The Temper Trap- Sweet Disposition

You ever have one of those days?
You know the kind.
Everything's fine, then you come home from work and before you know it, you're so stressed out that you're wearing your shoulders as earrings and you want to kick the cat.
For me, not very often, thankfully.
But today...yes.
Wifey will tell you that I'm probably the most laid back guy she knows.
And I am.
Nothing seems to rattle me.
I guess you would say that I'm mostly a "glass half-full" kind of guy and I'm sure that helps.
I don't know what people that don't get adjusted do.
I'll be getting mines tomorrow.
I also don't know how people without Jesus in their life get by on a day-to-day.
The Prince of Peace surely gives me peace when I'm under pressure.
No, I didn't kick the cat. But I sure wanted to.
Maybe I should tie a drum set together and shove it off a tall building like the guys in the video.
Nah...too much work.
Here, kitty kitty.

Joel Gray- Wonderful

Wifey and I watched "Shakespeare In Love" a couple of nights ago.
It was much better than I expected.
Not that I don't enjoy love stories or Shakespeare.
I actually like both.
I just hadn't heard anything about it.
The one thing that it left me with was a desire to do some acting.
When I was a kid, I did a few plays for my church.
I hadn't done anything in a long time until recently I had a part in a skit that was done at a men's weekend retreat.
It turned out to be alot of fun.
One of these days, when life slows down and the kids are grown, I may pursue some "neighborhood playhouse" type parts.
Until then, I'll just enjoy watching others.
This is from the musical, "Wicked".
Joel Gray, the multi-award winning actor/singer from "Cabaret", "Good Time Charley", and "Chicago" stars as "The Wizard".

Neutral Milk Hotel- In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

If I were to make a list of songs that you probably have never heard, but should, this song would make the cut.
It has a catchy pop/folksy melody and lyrics that recall a young Bob Dylan.
"What a beautiful face
I have found in this place
That is circling all round the sun..."
Neutral Milk Hotel were only together for a few years in the 90's.
The band was formed by Jeff Mangum, who helped form the successful "Elephant 6 Recording Company" in Athens, GA.
Despite growing popularity, the group disbanded in 1999 after Mangum became disenchanted with touring and the music press, later having a nervous breakdown.
After this, the band had no choice but to turn down all requests for shows, including a support slot for REM.
Let me know what you think.

Toots & The Maytals- Monkey Man

I went to chiropractic school with a guy named Clarence.
He went by the name, Mac.
Mac was one of my best friends in chiro school.
If we had a long break between classes, we would go by his apartment and play tennis or just chill.
I met my Wifey during the time when we were in school.
Mac said that he knew it was serious when I stopped saying, "Hey, baby" every time we drove past his apartment pool and there were girls laying out.
He once "led" some of us on a spelunking "expedition" in North Georgia.
(Notice the quotes)
On one of our breaks between semesters, he and I drove up to West Virginia and spent some time with his grandparents. This was when I first had sausage gravy.
We hiked along the New River Gorge one day and played basketball at his in-laws church another day.
We were about the same level at both tennis and basketball, so it was always great to engage in friendly competition.
Mac practices outside of Washington DC and we got to see he and his family a few years back when we were in town for a conference.
He had many nicknames back in the day.
One of which was Mac the Monkey Man.

Everything But The Girl- Missing

O, Summer where art thou?
I am a warm weather kind of guy.
I believe that's why God put me in the South.
But now, Summer has said "goodbye".
And cooler mornings and nights are upon us.
I used to love Fall. You know..."football weather".
I still do, I guess.
Now, for me, though..it just means that Winter is near.
I told Wifey this morning that if it gets any cooler in the mornings that she was going to start having to walk the dog.
She said, "Ha!" and started looking for something to throw at me.
Seriously, though, I think last night was the last night for open windows.
The floor was a bit cold for my piggies this morning.
Last night I told Wifey that I was going to try and not complain about the cold weather this year. I said that I think that I complained too much last year.
She just said, "Ya think?!"
Summer...just know that you are missed.
That's all I'm gonna say about that.
For now.

Lady Gaga- Poker Face

There's no two ways about it---strange sells.
Case in point: Lady Gaga (or as Wifey unaffectionately calls her, Lady Gag).
Now, I can understand that not everybody goes for those that wear meat.
PETA, for instance.
But, there are lots that do, apparently.
Earlier this year she drew the largest crowd ever to attend a Today Show concert at Rockefeller Center. An estimated 20,000 gathered, some more than 33 hours earlier, and some from as far away as Ireland and South Africa. She reportedly sent pizzas to those fans, her "Little Monsters" that waited overnight to see her.
Just a few years earlier, she was living in a cheap New York apartment.
Now, she has sold 25 million single songs and put out two triple-platinum albums.
She has 5 million followers on Twitter and 10 million on Facebook — the most of any person on earth. She holds the record for most YouTube views.
Yes, people strange sells.
Not that she's not talented.
She learned piano at the age of 4. At age 17, she gained early admission to the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and lived in a NYU dorm on 11th Street. There she studied music and improved her songwriting skills by composing essays and analytical papers focusing on topics such as art, religion, social issues and politics.
So, yes she's talented. And talented only sells when you get noticed.
I think Lady Gaga has been noticed.

Delaney & Bonnie- Poor Elijah-Tribute To Johnson

Eric Clapton was frustrated.
It was the end of the year, 1969, and he was right where he didn't want to be.
He had just agreed to form the group "Blind Faith" with his bud Steve Winwood.
And he was on tour.
The problem was that he had just split from the band, "Cream", and he was convinced by Winwood to let former "Cream" member Ginger Baker in the band to play drums. He did this against his word to another former "Cream" member Jack Bruce.
So this was one issue Clapton was struggling with.
Another was the fact that "Blind Faith" was newly formed and didn't have enough material to fill an hour. So they had to play old "Cream" and old "Traffic" (Winwood's band) tunes.
On top of all that, they haven't had alot of time to rehearse so Clapton felt their performances were sub-par.
One of the groups that were on tour with them was a husband and wife duo named "Delaney and Bonnie". D and B were a soulful, folksy, rock and roll blues group out of Los Angeles.
Clapton really took a liking to them.
So much so, that he would go onstage when D an B were on and jam with them, because he said, "they were so much better than we (Blind Faith) were."
Here is a jam session with Delaney and Bonnie, Clapton, and Dave Mason from Traffic.