As is wont of so many movies these days, the film Sherlock Holmes – starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law – is a physical take on an old theme. At least that is what the trailer is displaying at this moment.
I find it odd that one of the more classic and noted intellectuals of literary work has now become a brawling less thinking more ordinary hero in the hands of Guy Ritchie. I suppose that in this “revisioning” of the character is targeted to the Hollywood mentality that explosions beat thought. Or they just want to draw more younger fans that have never seen a movie based on this character let alone ever read a book about him.
My questions about the film all lie in the depiction the trailer presents and Guy Ritchie. They seem to be emphasizing the many notable flaws that Sherlock Holmes certainly has, and downplaying the deductive reasoning that made the character a master detective. Which is a real letdown.
Of course I have to mention that the accent by Robert Downey Jr. appears to be less than convincing, which is a surprise. In the past Sherlock has always had the distinctive British accent one would expect from an Englishman. But Downey is very American, and his accent betrays a weakness in the portrayal. I would hope it was just that the scenes selected were less important and not a complete picture of the accent employed. Not that many scenes in the movie trailer are speaking scenes.
Guy Ritchie tends to focus on the physical in his movies. He likes the ferocity of combat, and the motion of chaos as I have observed (which is hardly a complete vision of all his films). Thus I expect that much of what makes Holmes indelible will be lost due to no fault of the actors. How modern movie audiences will react is hard to say.
This is a period piece film. Yet the movie trailer flows more like a Dark Knight video clip than you would imagine. You can almost feel a Batmobile ready to pop out of a street corner.
I am comparing this a lot to the latest Batman revisioning. Not because I dislike the Christian Bale version (other than the Joker) but because it too generally ignores the deductive though and detective work (basically all the thinking of the character), replacing them with action. It works well, and audiences like it, but that does not mean that the character is being given the full depth it can have.
Thus I see Sherlock Holmes in a similar manner under the guidance of Ritchie. Bravado and flash, daring do vs. understanding of the situation. It can work well, and be a good film. But somehow I see Law and Downey being under used for such a film.
This is of course the first trailers for the film. This is a tease and as such we cannot be really sure what the actual film will comprise. But we can be sure there is a bit of titillation for the ladies, and action for the guys. Lots of on location scenes, and a bit of the classic British flare. But will there be a mind to the film, a piece of the soul found in the books? Maybe the next set of trailers will tell.
So until we can see more, I think this will be a decent film. I think it will do well in the box office. It will be worth the time spent in the theater, and for many that’s all that matter in the end.
Recently a friend of mine, Zachary Majka (part of my APA 8-ball team and going to the Las Vegas Nationals with me), was able to have an experience that many golfers only dream of having. He was able to play in a Pro/Am golf tournament. This Pro-Am was the Dick’s Open Tournament at En-Joie Golf Course in Endicott, NY on June 25, 2009. I was able to get him to share a few questions about the experience.
Michael Vass: Tell us a little about you.
Zarchary Majka: I am 25 years old, married for 10 months now with a new house and 2 dogs. I have been golfing for about 8 years now and I love the game. I play in a league on Monday nights and also try to get out for another round during the week if time permits. I really can’t play enough. I have one saying that sums it up
“Born to golf forced to work, so many courses so little time.”
Michael Vass: How did you get to enter the Dick’s Pro-Am Tournament?
Zarchary Majka: My employer was a sponsor in the Dick’s Open Tournament and because of that they had an appreciation tournament for all sponsors. At that tournament they have a dinner and they randomly pick 8 players to play in the Pro-Am. I was the 8th player picked!!!!
Michael Vass: What handicap are you?
Zarchary Majka: My handicap was 17 for the Pro-Am
Michael Vass: How many days were you able to play?
Zarchary Majka: I played 1 of the days. Thursday June 25th 8am
Michael Vass: Who were you playing with?
Zarchary Majka: The Champions Tour Pro that I played with was Lonnie Nielsen
Michael Vass: How was the course?
Zarchary Majka: The course was in impeccable shape, thick rough, fast greens and lush fairways.
Michael Vass: Any difference from playing the course when the Pro’s aren’t there?
Zarchary Majka: I have played the course a few times when it wasn’t prepared for the Open and yes, I most definitely see a difference in the grooming.
Michael Vass: What was it like to play with the pro?
Zarchary Majka: At first I was very nervous and scared that I would play bad. But playing with a pro was amazing. Lonnie made me feel at ease and gave helping advice when needed.
Michael Vass: Did you learn any tips, what kind of person was he, how was the caddy, ect.
Zarchary Majka: I was hitting the ball to the left often (slicing) and I asked him why am I doing that? He explained why and gave me a tip on how to hit the ball more straight on a consistent basis.
He said that I needed to bring my hips through before I make contact with the ball, and I am happy to say that he was right. It works because I did it at my golf league on Monday night.
Lonnie’s caddy, Gipsy, was a funny short big bellied Italian who loved to talk and was very helpful with his reading of the greens and giving the distances of shots from the fairways, sand and/or woods occasionally.
Michael Vass: How did you score?
Zarchary Majka: In the Pro-Am our team shot 13 under and was tied for 9th place.
Michael Vass: What is it like for a normal person to have a crowd around you?
Zarchary Majka: It was very different that just playing in league or going out with your friends. It gave me a new appreciation for the pros on what they mentally have to deal with, and deal with it they do!!
Michael Vass: How did your pro ultimately do?
Zarchary Majka: Well its funny you ask because he went on to not only win the 2009 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open but he did it with the lowest 3 round score on the Champions Tour (this year or in history not sure). He shot a 21 under.
[For the record it was a 195 3-day total for the win, beating Fred Funk by 3. The record was for the 3 year Pro-Am at En-Joie. In addition Neilsen’s 63 was the lowest final round score for a winner on the Champion’s Tour this year.]
Michael Vass: Anything else you would like to share with us regular duffers about the experience?
Zarchary Majka: It was just amazing and something that will be with me forever, an experience of a lifetime!!
There is no question that video games are the wave of the future. The industry has steadily moved to become one of the leading forms of entertainment, and massively multiplayer online games have a firm grip in forging that path. But what will the future bring?
That is the question posed in the upcoming film Gamer. This is basically a revised mix of the Running Man and Death Race (or Death Race 2000 if you are younger and did not see the original).
From the trailer we are sure of a couple of things. First is the fact that there will be enough explosions for any action movie or video game fan. Based on the reaction to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that should be enough to garner $100 million in the box office.
Of course there is a lose plot to the movie. The lead is Kable (Gerard Butler) who is most likely a wrongly convicted criminal (aren’t they always) who is brought into the game – called Slayer – to draw attention. It is highly likely that Kable has a wife and child, is a former military hero of some distinction, and is never supposed to see freedom again.
Somehow the convicts are implanted with devices that allows a gameplayer to takeover the body of the convict and control how they act, with some input from the convict direct to the player. This is all televised as well. Does this sound familiar?
Inevitably Kable is helped along in the game by Freek (John Leguizamo – been a while since he was in a major movie), and in trying to escape the corrupt system by Ludacris (don’t know his character’s name – though he seems to be trying to evade his rap image by going under his real name in the credits). Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall of Dexter fame) is of course the corrupt mastermind of the game and intent on ensuring that no one ever reaches the 30 wins that will free them of the game and prison. [I know we have heard this all before]
Keith David and Kyra Sedgwick both have small roles in the film as well. Don’t expect to see much of them though.
I think you can figure out the whole movie, because we have seen it before. It may well be too much to ask for a surprise ending, or a reasonable plot twist. But that does not mean the film cannot be worth the money.
The director of the film is Mark Neveldine. The name may not be familiar to everyone, but if you liked Crank and/or Crank: High Voltage then you have seen his work. Thus in this film you can expect lots of explosions, plenty of fast moving cut scenes, more than a few fist fights, and 5 minutes of slow moving plot to tie up the big questions. Neveldine is also the writer of this film as well as the Crank movies, so the plot will be basically flowing.
This looks like a decent big budget popcorn film. No Oscars of course, but still engaging enough for the likely 90 minutes it will run. The big question to this film is can it do the story we all know, with enough new scenes and explosions to draw the 18 – 35 video gamers they are targeting? Another question I wonder about is will the use of a rapper drag down the film, as they normally do, or has Chris Bridges (Ludacris) taken enough acting lessons to have his bit role justify the time he will be on screen?
Ultimately the answers will come in September when this film is slated to open.
Well I’m still looking for the jobs that the Obama Administration claimed to have “saved or created” since the Democrat-led Congress passed the $787 billion Economic Stimulus Plan early this year. You do recall that plan right?
Yes, President Obama was on a bandwagon then. Telling the nation how well his economic policies have been helping the average American. A soapbox that he jumped off of just in time to switch to trying to pass his healthcare plan. You might wonder why he has switched gears. The answer is the following data just out.
Does that sound like a plan that is working? Does it in any way sound like the average worker is more secure now or less so? Are you willing to spend more money in this economic environment or less?
In fact, these numbers place my observation about how the Obama Stimulus money is hurting some families right now as severely under-estimated.
Keep in mind that IF you are RECEIVING a paycheck you are getting the stimulus money right now. No check from the Government, but an extra $25 off of your taxes. So the stimulus is in effect right now. And you can see how this is improving the nation. With forecasts from even the most lenient economists stating that the unemployment levels will hit at least 10%, perhaps as high as 11%, going into 2010. So it will only get worse for many people across the nation, not better.
But President Obama PROMISED that his plans for the economy and budget would save jobs – some 3 million of them. He also promised that immediate action upon passing the Stimulus package – which won’t mostly go into effect until the 2nd quarter or so of 2010. Lightning fast.
I bring all this up because President Obama has hustled the nation from one economic crisis to another, with Congress cheerleading the whole way. There was the $410 billion to keep the Government funded, and the $3.5 trillion for his budget - all separate and not including the $787 billion stimulus package. These included over 9,000 earmarks – something President Obama PROMISED to remove if elected. This included the situation that PREVENTS families from getting food stamps to feed their families. This includes social changes like the Government now owning 2 auto companies (costing over $50 billion dollars and losing around 100,000 jobs conservatively), and the desire for the Government to dictate employee pay and hiring. Not to mention the ability of the Government to violate contract law, invalidate bondholder rights, and potentially to take over any private business it wishes.
But now the President has moved on to healthcare. Again we are being told that this is an immediate need. That this is our sole option. That this will help the nation. At a cost conservatively around $1.5 trillion, an amount greater than all the taxes collected by the Government (around $1.3 trillion a year). None of this counts the interest we must pay on all the borrowed money.
Plus there is the promise that President Obama seems to be on track for.
But wait, there is more. Don’t forget that there is also the Cap and Trade idea of the Obama Administration floating around. A plan that promises to increase the cost of gas and energy. A plan that will FORCE the public to conserve energy because of the higher prices. And by the way, some in Congress (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for one) will benefit hugely and directly because of this.
And this says nothing of Representative Barney Frank’s attempt to create another housing crisis in the future by lowering the requirements for mortgages again – this time in the Condo market. A brilliant move by the person directly responsible for telling the nation, on national television, that anyone warning the public about problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was lying for political gain – 2 weeks before they failed under his direct oversight.
So to sum up, looking at the Obama Presidency to date, where are the benefits? For all the calls of change and improvement, where are they? What is better now than before? I bet they are with those jobs that have been “saved or created” that no one can find.
As we continue our article series about “bird” and “animal” band names and individuals in rock and roll history, let’s again focus on the dog’ names.
One of the most peculiar sounding band names of the 1960s psychedelic era was the Texas group called Bubble Puppy. The band was formed in 1966 in San Antonio, Texas by Rod prince and Roy Cox on the concept of dual lead guitars that would dominate the music. After a few line up changes, the final crew was a settled with Prince and Todd Potter on lead guitars, Cox on the bass and David Fore on the drums. The band signed a recording contract with the Houston-based International Artists record label and the group’s live debut was as the opening act for the Who.
The band’s odd name is supposedly taken from a fictitious children’s game in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. The acid-flavored group charted one song, the rousing psychedelic cut called “Hot Smoke & Sassafras,” (#14 on the Billboard Top 40 charts in 1969) which is reported to be a misheard line borrowed from an episode of the popular television series The Beverly Hillbillies. The band also released their only full-length album “A Gathering Of Promises” in 1969 (worth $100-200 to record collectors according to record price guides).
However, the group has internal conflicts with their record label and they dissolved their relationship in 1970. The band signed with Nick St. Nicholas of Steppenwolf as their manager and moved to Los Angeles. Their name was changed to Demian (after Herman Hesse’s 1919 novel, at the suggestion of their manager’s wife); this was to avoid contractual difficulties with their previous record company but also because the former name appeared to link them with bubblegum music. The group released one self-titled album in 1971 on the ABC-Dunhill record label. The album flopped leading to financial difficulties and ultimately the demise of the band.
Born in Long Beach, California in 1971, Snoop Doggy Dogg (his mother nicknamed him Snoopy due to his love of the comic strip Peanuts) is one of the most successful rap artists in history. In and out of prison after high school and a member of a local Crips gang, he was convicted of cocaine trafficking and also was arrested on charges of being an accomplice to murder. These charges, his lifestyle and the violence that his lyrics implied certainly strengthened the release of his debut album“Doggystyle.”
The album “Doggystyle” entered the charts at the number one position, partly fueled by Snoop’s relationship and collaboration with fellow rapper/producer Dr. Dre (they had rapped together for the film “Deep Cover”) and the high anticipation of the work (it is the first debut album ever to enter the charts at number one). But Snoop was no stranger to the rap crowd, having played a significant role in Dr. Dre’s album “The Chronic” (Death Row Records 1992). The album (Doggystyle) also bore a resemblance to Dre’s release, but proved to be popular despite the similarities, both musically and production wise. Songs like the single “Who Am I (What’s My Name),” use nearly the same samples and bass lines as “Dre Day” and the single “Gin And Juice” helped keep the album at the top of the charts with its dynamic mix of “gangsta rap,” violent lyrics and west coast g-funk.
However, Snoop Dogg’s arrest on murder charges help fuel the popularity of the “gangsta rap” boon and its consequent lifestyle. That is up for debate, but it sure did not hurt his cause, with the rapper exploiting his impending trial by releasing a short film (directed by Dr. Dre) based on the “Doggystyle” song “Murder Was The Case.” The soundtrack debuted at the number one position in 1994. In February of 1996, Snoop Dogg was cleared of all charges and began working on his sophomore release.
The album “Doggfather” took three years to produce and during that time the lifestyle of “gangsta” life was a whirlwind of controversy, from the violent lyrics, disrespect of women, to the lifestyle itself, with many notable rap industry deaths (including Snoop’s friend Tupac Shakur) and the indictment of Death Row Records cofounder Suge Knight (racketeering charges). Dr. Dre also left in 1996 due to a contract dispute. But this release was not as successful as the debut, the album “Doggfather” was very successful in its own write. Working with the same g-funk territory, colossal rhythmic funk and soul as well as Snoop Dogg’s continuing improvement in his rapping and rhyming, the album exemplified Snoop’s maturation as one of rap music’s finest artists.
Snoop Dogg left Death Row records, dropped the “Doggy” from his name and moved over to Master P’s No Limit Imprint label. His next two releases “Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told” (number one pop record and R & B record in 1998) and “No Limit Top Dogg (number two pop and number one R & B record in 1999) showed Snoop’s maturation and skill as a music maker and producer. Snopp Dogg had continued success with his subsequent releases, 2000’s “Tha Last Meal” and the albums “Paid the Cost to be da Bo$$” “R & G (Rhythm & Gangsta)”- The Masterpiece and 2006’s “Tha Blue Carpet Treatment” proved that Snoop Dogg belongs with the elite in the rap industry.
In late 2007 he recruited two hip-hop veterans — New Jack Swing legend Teddy Riley and West Coast hero DJ Quik - and formed the production team QDT Muzic. The team oversaw Snoop’s 2008 album Ego Trippin’ which included the single “Sensual Seduction”. He has formed his own production company, produced an x-rated film and despite a myriad of legal issues, stays very active in the rap and film industries.
Bubble Puppy Tidbits:
The members of Bubble Puppy continued to be active in the music industry after the band’s demise. Potter and Prince played with the band Sirius through the late 1970s, and Fore drummed with the Texas punk rock band, D-Day, co-writing their cult hit, “Too Young to Date.”
In 1984, the original Bubble Puppy lineup reunited for performances and recordings, released as the LP, “Wheels Go Round.”
Roy Cox founded The Blues Knights and issued a CD “Before I Go” in 1999. He also formed the NYC Outlaws in September 2007.
Snoop Dogg Tidbits:
In July 2007, Snoop Dogg also made history by becoming the first artist to release a track as a ringtone prior to its release as a single, “It’s the D.O.G.”
In February of 2009, Snoop Dogg announced a first-of-its kind global deal that will bring the entertainers’ personality to television in a new variety talk show, “Dogg After Dark,” and his music to fans with a new album release and into the best-selling music video game Rock Band®.
In 2004, Snoop appeared on the Showtime series The L Word as the character “Slim Daddy”, a combination of Slim Shady and Puff Daddy.
Snoop Dogg also played the drug dealer-turned-informant character of Huggy Bear, in the 2004 remake film of the 1970s TV-series of the same name, Starsky & Hutch.
He has appeared as himself in an episode of the Showtime series “Weeds,” and made an appearance on the hit TV shows Entourage and Monk, for which he recorded a version of the theme, in July 2007.
In December 2007, his reality show Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood premiered on the E! Channel. Snoop Dogg joined the NBA’s Entertainment League.
Snoop was filmed for a brief cameo appearance in the television movie “It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie” (2002), but his performance was omitted from the final cut of the movie.
Snoop founded his own production company, Snoopadelic Films, in 2005. Their debut film was “Boss’n Up,” a film inspired by R&G starring Lil Jon and Trina.
Arctic Monkeys have unveiled the controversial artwork to their upcoming new single ‘Crying Lightning’.
Released as an iTunes download next Monday, July 6, and physically on August 17, the single cover features semi-naked (nipples and all), ultra-flexible girls balanced on a drum.
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Brooks & Dunn Releasing Hits
Brooks & Dunn, the most awarded duo in country music, are set to release their third greatest-hits compilation late this summer.
GAC reports that the career-spanning ‘#1s … and then some’ will be released on September 8 and will feature a whopping 30 tracks, 23 of which have topped the country charts. The duo’s first four singles, taken from their debut album ‘Neon Moon’ are featured on the new collection as well. All four of those singles reached No. 1 on the country chart.
In addition to previous hits, the album will also feature two new tracks, ‘Indian Summer’ and ‘Honky Tonk Stomp.’
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New Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Album
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band will release their first new album in five years on September 22 via NGDB Records. Speed of Life features the core band of Jeff Hanna, Jimmie Fadden, Bob Carpenter and John McEuen.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band were Americana long before anyone knew what roots music was. They formed in 1965 in southern California when the duo of Hanna and Bruce Kunkel hooked up with Les Thompson, Fadden and Jackson Browne at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Los Angeles. They played folk and jug-band music in the area for a few months until Browne left and McEuen joined the group.
In early-1967, the group signed with Liberty Records and released their self-titled debut. The single Buy For Me the Rain reached number 45 nationally and the album charted in the lower regions of the top 200.
Their followup albums, Richochet and Rare Junk did not do well and personel changes led to their demise in mid-1969. McKuen, Fadden, Hanna., Thompson and Jim Ibbotson reformed the group less than a year later and put out what would become their breakthrough album, Uncle Charlie and His Song Teddy. The lead-off song, Mr. Bojangles, sped up the charts to number 9, becoming their biggest pop hit.
Since Michael Jackon’s untimely death, his music is setting all-time sales records, whether it be a physical format or a download. Check out these stats:
Three of his collections - “Number Ones,” “Essential Michael Jackson” and “Thriller” - are the three top-selling albums in the US, according to figures released yesterday by Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks record sales. For the week ending Sunday, Jackson sold a combined 415,000 albums. It’s an impressive number considering he sold only 10,000 records the week before. All three outsold what will be the number one album on the regular album chart, the Black Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D. It sold only 88,000 copies. This is the first time a catalog album has outsold the top album on the regular Top 200.
Jackson’s “Number Ones” set - which is a half-decade old - sold 108,000 copies. At Amazon.com, Jackson holds the top 10 spots for CD sales - with indie rock kings Wilco’s new “Wilco (the Album)” coming in at a lowly 11th. On eBay, copies of “Thriller” on vinyl run from $10 to $999.99
Since Jackson’s death, 2.3 million tracks have been downloaded in the US, dominating both iTunes and Amazon mp3 sales. The downloads were enough to break records on Billboard’s digital album chart, where Jackson currently holds six of the Top 10 slots with 167,000 downloads of “Thriller,” 165,000 of “Man in the Mirror” and 158,000 of “Billie Jean.” No artist before had ever sold over 1 million.
Unbelievable, but this shows his music is legendary and stands the test of time as older fans relive their past and new fans get a taste of the “King of Pop” for the first time.
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Jackson left an ‘endless’ supply of music that could be released for years
Michael Jackson had a mountain of unreleased recordings in the vault when he died — music that is almost certain to be packaged and repackaged for his fans in the years to come.
The material includes unused tracks from studio sessions of some of Jackson’s best albums, as well as more recently recorded songs made with Senegalese R&B singer and producer Akon and Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am.
“There are dozens and dozens of songs that did not end up on his albums,” said Tommy Mottola, who from 1998 to 2003 was chairman and CEO of Sony Music, which owns the distribution rights to Jackson’s music. “People will be hearing a lot of that unreleased material for the first time ever. There’s just some genius and brilliance in there.”
The details of who owns Jackson’s unreleased music and concert footage are not entirely clear. Sony Music declined to comment. A person involved with the label who requested anonymity said no new projects or compilations are being planned yet.
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Top Selling Albums of All Time
•Michael Jackson - Thriller - 100 –109 million
•AC/DC - Back in Black - 45 million
•Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon - 45 million
•Meat Loaf - Bat out of Hell - 43 million
•Eagles - Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) - 42 million
•Various artists - Dirty Dancing - 42 million
•Whitney Houston / Various artists - The Bodyguard - 42 million
•Andrew Lloyd Webber - The Phantom of the Opera - 40 million
•Backstreet Boys - Millennium - 40 million
•Bee Gees / Various artists - Saturday Night Fever - 40 million
•Fleetwood Mac - Rumours - 40 million
•Shania Twain - Come on Over - 39 million
•Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV - 37 million
•Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill - 33 million
•The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - 32 million
Back in 2006, the Irish company Steorn announced that they had discovered a “a technology that produces free, clean and constant energy.” A magnetism-based perpetual motion machine is what it amounted to, which would clearly violate various physical laws, such as the First and Second Law of Thermodynamics. Steorn put an advertisement in the Economist after announcing their new technology, seeking qualified experts to form a “jury” to validate their claims.
An Irish company had promised it could deliver non-polluting, virtually cost-free power but an international jury said yesterday it did not work.
Scientists doubted the claims and, when the company resisted calls to release precise details of how Orbo worked, it asked an international panel of experts to adjudicate on the device.
Steorn organised a panel of 22 independent scientists and engineers from Europe and North America chaired by Ian MacDonald, emeritus professor of electrical engineering at the University of Alberta.
“The situation was we had engaged them in February 2007 and went through a process with them,” Mr McCarthy said. Two years have passed however and the jury clearly decided that enough was enough.
“The unanimous verdict of the jury is that Steorn’s attempts to demonstrate the claim have not shown the production of energy,” it stated. “The jury is therefore ceasing work.”
Undeterred, Steorn rejected science and announced that they would proceed toward licensing their technology by the end of 2009. No joke.
O I have put my hand on the wolf’s tooth
hidden among green parasols and whorled towers
of purple and white. O scorpion bedded upon agates,
stonefish at the gate of a jewelled coral castle.
Venom at the heart of the gaudiest blooms,
poppy blowing sleep into the sultry air.
Now the howls of the black dog pull the edge
of evening over the city like a velvet painting
of Elvis in a suit of lights. Now three-legged cats
with angular bodies stalk the top of the fence.
Gull and crow negotiate meticulous division
of a dead squirrel. A sacrifice is exacted.
The wolf licks my blood from his lips and grins.
I use his tongue to warn the cats away.
Spangled velvet shadows full of poison glide
before us and toss their heads like giant bulls
scenting the arena. Diamond scales glitter
at my bitten wrists, streetlamp bracelets.
Have you seen me?
Look again where the oak roots have lifted
the sidewalks away from the blind earth. Worms
flee the drought into deep soil. If there is
brightness there it may be the sun glinting on
the teeth of my companion.
Actor Karl Malden has died of natural causes at his home in California. He was 97.
Malden was born Mladen Sekulovich in Chicago on March 22, 1912 and won a supporting actor Oscar in 1951 for his role in the film “A Streetcar Named Desire” — a role he also played on Broadway.
Besides being an Oscar winning actor, Malden was also a well-known stamp collector and served on the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) which reviews and recommends subjects for U.S. postage stamps.
Malden helped create the “Legends of Hollywood” stamp series that featured a number of his friends and fellow actors as well as the 2003 miniature sheet celebrating Hollywood’s directors, producers and other behind-the-camera technicians.
According to the Associated Press, “In 2005, the U.S. Postal Service honored Malden by naming the post office in Brentwood [CA] to honor his achievement in film and his contributions to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee.”
On hand to honor him at the event were family members, and lifetime friend Kirk Douglas. Kirk’s son, Michael, could not attend, but sent a letter teasing his former Streets of San Francisco co-star with the line, “Karl — a stamp of your own wasn’t enough? You had to have an entire Post Office?”
At the ceremony, Postmaster General Jack Potter spoke glowingly of Malden’s work on behalf of the Postal Service and said, ““The Postal Service has had no better friend.” Malden also made a number of USPS public service announcements during his time on the CSAC.”
Shown above, Malden (on right) and Postmaster General Potter at the Karl Malden Post Office dedication ceremony in 2005.
The 5d value marking the centenary of Stuart’s Crossing of Australia from South to North. The stamp depicts the Scot John McDouall Stuart (1860-1862) who was the first explorer to cross the Australian Continent from south to north in 1862.
Not a true story, but pieced together from bits and pieces heard over the years. Some who have overcome a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body don’t acquire the humility or hard won wisdom dreamier narratives would lead us to believe. -tb
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“I’m gonna say this one more time” Karl was saying, “I mean how many times you want me to say this? Or do wanna see me turn myself turn inside out?”
It was the stupidest thing he’d said so far on a hot night of post-meeting bluster, but the point was to keep his prospects’ attention on him, unnerved, eyes big and sleepless. He dropped the match book to the diner table and fingered the unlit cigarette he wedged between two clubby knuckles. It was creased and mashed in the center. Loose tobacco spilled from the tip. He scratched the back of his neck with a fingernail he hadn’t chewed, and studied the twirling fan over them, rotating like helicopter blades. Shadows chased each other across the drop ceiling. The prospect stared back, motionless, massaging his knuckles, watching Karl who glared in turn at fan blades whose rotation only stirred the muggy air into listless currents. His mouth hung open as he considered the useless air-conditioning. He looked dumber than a pile of ashes.
“What are you looking at?” he barked, feeling the burn of his table partners’ stare, “drink your coffee.” Across from him a man who absently fingered a spoon. He tapped it against the cup so that it made a dead, thudding noise, not a clear pinging, but a thump, Karl thought, like a sock full of other socks being slammed against the side of one of the houses he used to break into when he need drinking money. He threw the cigarette at his prospect. The prospect turned his head to t he side, and the twisted smoke bounced off the padded booth cushion.
‘9Knock that shit off’ Karl said, He wiped a sleeve under his under his vein-gorged nose. He pulled another cigarette from his pack. The other man lifted his chin as though to speak.
“Now, I…” he managed to say.
Jack cut him off; the flat of his hand shot up and he waved like he was wiping a car window with a grimy rag.
“Don’t say anything”. Karl was almost pleading. He stroked the length of the Camel studied the pack, wished he were sucking in a
lung flail smoke, he wanted to choke on the fumes of something burning.
Recent California elections contained a state wide proposition that would ban smoking in all public facilities, including bars and restaurants, and unconstitutional travesty authored he felt by fascists and Commie punks This riled Karl considerably, if only because he once swore that elections were a fake as a climax in a porn video whose results would never come to bear on his life style The proposition passed handily, evidence that non-smokers considered themselves an ignored political force who needed to stick it to a group that most of the electorate was out of sympathy with, that, with the death of Communism as universal bogeymen and the rise of causes based on a collectively perceived sense of being slighted and stomped down , smokers had to bend over and take what was columnists and Sunday talk show gadflies assured us, a decision that would be good for the soul, good for the lungs, something that would clear the air and have us be civil to one another in a smoke less public sphere. Karl wanted to smoke, and his sense of duty to his querying prospect, this man who wanted to know how to stay sober, was waning, frayed by rules, chipped at by police, eroded by the current that ran from his brain to his lungs that demanded the aroma of the sulfur, the sting of the first smoke hitting lungs and caroming over the tongue, the glory of the choke the bum, the proud suppression of a cough. He should have voted.
His career as a political forecaster was over, and all he was left to do in diners and meetings halls was fidget reshape one cigarette after another, and think variations on a theme even he was tired of thinking, revs given up everything else, even sex isn’t coming in like it used to, Mi that A left A coffee and smokes, and flow; he though4 these Goddamn those goons wanna get there again, a man gives something up that almost kills him and sons of bitches say I can’t smoke with my coffee.
The cigarette he’d been tapping through his reverie was between his clubby knuckles again stroked, stained, creased with worry. He tried staring into the eyes of the man sitting across from him and to start his sermon on getting sober, but the lights distracted him, his mind was
five miles away where he wanted to be, sitting at another table with friends who could make their. own beds. Something glistened in the prospects’ eyes, tears held back. Karl wanted to comb his hair, to make this duck tail ride high and mighty in the back like fins of a car he owned years ago in Modes t6, a city full of dust and drinking.
His prospect was named Doug, fifths from appearance, with hair tat was a swirl of brown and white strands woven inseparably together The tines of his face deepened into middle aged ravines that sagged, a gathered sadness. He dressed in a way tat didn’t advertise position or hidden money, just cast -off rags, a work shirt, jeans, tennis shoes. He might have been homeless, ambling from a church service center, or a Mercedes dealer doing his own yard work, puttering around the hillside of a Del Mar estate whose ocean view only God and bank accounts could give you. He had a sleepless shiver, nerves that would rattle a train from its rail.
“Well” Doug said, clearing his throat to forestall a stammer he knew would rattle his words, “Well, I mean, could you tell me again, I mean, what you mean, that is, there’s something I missed at the meeting and I thought you could tell me the actual method, the way you stay stopped…”
A woman’s voice broke in.
“How you guy’s doing over here?”
Their waitress Tina , as it read on a her name tag embossed in flaking gold leaf; hovered over them with both arms flail of plates and a fist full of meal tickets tucked in an over sized pocket in her apron. She gave off the feeling that everything about her was precarious and that she might drop everything she held, finally standing in a pile of shattered restaurant china and half eaten chicken fried steak. But Tina seemed like a seasoned server who negotiated the chaos of coffee pots, antsy kids tossing ketchup soaked French fries over the bunkered dining booths, and special requests for Nutra-Sweet instead of sugar, decaf, not coffee with a gliding, frictionless grace. Arms of dirty plates or no, she would stop and ask if there as anything one of her tables desired. Doug desired to go home, stopping at the liquor store for something that would turn off the noise. Karl ran a finger around his coffee cup and hoped Doug had money.
“You need anything else– more water, or coffee, or maybe some desert?’
Her voice had bleached traces of an Arkansas drawl that had rubbed against the toneless inflections of California malls. The uniform was a cool pink, and looked like it had come right off the laundry truck; the pleats were crisp and curt.
Karl straightened up instinctively, his knee bumping the underside of the table, knocking over a water glass. Water and lumps of melting ice spilled right down the middle of the table, and rushed toward Doug, and splattering in his lap. Doug’s face turned sour, the lines in his face becoming became a map of a growing bad mood.
“Goddamn it” he said, “goddamn mother- of -god” Flustered, tried to stand from where he sat, and banged the table even upsetting the coffee he hadn’t touched He fell back into his seat coffee, not yet cool. He dropped the spoon.
Greasy punks tell me jackshit I have a motherfucking cigarette with my goddamned piece o fshit coffee; thought Jack Stuben. He shoved the cigarette, newly squeezed and indented in the middle, behind his ear.
The waitress set the plates on the table next to them, where a young man and woman swam dreamily in the inexpressible vastness of the others’ eyes. They traded, shared and exchanged gut reactions and insights and feelings about an edgy experimental avant-garde independent firm they’d just seen. They stopped talking and looked up the waitress at once, seemingly rehearsed for this precise cue. Both mouths opened wide as doors, wordless in minor catastrophes. They were in their twenties, and wore wire frame glasses, and were looking forward to sitting together after a movie and talking to one another like the adults they wanted to think they were.
“God fucking damn it” Doug mumbled. His arms blurred trying to cool the burn in his crotch by waving a menu over the seared inseam, looking like he were trying to keep somebody under the table who’d tired of their heaven of pressed wood and gum wads.
“Could you get us some towels, Tina?” asked Karl.
“Tell you what” she said, ” my name isn’t really Tina it’s Cheryl, but I forgot my name tag at home, so I put on this one in back by the time clock, because you have to wear something tat has a name and the restaurant name on it–1′
Cheryl already bad towels in her hand, had piled dishes and removed cups, professional and almost without noise, and spread the towels over the spills and padded the towels and turned them over knowingly, a professional press of the hands
“–so I just decided to where this one, even though there’s no one here named Tina, I thought it would be all right for one day, because you know, a waitress without a name tag is probably holding the place up, you know, how are you doing, mister, do you need first aid, are you hurt…”
Doug held up his bands and smiled widely to reveal two rows of teeth, white as an over-painted fence. He shook his head, his attempts at laughter resulting in a snorts and grunts.
‘No thanks’, he said, half sobbing, gulping hard.
“Could we have our check?” asked the man from the booth next
to them. Cheryl looked around and glanced at the table, the dishes she set there, the ice cream deserts they had ordered. He was dejected, severely bummed out, out of sync with the night as he planned it to happen. All that film analysis they would not get to, it was too early to walk her to her car, oh stir; he thought. The woman was digging through her purse. The chat about the cross- cutting between the grin fire and the hero’s dad undergoing heart surgery was so close to epiphany and then Pd touch her hand, and then I woulda asked for the check oh damn it. He sighed, a slow hiss gushing between his teeth, which were as perfect as dullness itself.
“Coming’ right up” Cheryl said, “just let me clear that stuff for
“It’s alright” the young man said, “just the check, please…”
“Sorry about that, Doug” Karl said,” man oh, man, I sorta start talking some stuff here,” I get a little clumsy… glad you’re not hurt… “.Now, you were asking me about how one stops drinking, and I was gonna just add that it’s not a matter of stopping, it’s a matter of staying stop, and we in the program say that if you do what’s asked of you, if you work the steps, if you go to meetings, then you can find a way to live a life that’s happy joyous and free…”
Doug squirmed in his seat. He glowered at Karl as he shred the paper napkin he used to pat his scorched crotch. Shredded layers of the napkin lay on the table in front of him. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes glistened even more than they had before, but k was not sadness this time.
“First you treat me like I’m a moron, “he began,” I mean, I come to tile meeting because I cannot stop drinking and my life is full of shit and tragedy and everything I ever work for is about to go away because I am a drunk, and I listen, and I hear nothing but complaints and whining about nothing at all and I ask you afterwards to talk to me and you tell me to take the cotton out of my ears and in into my mouth because I don’t know anything, and you tell me to come to coffee here with you, and you’re going to elaborate on how you stay sober, and I get spilled on and burned and then listen to you jabber on like nothing happened about nothing I can use…”
Doug took the cigarette from his behind his ear Goddamn motherfucker, he thought.
“You sound mad, Doug. Real mad, I think you ought to turn this resentment over to God.”
Fuck it, thought Karl, I’m going to fire up right here and blow a flicking goddamn smoke ring where all the assholes can see. Kiss my ass, motherfuckers.
“Anger is not a luxury an alcoholic can afford” he said.
“Ma’am, can we have our check?” the man next to them pleaded with Cheryl, who raced past them. The diner had gotten busy. It was near midnight, and people wanted coffee and a meal before a drive home, to the end of the day.
“Right there, sir” Cheryl said. She had a hand full of menus and was taking people to tables that hadn’t even been cleared off yet.
“Our busboy and dishwasher decided to get drunk? On Friday night? Christ.”
The night manager rubbed the top of his sweaty bald head and went back to ringing up customers at the register after another waitress told him why there was an unexpected backlog.
‘No clean tables, no silverware, no pots and pans, no monkey dishes, nothing… “he rang up a customer, made change for a twenty and thanked the man and the women who’d had their film discourse intervened upon.
“Fuck you” said Doug, “l mean, seriously, fuck you. You are a high and mighty little punk I wouldn’t hire you to sweep my sidewalk.”
“Well, look you, all high and mighty all of a sudden. You forget you approached me about this. I ‘vex been sober ten years…
“I made a mistake, and lam gone away from you…”
Doug stood up and tossed a five dollar bill on the table.
“You are gonna get drunk.” Jack Stuben thought, Christ on a crutch this guy is mad.
“Maybe” said Doug, “maybe…” he turned and walked to the exit, into a thick clutch of customers lined to up to pay their checks, while others huddled, waiting for tables to be cleared.
In front of the restaurant, the young man was holding his date’s hand, pausing for a second before he walked to her car in the parking lot where, he hoped, there would be a pause in the light talk, a drift in the lilt of her voice as it trailed off looking for another image to describe a fun evening, where he would lean over and kiss her, touch her lips, put a hand on her shoulder and then lightly, gently, trace the tines of her back, and then walk away, a promise of phone calls on his lips, a skip to his own car, his favorite CD in the player, fresh senses to inspire his bed time. He was about to say something, after staring into her eyes when
“Fucking goddamn asshole, drunken hypocrite jerk, FUCK!!”
The restaurant door blew open with a bang, and Doug stormed out, yelling under his breath, passing the forlorn lovers, arms flying fists balled together, walking up the street to where there was a stretch of bars and liquor stores whose signs lit the night with a smeared amnesia that was as dark as the night could ever be if there were no city to get lost in.
“GODDAMNIT!!” They heard him yell. They stared at him until he turned a comer at the light, and there was nothing but gaudy signs that seared the evening sky like it were black paper. Car horns insults, car horns. Doug was gone, around the comer, and through a door into the bean of something where the sun could not reach.
The couple was still on the comer as Doug vanished around the corner, and looked at each other as the street sounds overwhelmed their awkwardness. They were aware of themselves standing outside the Denny’s with all their small talk and smart chatter unheard, only themselves and their breathing.
“Maybe I should walk you to your car” he said.
“Maybe you should” she said, and took his arm.
tamable you should come to my apartment1 she said, puffing him closer after she hooked arm through his, ‘ I think you should…”
They stopped.”I want you to” she said. He smiled at her, and was going to lean over and kiss her before going to her car , anticipating the night and the way it night yet undue itself, when there was a speech, god, he thought, another screaming bum of tires, more screaming, tires hitting the asphalt, car horns and curse words tearing the night apart, rage under hoods delivering what is the fact for intersections and neighborhoods where the century stopped two decades ago, he caught the screech and the words before he could plant the kiss and the suggestion of how, maybe, perhaps, please god, that the rest of the night would go, he held her close, he heard the squeal of the wheels, the words
“FAGGOT, FUCK HER NOW!”
A Chevy, a car frill of guys, a beer can flying from the back seat,
a siren, a chase maybe, more lights and car horns and signs for booze and strip
tease, she pulls back from her date.
“Can we just go?”
The night manager had his sleeves rolled up and a plastic apron on, pushing another tray of dishes and silverware into the washing machine. His glasses were steamed up. The dishwasher and the busboy were out by the trash bin, and he could hear them swearing in words he’d never heard in Spanish before. Next the pots, then the pans, and then the rush from midnight until three, when the bars start to empty and there is never enough monkey dishes or water glasses and all the forks from the last load through the machine are caked with egg yoke. He pulled a hose coming from the top of the dish washing machine, and aimed it at dish rack he just filled with plates to be run through. He pulled down on the handle, and jets hot water shot forth, pelting the caked food from the plates, filled the station full of steam. The night manager let the hose shoot water For some reason the steam, the billowing vapors that
surrounded him, felt pleasant as it soaked into his clothes and warmed his skin. He couldn’t explain why even to himself It just felt good.
Karl put the five dollar bill in his shirt pocket after folding into an origami of his own invention. Fuck it, he thought. Sober ten years for what. Ungrateful newcomer. Christ He stood and walked to the cashier stand by the front door, walked sideways between opposing camps waiting to pay and waiting to be seated. His check was still on the table.
“That dirty dog” said Cheryl, coming to clear the table and finding the unpaid check. Not even a dollar tip, cheap asshole. A man’s voice intruded. “Excuse me) Tina, but could we get some water here?”
She turned and saw another couple seated at the adjacent booth, a man and a woman, in their forties. Cheryl smiled. Nice hungry people who have to be set right in their manner of ordering meals at one of her stations.
She tapped her name tag. “Tell you what’1 she said, “my name isn’t really Tina, but I forgot my own name tag when I came to work today—”
Of course it’s not allowed to make photos in a concert like yesterday’s “Porgy and Bess” in Graz, directed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Let me only tell you that it was very operatic, complex and technically excellent, although it may disappoint some expectations. Can you imagine that I sometimes was reminded of Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde”? Not by the melodies of course, but by the music’s complexity and its shifting layers. We may tend to forget it, but Gershwin did not compose Jazz, and he is well rooted in a long history of composers. Well, I thoroughly enjoyed it
Though I have no images from the concert, Gershwin fits nicely. Graz is the capital of Styria, the Austrian province to the east of Carinthia. We decided to skip the highway over the mountains and instead crossed on one of the old roads. I must admit, I have never seen so many Lupines in my whole life. All the mountains wear glorious blue.
The Song of the Day is “Rhapsody in Blue” from the 1994 album “The Glory Of Gershwin”, featuring Larry Adler on harmonica, accompanied by Peter Gabriel, Chris De Burgh, Sting, Lisa Stansfield, Elton John, Carly Simon, Elvis Costello, Cher, Kate Bush, Jon Bon Jovi, Oleta Adams, Willard White, Sinead O’Connor, Robert Palmer, Meat Loaf, Issy Van Randwyck and Courtney Pine.
There is one solo piece, “Rhapsody in Blue”, at the end of the album, featuring Larry and an orchestra arranged by George Martin. YouTube has a video of the shortened version from the B-side of the 7″ single of Kate Bush’s version of “The Man I Love”. A longer and more intimate version, featuring Larry Adler and his brother Jerry on piano, is also available on YouTube, although the sound quality is regrettably bad.
I have linked to the import version of the album, because the US version did not contain the two songs performed by Chris De Burgh. Btw, did I mention that this album is a MUST??
The Minnesota Wild had an interesting day. A franchise that usually doesn’t make headlines was in the news twice today. Marian Gaborik, the face of the Minnesota Wild for eight seasons has moved onto New York to play for the Rangers. The Rangers will be more than happy with Gaborik’s ability, especially in a more offensive-minded system. He will feel like the chains have been lifted getting out of Jacques Lemaire’s zone trap. Ranger fans and future Gaborik fantasy owners need to beware though. Gaborik has been injury-prone. He has played in only 272 of the Wild’s 410 (66%) games the past five seasons. The Wild fans were pretty tolerant of Gaborik’s inability to stay healthy for the most part. This year was a little different. They knew the Wild needed to trade him or risk getting nothing in return. His hip injury prevented them from accomplishing that goal. In New York though, if he isn’t on the ice, he’ll feel the heat from the fans and from the media. I wish you the best of luck in New York. You got what you want. I hope you were careful what you wished for.
To replace Gaborik’s firepower the Wild added Martin Havlat. Havlat had 77 points (29 goals, 48 assists) for the Blackhawks, who earlier signed Marian Hossa to a mega deal. More importantly, he played in 81 games last year, although Havlat has also had a tendency to miss time. Havlat’s deal ($5 million annually) is for $2.5 million less per season.
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The Maersk Stepnica (IMO: 9352004, Port of Registry: Rotterdam) is one of the latest newbuildings managed by the Dutch based Maersk Ship management. Maersk Stepnica was the first in a series of five 8400 TEU container vessels delivered and built by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. in South Korea. She is propelled by a 68,640 kW 12K98ME MK7 HHI engine. The vessel has a teu capacity of 8,400, is 334 metres long and 43 metres wide. These dimensions give the vessel a deadweight tonnage of 101,500.
The Maersk Stepnica arrived this morning at the APM terminal, Rotterdam. The Maersk Stepnica is currently deployed on Maersk’s AE-1 loop. She is scheduled to return to Rotterdam in about 7 weeks.
Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam exploded at the Harley Roadhouse yesterday evening with one of the best shows of this year’s Big Gig.
As I’ve shared with many people, Davy represents the future of classic rock guitar. This young superstar-in-the-making is blowing up! He’s already a road warrior, and I’ve seen him open for Warren Haynes & Gov’t Mule, Jeff Beck and now Buddy Guy over the last seven months. And in early August he’ll begin touring with the latest supergroup, Chickenfoot.
Davy is a 21-year-old British kid who sings like a 60-year-old Chicago bluesman and is already being called a guitar virtuoso. I watched most of his set with former Rolling Stone publisher Terry Hummel, and he was absolutely blown away.
Not only that, but he’s one of the nicest, most humble and unassuming rock stars you’ll ever encounter. I had an opportunity to hang out and do an interview with Davy, which I’ll share as soon as the good folks at Summerfest post the video.
The set was laced with original tunes from his new album, Coming Up for Air, which is quickly becoming one of my Desert Island Discs. There were also some fantabulous covers, including a smokin’ version of David Crosby’s “Almost Cut My Hair.”
Keep your eyes on Davy Knowles folks, because he is destined for greatness.
It was a difficult decision to make regarding last night’s headliners at Summerfest, but in the end I trusted my instincts and headed over to catch The Wailers…and I am delighted I did.
The spirit of Bob Marley was most definitely in the house during this lovefest at the Miller Lite Oasis, as the adoring throng spent a blissful evening dancing with reckless abandon!
It was undoubtedly one of the best sets I’ve seen The Wailers play in several years. Bob Marley’s timeless songs are full of lovely reminders about the spiritual nature of our existence, as well as the responsibility we have to take care of each other while living a life filled with positive vibrations.
The wisdom of “Three Little Birds” gently nudged us with one of my favorite lyrics, “Don’t worry ‘bout a thing, cause every little thing’s gonna be all right.”
“Is This Love” made me think of my wonderful wife with the words “I wanna love you every day and every night.”
“One Love” touched my soul while prompting me to “…give thanks and praise to the Lord…”
The closing song, “Stir it Up,” served as a valuable lesson about how to avoid living on autopilot.
There were smiles all around as a grateful crowd made our way to the exits.
Back in May I wrote that I had my fingers crossed about the possibility of seeing Davy Knowles this summer and guess what - I did! Now to try to find the words to describe one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. I think if my favorite guitarist of all time heard him play, Stevie Ray would agree with me that
Davy Knowles is a legend in the making
If you check out my sidebar you’ll see that I first heard his prodigious talent back in August ‘08 and was immediately aware that I was listening to a superb musician. Tonight I experienced it firsthand and it blew me away. Listening to a CD is one thing but seeing it, hearing it and feeling itlive in personbrings it to a different dimension. You must make it a priority to check him out for yourself.
Tonight Davy’s talent and passion radiated from him along with his evident joy in performing for an appreciative audience. You could tell he was genjuinely pleased, maybe even a bit taken aback, by our powerful reaction. After the show he took the time to sign autograph’s and meet people and he had quite a line of fans.
Joe (Rock and Roll Guru) had interviewed Davy earlier in the day and confirmed that he is the authentically nice person he seems to be. I serioulsy doubt that fame will rob him of that as it does to some musicians.
Joe and Drew
To top off a great night, Joe introduced Drew and I to Davy so I got to shake his hand and say hello. I admit, it was a thrill. The kid is adorable and sweet in addition to being a kick ass guitarist. I also had the pleasure of meeting his manager and hopefully will stay connected with him to keep all of you up to date on when and where to catch Davy and Back Door Slam.
Get this - he is going on tour with and opening for CHICKENFOOT this Fall. I know there are some serious Chickenfoot fans that read here. Let me know what you think of Davy and BDS, I’ll be shocked if you don’t walk away impressed.
I will never forget this show. I will never forget the woman who sat next to me who enjoyed the show as much as I did (hello! I didn’t get your name! the pics I took didn’t turn out too great). Lastly, I will never forget how meeting Davy was a reminder of meeting SVR - both guitar greats.
On a personal note…I fly home to California tomorrow, but next year, I am headed back to Milwaukee for Summerfest. If you’ve never been you’re missing out!
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. said that its Plantation pipeline successfully completed shipment of biodiesel on a commercial basis in the Southeast region, becoming the first pipeline company in the U.S. to do so.
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Australia, 25 July 1962
