Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Ouch.

Did the 10.6 mile marathon walk again 2 days ago, with very little training, and am suffering the consequences thereof. Somebody please remind me, next year, to do some actual training??

Worthy of comment is that while milling about the parking lot of Rocky Point Restaurant, before the walk began, I saw a familiar face, checked the name tag, and accosted the wearer. He was my first college band director from 35 years ago, and when I told him my name, he professed to remember me, though I couldn't swear to it. I asked how he was doing, and he said, "No better than I deserve!" with a great big cheerful grin. He was doing the walk with his wife and one of his daughters (and the last time I saw the daughter, she was in junior high, I think).

At least two regular readers of this blog will know who I am talking about. He's in his upper 70s now, and must be in pretty good shape if he was going to attempt the walk.


Wednesday, April 22, 2009

And Furthermore...

... I wonder how many of the same people who are screaming nowadays that gays MUST be allowed to marry, it's their RIGHT, don't you know...

... were the same people screaming 35 and 40 years ago that marriage meant nothing, it was just a piece of paper....

Just curious.


Happy Day

Today, according to my calendar, is Earth Day.

(Somehow I don't believe the earth actually cares.)

One of my calendars also says that today is Administrative Professionals Day.

(I liked it better when it was Secretaries' Day and the boss sent flowers.)

And last but not least... if my memory has not completely abandoned me (and that's not outside the realm of possibility)...

... today is also faithful reader and frequent commenter Bum's birthday. Happy birthday, old friend.


Monday, April 13, 2009

Speaking Of Glowsticks...

... I was, wasn't I?

Here is what it looked like from the 9th row in Reno during the traditional glowstick-waving portion of the show. (It's for the song "The Other Side Of Life" for those of you uninitiated out there.)



Unrelated to glowsticks, here is a shot of flutician/tambourine player/backup singer/harmonica player/rhythm guitar player Norda spanking Graeme as he begins his infamous dance to "Higher and Higher."


Saturday, April 11, 2009

THIS Is What Is Wrong With Healthcare In America.

Read it and weep.


Friday, April 10, 2009

I Never Knew.

That cheetahs have rounded pupils, not slits like other cats.



(Image shamelessly hotlinked from Cheetah Days. Go check out this blog if you haven't already.)


Thursday, April 9, 2009

I Wasn't Kidding.



During the standing ovation for "Nights in White Satin," right at 7 minutes 14 seconds you can see a whitish object fly briefly into the lower right part of the frame. At 7:30 John kicks it away. Check out his facial expression right about 7:17. (Video courtesy of Melani.) Not caught on video is the part where the owner of the questionably-laundered undergarment hollered at John, "Well, if you don't want it, can I have it back?" He ignored her; and after the concert, she boosted herself up onto the stage and retrieved it.

Not to be outdone, according to the folks who attended the last concert of the brief tour, in Santa Rosa, 4 nights after the Oakland concert, another woman paraded down the aisle to the front, lifted her top, and flashed the band. Then she did a slow pirouette and flashed the entire audience. According to one witness, she had quite substantial, um, headlights. It happened during "I Know You're Out There Somewhere," and according to what I have been told, it took some time for the security guard to come and escort the woman back to her seat. After the song, Justin announced that that sort of thing used to happen all the time back in the 60s and 70s.


An Interesting Thought...

In my copious spare time (the last five minutes or so) I researched the topic of miscegenation. (Yes, that's a ten-dollar word. So sue me. And look it up yourself. Do I look like a dictionary?)

And I got to wondering whether the same people (or rather, the same political party) who agitated most in favor of anti-miscegenation laws in our nation's history could possibly be of the same political party or persuasion that agitates the most in favor of same-sex marriage?

Well... the three or so US legislators mentioned in the above Wikipedia article, who proposed very tough anti-miscegenation laws in generations past, were all. . . .

Wait for it . . .

Democrats.

We report, you decide.


Sunday, April 5, 2009

2 Days, 2 Concerts, 700 Miles

Drove to Half Moon Bay Friday afternoon, picked up Denise at her friend's house, and we headed on up to Emeryville and checked into the hotel. Found our way to the downtown restaurant where we met up with Carol and Peter for dinner. Then, over to the newly-restored Fox Theater in downtown Oakland.

Fantastic concert, with a couple of glitches, which is unusual. Gordy started the countdown for "Tuesday Afternoon" before Justin was ready, so the first bar of the mellotron (computerized, of course) tune is minus the guitar. Then, in the second half, about halfway into the first verse of "Nights in White Satin," Justin's amplifier box just died, so he stopped cold, unplugged it, said something into the microphone about how you can do it without a tambourine, but.... Meanwhile a roadie was scrambling around plugging in a new box, which Justin stuffed into his back pocket, stepped back up to the microphone and said, "Might as well do it right," and restarted the song. Also in the second half, one woman started the traditional "stage rush" a little too early--and tossed her bra onstage at John. John got an extremely dubious look on his face, gingerly hooked the bra on his toe, and kicked it away. After the concert the woman climbed up on the stage and retrieved it.

Saturday morning after breakfast, we took off for Reno. Originally Denise had not planned to go, but due to a whole series of complicated events (and the fact that I had an extra ticket to that show because my sister wasn't able to come with me after all) she decided to come with me. We stopped at an overlook near Donner Lake to take pictures. At the summit, there was still some old snow by the side of the road, but the freeway was perfectly clear.

In Reno, we got checked into our hotel and kicked back to relax for a bit. I decided to head on over to the casino for the fan gathering organized by Cheryl, and met up with those folks for a bit. Then Pam and I headed to the food court in search of a bowl of soup, which we were fortunate enough to find. As soon as we sat down, Janet called from Texas just to say hello and wish us a happy concert.

We headed downstairs to the showroom, found our seats, and started passing out glowsticks. Casino shows often run straight through without an intermission, so it's necessary to pass out the glowsticks before the show, instead of at intermission. We had a pretty good showing with the sticks for "The Other Side Of Life." Another fantastic show, except somewhere fairly early on, something apparently went wrong with Justin's red Gibson guitar, and he played the rest of the show with a different one that I hadn't seen before. Good thing he carries a backup....

After the show, Denise put a dollar in a slot machine on the way out. Let's just say she didn't come away from that encounter any richer.

This morning, we headed back down the mountain, and got across the valley and through the bay area without running into any traffic jams at all. After depositing her safely back at her friend's house in Half Moon Bay, I blew the rest of the way down the coast, got home about 4:00, and crashed.

And now I'm going right back to bed.

As you were.


Thursday, April 2, 2009

Was There Any Doubt?

Those of you who haven't been hiding under a rock will know that the best band in the world, the Moody Blues, are in the midst of a brief spring tour right now.

I am headed out tomorrow to catch a couple of the shows; back Sunday night, assuming all goes according to plan.



Image compiled by Summerfields, shamelessly borrowed/stolen from the best Moody Blues fan site on the net, but since one of the images in the montage is one of mine, I feel justified. :)


 
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