Where'd The Last Two Weeks Go?

Sorry for being dormant on the blog. We've been busy as all get out, playing the Columbus Society banquet and working on the new demo. Final mixdown tomorrow, and hopefully we can use this puppy to go get some work for Just Friends. I'll try and scare up some photos of the Hershey job and post them later. We had issues with some of the Italian material -- hey, it's been a year -- but David said we looked like The Who with all those lights on the stage, so that's cool.

I just saw that Soupy Sales passed away. Sad news, although I wouldn't have bet a lot on a game of "Live or Dead?" about him. One thing that cracked me up was the quote that, "He had a long and varied career after the show, with stints as a radio host and Broadway star (and, once, an expert witness in a court case that involved pie-throwing)." Man, I'd love to have reported that hearing. I do remember watching the show on 17th Street, in black and white, and him making the stick man out of the letters in the word Jello. What a shame they never kept those shows back then*; the DVD sales would have made his retirement a lot more comfortable.

*After publishing, I started poking around on Youtube and found this.

Prayer Request

Please remember our drummer, John Wilson, and his family in your prayers. His son Cory passed away yesterday morning at home after a long illness. John and Reita and the whole family have been through a rough time of it, and now that their son is out of pain and at home with the Lord, they can get some rest and hold on to the good memories of their boy. It's a rough way to make saints, but thank God for goodhearted people like the Wilsons. Please pray for them.

Woohoooooo!

I have a secret. I want to meet the Giant Foods "U-Scan Voice Lady" and kiss her full on the mouth. For years she's been nagging me, "Please place the item in the bag." "Please take the item out of the bag." "No." "You've done it wrong." "Please place the item back in the bag." "Can't you do anything right." "You moron." And then the kicker, "Remember to check for any coupons that may have been printed just for you." Of course, those coupons are usually for something about as useful as carbon paper, so I don't always do what the Voice Lady tells me to. It's my Sixties rebellious nature, I guess.

But today for some reason I decided to do what she said, and the coupon said, "Congratulations! You have won free groceries for a week." That translates to a $100 gift card, which is just all right with me. The customer service girl and some employees standing around got all excited when I cashed it in. Apparently I was the first winner out of the U-Scan, and one of the last ones for this promotion. The U-Scan cashier reminded me that it can be used for gas, too. What a day brightener. Thanks, U-Scan Voice Lady!

I promised you some pancake breakfast pics. Here they are.


Prince Theo the Hungry, finishing his third pancake. Grandma watches approvingly.


One of the better pictures of my little guy Travis. He was rocking the breakfast. Mary and Deven look like they're singing along to Mick Cochran, who was doing some great country songs while we ate.


Like the Carly Simon song says, "I had a dream, there were clowns in my coffee, clowns in my coffee...."

Facebook = Where Did The Last Hour Go?

After resisting for as long as I could, I joined Facebook. Man, if you like receiving e-mails, this is the deal for you. I am inundated with requests for this and that, making requests for this and that, and getting dozens of itty, bitty, teeny, tiny packets of data about people I care about. Thing is, I think I prefer my big ole sprawling comfortable blog, where a sentence is a sentence and a paragraph is a paragraph.

So, what's been happening? This past weekend was another Minnequa-Valencia doubleheader. The lights were a big hit with the band, and by the end of the night I felt like I was getting the hang of running them. Sunday night we had a great evening at the Valencia. Sid and Pat, the gentlemen who run the dance, seem pleased with how we're doing. We did have one guy who complained that we only did one waltz instead of at least four. I resisted the urge to point out that we did sing Happy Birthday to someone, so technically that was two waltzes, not one. Can't please everybody.

So much happening this past weekend! Friday evening we had Andie, Brian and Theo over for dinner to celebrate Andie's birthday one day early. Joreen made crabcakes that were delicious, and even more remarkable when you consider that she doesn't eat them.

Theo spent the night with us, and the next morning Mary, Joreen and I took the three grandboys to the Tall Cedars pancake breakfast at the Zembo Mosque. It brings back memories of when I was a kid and Mr. Fels, the security guard at Town and Country, used to give Mom tickets for us to go and eat there. Thanks to my brother Billy (also a Happy Birthday this past Monday) for remembering Mr. Fels' name. The boys had a blast. It's fun to watch the young'uns put on the feedbag. The Zembo clowns were there, and tried to traumatize Theo, but it didn't work. I'll post the picture later.

That afternoon, I went to the Little Buffalo Festival and saw The Gliders again. This entry is getting a little too sprawling, so I'll just say they were at least as good as last weekend, with the added bonus of being outdoors on a beautiful early autumn day. Kudos to Bob Martin and the volunteers who made it happen. It was old home week for me, with most of my good friends in attendance. As for seeing The Gliders in the future, to paraphrase their encore, "That may be the last time, I don't know." I hope not.

Now Just Friends is girding up our respective girdables for The Big One, the Italian-American Society Columbus Day banquet on Sunday. Of course, what's an October without some obstacle to overcome? I'm dealing with a head cold right now. Hopefully it will pass in time for me to be able to sing Sunday. We're working in a couple new Italian numbers at the last minute: Eh Cumpari, a novelty song that you might remember hearing as a kid, sung by Julius LaRosa; and another Sixties/Italian hybrid, Nights in White Satin with some Italian lyrics. If all goes well, we'll have some audio or video record of it to share in the future. If not, que sera sera, or whatever.