Billy Zoom!

I’m not sure how, exactly, I’ve managed to avoid stumbling across BZ’s website until today, but alas, I have. For the unitiated; Billy Zoom was the guitarist for the seminal LA punk band X.

Billy Zoom rocks!

Just what I needed, another expensive “toy” to lust after

I suppose I should consider myself lucky. When most other men my age feel the need to splurge on a sleek, racy, Italian ride it costs them several orders of magnitude more than my new ride, my Bianchi Pista.

Now I’ve got a new mandolin to lust after. National Reso-Phonic Guitars has just re-introduced a wood bodied resophonic mandolin.

When I first heard Sam Bush play a National Reso on the tune “Swamp Thing” from his collaboration with David Grisman, “Hold on, We’re Strummin’”, I thought “wow, I love that sound… I want one of those!” By the way, I highly recommend this CD. If you like the sound of mandolin-family instruments, or are just a fan of good acoustic music, you can’t go wrong with this one.

Irked by work

I’m smart/paranoid/cautious enough not to vent about work here (or in any public forum), but I will say this:

It irritates me when they make me get up at 8am to attend an inservice. The inservice started at 9 and I live ridiculously close to the office, so getting up at 8 I had plenty of time to shower, get dressed, and knock back a couple of cups of coffee before leaving, in order to at least give the appearance of being awake and alert. I work 3rd shift, and even on my days off (like today) I am never up before 9 or 10, at the very earliest. I fully understand that there really wasn’t a better time for the inservice, but, none the less, I am irritated (and a little bit tired).

The good news is; there were all sorts of yummy cake-type snacks… and brownies! (there were chips and such as well, but everyone knows that cakes and pies are the cornerstones of a good breakfast!) Plus, the whole thing will be overtime and there is definitely something to be said for getting paid time and a half for doing nothing more than eating brownies, drinking coffee, and being bored.

More About Jay Leno/David Letterman

I’m not a big fan of Jay Leno’s. I do remember a time when I thought he was hysterical, but that’s a dim and distant memory. I think he’s fairly dreadful as a talk-show host. What really puzzles me is this; he’s been beating David Letterman in the ratings for years now, yet no one that I know particularly likes him or watches his show.

Perhaps this will illustrate my point. Take a gander at alt.fan.jay-leno and alt.fan.letterman on Usenet (I know… I’m a geek). Right now it’s just after 12:30 Eastern. The Tonight Show was ‘live’, The Late Show was a repeat. Since I last checked (sometime earlier this evening) there were 42 new posts to alt.fan.letterman… how many to alt.fan.jay-leno, you ask? None, not a single one. And remember, Leno had a fresh show, Dave’s was a repeat.

I think that maybe it boils down to why people watch each show. I think people watch “The Tonight Show” for the guests, the whole “Hollywood” vibe the show exudes, its predictable and familiar style, it helps ease them off to sleep and… It’s “The Tonight Show”.

I think that people who watch “The Late Show” watch it for David Letterman, they like him, they like his style of comedy, they watch him as opposed to “The show”.

I feel like Leno is very “Hollywood”, with the nice polished facade, but it’s as though there’s nothing behind the facade. He comes across (to me, at least) as being totally superficial and devoid of any real substance or sincerity. Dave on the other hand, strikes me as very genuine person beneath the curmudgeonly, cranky facade. His opening comments on his first post 9/11 show, the final Warren Zevon appearance, Daves goodbye to Warren at the close of the show after Warren passed away, the heartfelt sentiments he expressed on the passing of his good friend (and one of my favorite comedians) George Miller… the way he quietly does countless good and charitable things that most people never hear of. Flying to Afghanistan then Iraq the last two years to entertain the troops on Christmas eve, for instance.

Contrast this to Jay Leno’s celebrity autographed Harley to be auctioned to benefit those affected by the tsunami… the tsunami was a month ago, but the bike still sits, very conspicuously center-stage, while Jay milks out every last drop of publicity. Jay does plenty of charitable things, my problem is in the fact that he always does them so publicly, making sure the cameras are rolling and never without the requisite press-release.

RIP Johnny Carson

Here’s a link to Johnny Carson’s final ‘Tonight Show’ mononlogue.

And

Here’s a wonderful essay by Roger Ebert.

The news of Johnny’s death resonated strongly in me for several reasons.

First, it seems that the world is quickly running out of “living legends”. Who can replace the likes of John Wayne… John Lennon… Marlon Brando… Ray Charles… Johnny Carson? Who is left to pick up the torch?

Second, it bothered me more than just a little bit that Jay Leno (whose “people” helped force Carson from the air before he was ready to go, and who didn’t mention Johnny’s name once during his first show as the ‘Tonight Show’ host) got the first crack at a tribute, rather than the rightful heir to the throne, David Letterman, who was vacationing (in St. Barts, apparently) and in re-runs this week.

Here’s a news story which illustrates my “heir to the throne” comment perfectly.

Third, the fact that it was emphysema which took this great man affected me on a deeply personal level (which is all that I’ll say about that).

I watched Leno Monday night (something I very rarely do). His opening comments seemed heartfelt (though scripted), but somehow they rang hollow, especially recalling that first show and the conspicuous absence of any acknowledgement of the man who, essentially, created the genre (not to mention his job). The best part of the show (aside from the old clips) was Drew Carey saying: “You know, Jay, when you die, there won’t be any of this for you… maybe a segment…”

I’m anxiously awaiting Dave’s first show back on Monday.

More of that horrible white stuff

So, we got a little snow today (an inch or two, barely more than a dusting). The thing that gets my goat is this; “They”* promptly hit the streets with the snow-plow/salt-spreaders.

Even as the snow on the street melted of its own volition, they were spreading salt on my street. That’s all fine and well, but where were they when we got all that snow at Christmas-time?

I’ll tell you where they weren’t - spreading salt on my street!

They came once and esentially levelled the snow off, leaving behind a very well packed 8-10″ base, and not so much as one grain of salt was put on my street, ever. Not once during the entire almost two weeks that it stuck around.

*They: You know, the ubiquitous “them”.

Baseball’s new “Zero Tolerance” policy toward steroids

So, in a press conference baseball’s commisioner Bud Selig says that it wants to restore the public’s confidence in the game and is rolling out a new tougher steroid testing program.

“I’ve been saying for some time that my goal for this industry is zero tolerance regarding steroids,” commissioner Bud Selig said.

Okay, sounds good so far… until you get what the “penalties” are.

A first positive test would result in a suspension of up to 10 days, a second positive test in a 30-day ban, a third positive in a 60-day penalty, and a fourth positive test in a one-year ban. A player who tests positive a fifth time would be subject to discipline determined by the commissioner.

This is “zero tolerance”? Call me crazy, but this seems pretty damned tolerant! What other profession would give you a 10 day suspension for testing positive for (let us not forget) illegal drug use?

Everyone wave goodbye as our “National Passtime” sells its soul to worship at the altar of the almighty dollar.

Went for a ride… In short sleeves!

That’s right, it’s nearly the middle of January and I was able to go for ride today wearing short sleeves. Did an abbreviated/altered version of my typical loop, as most of my favorite roads to ride are under quite a bit of water at the moment. It sure did feel good to be out there turning the pedals.

Even the kitty was excited, as it was also the first day that was warm (and dry) enough to open some windows in what seems like forever.

Franz Ferdinand

I’m not a big fan of the band (I’m, at most, indifferent toward them), but I sure hope nothing bad happens to them, we all know how that turned out the last time.

Shopping

Now that Christmas is over (and armed with Christmas money from Dad and my Step-Mother, and a big fat (in a relative, Social-worker sort of way) 14 hours of double-time for working Christmas Day paycheck), I’ve been doing some shopping online.

Ordered the 2 Rainmakers CD’s I was missing (there’s way more about this than anyone cares to see in my previous post), Mutineer; Warren Zevon, Welcome to the Club; Ian Hunter (an old fave, one of the 10 or 20 best live albums ever, IMHO; plus it has 2 bonus songs that aren’t on my LP!!), Songs From Take-Off to Landing; Garrison Starr (She’s a great singer-songwriter with a fantastic voice), Live From Chicago, Mr. Superharp Himself; James Cotton (also an old fave, replacing a well-used LP), and The Kinks, One For the Road (ditto the whole old fave replacement bit, and definitely on my Top 10 best live albums list).

Plus, two books! I found “The Death of Right and Wrong: Exposing the Left’s Assault on Our Culture and Values” by Tammy Bruce and “The Rants” by Dennis Miller, both in hardcover on “Amazon Marketplace” for under $15 total, with shipping, from seperate vendors! Now, before you get to thinking I’m sort of right-wing nut job, I’m not. I like to disseminate information from a wide variety of viewpoints and sources and form my own opinions. I’d like to think that I’m a free thinker, not bound by or defined by party-lines or overly simplistic/meaningless terms like “right”, “left”, “Democrat” or “Republican”. That’s all I’ll say about all of that (for now), I didn’t intend this to be a post about my political belief system.

Also, I’ve got this nifty little key-chain UV LED flashlight that needed batteries. Radio Shack has them (of course), but they want $3.19 for them, EACH! The light takes 3 batteries, and since I only paid about 4 or 5 bucks for it, that wasn’t happening. So, I got to poking around and found a package of 10 for $3, with shipping, on EBay!

I love the Internet!

Musical Musings (or “Why Did The Rainmakers Never Break Big?”)

The Rainmakers are, in my opinion, one of the greatest (and most under-appreciated) bands of all time. I’ve been a huge fan of Bob Walkenhorst and the boys since buying their first album (that’s right, album, on vinyl) when it came out in 1986~7. I would place Bob W. firmly in the pantheon of all-time great lyricists, right alongside the likes of Ray Davies, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, and Warren Zevon.

I suddenly got to thinking how much I’d like to have their self-titled debut on cd, so I visited their website, found that it is available from Village Records and I ordered it, along with their album “Tornado”. For reasons I don’t fully understand, these CD’s weren’t available in the US for several years and had to be ordered from a place in (I think) Norway… some sort of crazy dispute with their record label or something.

This, of course, ignited a hankering to hear some Rainmakers, so I put “The Good News and the Bad News” in the CD player and irritated the neighbors with it, repeatedly. The thing that amazes me about this particular CD is that I found it in a used CD store. It is beyond my comprehension that someone could actually dislike such a masterpiece, so naturally I’ve concocted various scenarios to explain how it found its way there (the original owner died or fell on unspeakably hard times, theft, the desperation of addiction, etc.) I suppose it is conceivable that someone with criminally bad taste bought it and unloaded it, but I don’t like to even imagine that possibility.

The point to all of this (if there even is one) is this: If you don’t already own at least one Rainmakers CD (or album)… BUY ONE! Start with one of the discs I’ve mentioned, or if you prefer, their “Greatest Hits” CD. If you follow this recommendation and you don’t enjoy it, then I’m sorry, there is something terribly wrong with you and I wish you well.

Riding out of the old year and into the new on two wheels!

So… last night I rode the fixed-gear to work. It was 50-ish and the snow is gone (except for the really big piles). It’s hard to imagine that exactly a week prior the temperature was below zero and the snow was knee deep. It was damp and drizzly, but you certainly won’t hear me complain about that; not this time of year. Coming home this morning was definitely the warmest New Year’s Day ride in recent memory. I don’t know if it’s global warming or just the weather Gods smiling on me, but whatever; I’ll take it!

Happy New Year!!