more of that since there's not a lot of live stuff from that time in the Beatles career.

Things I learned:
John was not the serious artist type (all of the time) He was actually a pretty goofy guy most of the time.
Ringo was and still is a great drummer and will out live all of them.
George was the most level headed of the bunch.
George didn’t like Sergeant Peppers
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds doesn’t stand for LSD. Or so they say.
Paul was the best musician in the band, but seems very into himself. He does seem like a very nice person, maybe even approachable. I guess it's hard to not have a huge ego when you take who he is into consideration. One of the greatest songwriters in the history of Rock n Roll.

The Beatles were way better as a band than they were as solo artists. Even though McCartney and Lennon actually wrote by themselves and not as a team, there was chemistry between the band that just wasn’t there in the solo stuff. It was way too polished. They certainly complimented each other better than any of these studio guys that they hired ever could.

Beatles

Magic vs Bulls

Bulls rookie Andres Nocioni collides Magic guard Jameer Nelsons Penis in Wednesday's game at the TD Waterhouse Centre.

been a long time

I haven't had much time to post anything. I've been so busy at home and work...