I just got done writing a nice long blog entry, only to have Blogspot recent it because of an "edit conflict". It wasn't off-color, or anything - this is a nice, family-friendly blog. No profanity, nudity, or other dirty stuff. Mostly about music, family, my personal observations, musings, political rants, and the occassional sci-fi entry. Oh well. Now I don't have the energy to write anything. But at least I got my mandatory occassional blog entry in.

Life goes on, of course (or maybe not of course). Nothing is certain, in life, except death. (That's cheerful). Try to have as good a time as you can have, each day, and don't let anyone tell you how to live. If you can still appreciate the Stones, after 40 years, you can't be too dead in the head yet. I'm a die-hard. Also, a little slow on the up-take. I re-discovered Neil Young recently, after ignoring him for 30 years. Oh well.

I was always a big Stones fan. Back in "the day", in college, I had an old record player; vinyl covered, two-tone paper case, with stack-it-up record changer, hinged lid. It was old even at that time, mid 60's. I got The Rolling Stones Now, in brilliant Mono. Figured I didn't need stereo, for rock and roll. It was their second album in the states, and all Chuck Berry, and memphis soul covers. I played that til it wore out, and drove my roomate nuts.

I'm not sure what the theme of this pathetic post might be. That looks sorta like me, playing my old upright pianer, in the olden days. The pianer is long gone, gotten rid of in one of my wife's clean-out the junk campaigns. Yes, it had a musty odor, the finish was mottled and cracked (like mine), but It had a great, deep tone, and I could play my boogie woogie on it til the cows came home (or the Flamingos). The Jimi Hendrix cover I just thought was cool. Axis was a great influence on me, got me through my second year in the Navy. I have a bad attitude today, not given to working much. See you next week, maybe.

Mickey Rodent, Darnold Duck! (chuckle); I thought this was hilarious when I was 13. Still do. I loved Walt Disney, and all the cartoon gang, back then, but thought is was a riot to make fun of the cutesy characters. Mad Magazine was a religious experience for me in those days. Oh well.
Life is tedious, at times; recession, taxes, mother in law, getting older, etc. However, I can still git lit up by reading this stuff.

Here'e Neil and gang at a recent 2008 tour gig. Still rockin! Not much to report this time, just thought I should put in a word so folks don't think I fell down the basement steps, and busted my head, or somethin. Planning the watch the last episode of Season 3, Friday Night Lights, tonight. I will miss the show, if it doesn't come back - great show, in my humble opinion, full of humor and drama, and lots of pretty good looking people, especially the females. I have a thing for the short-haired blonde, but the coach's daughter is nice (but too young), and the dark haired girl is fine, too. Hell, the coach's wife is pretty hot -not young, but a lot younger than this old geezer, you know what I mean?

Time to sign out. Se ya!

This is one of my favorite places on earth - Tumacacori National Monument, in Tumacacori, Az, just south of Tubac. Both are about 1 hour south of Tucson, on I-19. A remote, very quiet and serene place, a long-abandoned mission, founded by Father Kino, in the 1500's. Very spiritual place. Gentle breeze blowing the straw-like grass. Sometimes a Tohono-O'Dahm woman sells indian frybread under a cabana made of ocatillo branches. Great.

Frustrated today, I am, with my job. I'm suppossed to keep churning out the work, and be grateful I have, it, while our clients neglect to pay their bills. Great for morale.

It's new year's eve, once again, and once again, I don't care! We won't do anything tonight, except get fed, and watch a movie, go to bed well before midnight. It's fake holiday. I don't like to be reminded of how I wasted another year of my life again, and I don't want to think about next year. So there. Elvis Costello above, great music from the late 70's, and after. Recycled a lot of good rock and roll, country and blues, with a punk edge.

Nice piture of The King, outside Graceland. I have a read sweater, just like that one. Wish I could sing like Elvis, but who can? The current crop of "singers", such as they are, can't hold a candle to The King, or Jerry Lee, Neil Young, Dylan, Mick, Chuck Berry, and of the oldtimers. No character in their voices. Same for the chick singers. I guess that dates me a bit, but so be it - I don't have to follow fashion anymore, not that I ever did. Was always more of a beatnick than a hippy - paved my own way.

Not much else to talk about today. Have more outside and inside Christmas stuff to put up tomarrow, then more shopping. Hope the wife decides not to go to her office Christmas party; those are always a drag, especially for the spouses (like me).

There's a new Star Trek movie coming out next summer, which looks pretty good, from the trailer. Like the second round of the Star Wars epics, it will be a prequel, telling the story of the original crew (Capt. James T. Kirk, Dr. Sprock, Bones, etc.), in their "yute". before they got fat and old. Of course, the special effects will now be a lot more special, but I hope they don't lose the story in the process, as so many of today's blockbuster sci-fi movies do. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, I always say. The other picture is a girl singer; don't know who, or anything other about her, except she is a looker. Give an old man a break.

Used to have an old upright piano like above, only in somewhat better shape. Never had it tuned, but it was a great boogie woogie piano. Talked about it in an early episode of this blog, if youre interested. Somehow survived Thanksgiving, though it was tense. Mark and Betsy (son and d.i.l.) cooked most of the food, which was great, although they substantially left us with the greasy clean-up. Enjoyed their company, though. The wife got a bit crabbly prior to, but mellowed out once the kids showed up. All in all, a nice time.

This is a boring entry, I guess, but not a lot to say. Will be interested to see Cadillac Records, a new movie about the early days of Chess Records. I like music biopics, like The Buddy Holly Story, in which Gary Busey makes up for all the subsequent insanity in his life. Also, there's one about Richie Havens, which is great, and I especially like Selena, starring Jennifer Lopez. She is great in that. Nobody to my knowledge has ever done a good one about the Beatles, so someone needs to step up.

Thanksgiving, it is, and God! I hate holidays. However, I am rightfully thankful for all that I have in life; a good wife, you stands by me (right or wrong), two good kids, two beautiful grandkids (6 and 11 yo girls), and enough money (for now). I also have my health, except for a few chronic, but hopefully not fatal, irritating conditions. A celebration of fall; everything is dying, hopefully to be renewed a few months hence. Not so tough in Fla., anyway. Later.

Some astronomers recently discovered some planets; large gas giants, orbiting a star on the fringe of the Milky Way, about 500 light years (500,000,000 miles) from Earth. Significance was Hubble was able to actually take pictures of them. Not closeups, but enough detail to identify them as planets. As Carl Sagan used to say, with "billions and billions" of stars, there must be "billions and billions" of planets out there, and some of them must harbor life. Maybe intelligent life, perhaps superior to our own. We are incredibly arrogant to assume we are the only intelligent life in the universe. They why hasn't someone tried to get in touch yet? Thats one of the great mysteries!

On a more picayune scale, I don't think we should bail out the U.S. automakers; let them go bankrupt, and finally make the painful adjustments called for in a capitalist economy, when you manage your company very poorly. Sorry for the pain of the employees, but they will lay off hundreds of thousands anyway.

I still can't stop listening to Neil. Just found a boot of 1995 concert of Neil with Pearl Jam - Great grunge! Love those feedback-laden guitars. Neil is distinguished from may by his songwriting, both melodic and interesting lyrics. Don't know anyone else whose abilities range so widely; from folk, through soft rock, country rock, country honk, r&b, through hard rock. He can also write a "message" song that doesn't chase you away.

I can relate well to this cartoon. Most of us are badly misunderstood. Oh well. Hopefully, Santa will give us a break this year; times are tough! I voted today, for Barack, of course - can't fathom the appeal of that old geezer, McCain, and that witch Palin. She needs to slink back to Alaska, and shoot wolves for fun. It will be a big relief not to be bombarded with politics all day and night. I hope Barack, and company, can get something accomplished, particularly health care for all Americans. Really, we need to get the insurance companies out of it entirely, put it all under Medicare, but that probably won't happen. At least, we need subsidized premiums that are realistic, and requirements for portability, inclusion of pre-existing conditions, and group ratings. There is no excuse for anyone not having access to quality health care. We need to join the rest of the civilized world in this. I am optimistic things will turn around now.

I havent posted in quite awhile, so thought I would throw in two pictures, going along with the "old time" theme I am on lately. Been thinking a lot about the past, my childhood, etc. Dad had a couple Fords in the 50's, which were good, sturdy cars. I learned to drive in his '49 Ford convertible, with stick shift on the floor. He had two 55 or 56 fords; a coupe, with a Thunderbird v-8, which could really haul. Also had a 56 wagon, which was good, too. We had a 64 Ford Falcon convertible, red, with white top; a nice care. I miss the old days, which were much richer for me than the present. Our kids (and grandkids) don't have the freedom we had, and they missed the birth and mutation of rock and roll in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. I was a witness and participant in the mid-20th century show, and really appreciate that gift from the maker.

This is what the British socialists think of Obama and McCain - all capitalist pigs to them, I guess. We know the difference, though. God help us in these troubled times. The lucky man and/or woman will lose this election. Its been a long time coming, as far as a new post goes, for me. Not much interesting to comment, except that I feel pretty good, having turned 62 and still kicking. Not sure I like my nest egg sinking, but hopefully, it will mostly come back over the next several years. I have a loving (if critical) wife, good kids, and two grandgirls (6, 11), so I'm not complaining. My folks are still alive, and living by themselvers (out of state), and my mom in law lives semi-independently, in her own home, in Sarasota. Hope this condition holds up for awhile.

Miscellany

Some old rockers, and a very old building. Nothing in common, except both old, like me. Old as the hills, and twice as dusty. Too old to cut the mustard anymore. However, there may be snow on the chimney, but there's still a fire in the furnace. My grandma had a coal bin in her basement. Coal truck would show up every year, and stick a coal chute through the basement window, directly into the coal bin. Her house was always hot in the winter, the way she liked it. I'm sure coal fired heat was dirty, but it was central PA., and nobody cared, in those days. I think they converted to fuel oil in the 60's. Not sure that's any great improvement, except way more expensive.

Friday

Here's acouple of kind of cool photos for you. Lightnin Hopkins was my favorite old blues man in the late 60's. He played a kind of slow, electrified country blues that appealed to me. My old pal, Chris called me "Lightnin Bill", because I liked to play slow blues, and appeared to be almost catatonic, and extremely laid back, a lot of the time. Still waters run deep, as they say.

Today is My Birthday, Today, Today!

Today is my Birthday! (I think I said that already) - 62, and still kickin. Above picture is going south on Rt 15, up the mountain in South Williamsport, Pa. I was born in Williamsport (the main town, accross the Susquehanna River). However, my earliest memories are a house on Market Street, in South Williamsport. Market Street was the main drag, after coming over the Market Street Bridge, and eventually turns into Rt 15. My grandma and grandpa Smith (Miffy and Pop), my mother's folks, lived one street over, on Howard Street, in a yellow brick duplex. I remember my grandma used to have a lot of flowers, including Holly Hocks, which you don't see these days. She was a great cook, in the german/pennsylvania dutch style, including chicken pot pie, shoo fly pie, etc. When she baked pies, she would bake the leftover crust with some cinnemon and suger, just for me, which I thought was great. I was the first grandkid in the family, and was treated like a little prince, for about 5 years, until Denise, my cousin, was born. My grandma Bastian (Nana), lived in Williamsport, and for years operated Molly Bastian's Gift Shop, I think on Third Street, downtown. She let me hang out with her over the years, and "help" in the store, which I thought was great. I think I wrote about that in an earlier posting. Turning 62 makes me reflect on those days. My grandparents are long gone now, but had a good run, both living to 95+, although my grandpas only made it into their 80's. Good genes for longevity, though, I tell myself. My folks still live in the area, in Montoursville, east of Williamsport, along the Susquehanna. Brother Steve still lives in Williamsport. We grew up mostly in Kansas City, and Endicott, New York. The folks returned to the Williamsport area years ago, and my brother Steve followed. Brother Scott lives in Endicott, and middle brother, Matt, unfortunately passed away about 10 years ago; only 35 or so. Man.