Happy Birthday, Jim and Tina

Sunday afternoon, we attended a surprise 60th birthday party for Jim and Tina Wallish, my brother David's in-laws. They are really great folks. I'm personally grateful to Tina for her kindness to me while I was in the hospital in '03. She was a big help in navigating the paperwork stream and just being a friendly face when I certainly needed one.

Jim is a long-time friend and former coworker of Vince's, and a musician in his own right, having played trombone in the Navy Band. Recently he has been playing guitar and performing with the Lower Paxton Parks Department band, as well as working on recording projects with Tina, brother Dave and Kathy.

The birthday party was organized by Kathy, shown here with her own birthday present. A trendsetter if ever I saw one.



Kathy put together a slideshow of photos from Jim and Tina's childhood to the present. I don't want to hear about how home movies are boring; I love looking at old photos of people I know. It's cool to check out the cars, fashions, and other traces of the past in those pictures.

Here is a really cool photo of Prince Theo and his Great-Uncle Bill. The grandboy was a charmer all afternoon, even though he had a bit of a cold, and his Great-Aunt Ginny gets thanks for holding him while we ate, in fact getting him to conk out for a while.

Dad and Rose were at the party (sorry, no pictures) and we talked about the upcoming road trip Dad, my brothers and I are taking to Notre Dame. More on that later.

Happy birthday and many happy returns to the the Wallishes -- including Kathy, whose birthday is today.

Singles Dance in Lancaster

Just Friends played at the Quality Inn Lancaster for the New Singles, at the invitation of Sid Miller. This being a Halloween party, the dress code was somewhere between colorful and bizarre. The band came dressed as musicians, of course.


We were so busy rocking the crowd, there were few chances to take photos. These were all taken during the percussion break in Hot, Hot, Hot, including this rare photo of Barry and Mark gettin' down and funky.



The focus of these events is for singles to be able to dance and socialize, and they are well organized and well attended. In addition to the live music, there are pre-recorded dance segments designed to encourage people to dance with and meet other dancers. The crowd is enthusiastic and appreciative of good music. Sid does a great job of providing a welcoming and friendly environment for everyone.

We will be playing regularly for the New Singles Dances throughout the coming year. For more information, their web site is http://newsingles3.tripod.com/index.html .

Things That Make You Feel Older Than Dirt

This morning Scott Henning of the law firm of Handler, Henning & Rosenberg came to a hearing with a young man I'd never seen before. After the hearing, Henning introduced this guy to Judge Weyl as a new associate, recently passed the Bar exam, and gave his name as Adam Reedy. Instantly I saw the resemblance, and said to him, "Are your parents Ron and Maria?" He said, "Yes." I told him to tell his mother that I said hi. Now, excuse me while they wheel me into the day room. Man, I feel like Methuselah.

Trick or Treat

Behold the Ninja Brothers, doing battle on Grandma's porch. Just out of sight of the camera is Ninja DeeDee saying, "Watch you don't poke an eye out with those damn things."


On a pretty much perfect night for trick-or-treating, we received a small but high-quality number of children in costume. The mind reels, thinking of years gone by when my brothers and I, and later my daughters and I would go scarfing mass quantities of sugar. It's nice to see that some kids still go to the trouble of going out and getting free candy. These two angels are actually members of the St. Catherine Laboure Contemporary Choir, and they sing so well they should be getting paid for it. Prince Theo needs no candy, as he is only now beginning to teethe (is that a word?).

The blog has been kind of flaccid lately, and I apologize. Just Friends played the annual Columbus Day banquet at the Hershey Convention Center, and the light was so horrible that of all the photos I took this was the only one postable (is that a word?), but these are two true Italians, so it's appropriate. If Joreen ever manages to coax a useful DVD file from her camera, you will be able to hear Vince sing "Tu Vuo Fa L'Americano" and you'll be a better person for it.

A reminder to our friends: Just Friends will be playing at the Lawnton Legion on November 10th. If you want to come hear us on our home turf, let me know and we will put you on the list at the door. For our Mendoza friends, Thanksgiving darts is on. Plan accordingly.

Hersheypark Happy

Now, that's what we call a stage. Thanks to Hersheypark for providing this playground for us. September 8th was our first opportunity to play the amphitheatre during the regular park season and it was a blast. Even the people who didn't catch T-shirts loved us.


The band was in fine form. Playing is always better than anything else we do, but this day was especially enjoyable from start to finish.

All of us played at the top of our game, but special mention has to go to Vince for his soprano sax solo during Zoot Suit Riot. It was amazing.


We'd like to thank all our family and friends who made the effort to come support us, all the new friends we made that day, and the sound engineers, Bill and Carl, who were extremely helpful and provided top-notch sound.


More photos are available at this Flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66913936@N00/sets/72157602314268050/

These are "warts and all photos" unedited, at least for now. I'm still on the learning curve with this stuff.

A gentle reminder: it's not too early to make plans to celebrate New Year's Eve with Just Friends. We have tickets in hand and we would hate to see anybody miss out. For more information, contact us at http://www.justfriendsband.com/ or speak to your favorite band member when you get a chance.

Finally, John and Joreen are working on the band's new e-mail list (and apologize for the delay). We will soon be contacting those who have provided their e-mail address to us, keeping you in the loop of when and where the band will be appearing, and other news and information.