Music For Dinner

We decided to go out to dinner last night. We went to a new place nearby called the Silver Moon Diner. While the service was a bit questionable, I gotta tell you that the food was fantastic. I ordered broiled flounder stuffed with crab and there was so much of it that I could not eat it all. Everything tasted great. While we were eating, we fed a dollar into the game/music jukebox that was located in our booth. To my surprise, the musical options were staggering..........and lo and behold......I saw a list of my favorites. It is really unusual to find complete Todd Rundgren & Utopia albums on a jukebox in a diner. I selected the Utopia "Ra" album and the very long song entitled "Singring & The Glass Guitar". Imagine that............I was in heaven. Fantastic music to go with fantastic food makes for a fantastic dinner. Hats off to the folks at the Silver Moon Diner.


Here is a photo of Utopia back in the day................if you have never heard them, you have missed much. Chances are.........you most likely have heard these guys and never knew it. They were the musicians on the Meat Loaf album "Bat Out Of Hell". Also, Todd Rundgren was the producer of that album.

I ran across this picture on the internet. I swear I saw this same guy at the grocery store the other day.

Oh well, it is snowing here again...............this is where, as a Baltimoreon, I am supposed to go immediately to the grocery store and buy up all of the toilet paper, milk, and bread.

Until next time.........

Signtopia's Gotta Tell Ya

I don't know about you folks.........but I figure sooner or later there will be a movie about Dionne Warwick.......uh.......Warwicke.....uh.........Warwick. (I almost had a psychic moment there....hehehe)

........and I figure if they make that movie, they are gonna need somebody that can act and even have a certain resemblence to Dionne Warwick. No..........not Halle Berry.........no, not Fantasia........no, not Whitney.............not even the late great Esther Rolle.

The best bet would be this man........

Samuel L. Jackson. Imagine that.........Samuel L. Jackson as Dionne Warwick. Slap a little high yellow makeup on him and let him have at it. He could even get an Oscar.

I enjoy laughing. I love all kinds of humor. Somebody needs to explain to me what it is that they are doing over at Saturday Night Live. SNL has not been funny in years. Having said that, they had only been funny here and there. Apparently there is somebody that decides what they will be doing on that show...........that person needs a new job. If you or I had that job and did the same lousy job as he or she does.....we would be fired. The writers of that show, also need to go. I find it hard to believe that they cannot attract some decent comedy writers. I am now wondering if these are the same people that run the music industry. They are obviously out of touch with the population. First off, the show comes on Saturday Nights.........and everybody knows who is at home on a Saturday Night watching TV.........certainly NOT the target market of the program........they happen to be out having a good time and not watching television.

There is nothing fresh about SNL.....nothing. It is as stale as the popcorn found in a ghetto movie theater in 1973. They should stick a fork in the show and call an end to it. It just is NOT funny anymore. I would rather watch reruns of the old Dean Martin Roasts.........now THOSE were funny.

Oh....and by the way.........has anyone noticed that Greta Van Susteren of FoxNews is unable to say "Anna Nicole Smith"? She repeatedly says "Ann Nicole" or "Anna Cole".

Also, there are a few pictures they keep running of that same Anna Nicole Smith that look exactly like Nicole Simpson..........I bet OJ flips out when he sees those...........come to think of it....maybe OJ killed Anna Nicole too.

And that shooting incident in a Utah shopping mall............I wonder why the major media isn't telling us the complete story. The moron that did the shooting is reported to be a "troubled youth". They never tell us that he is a MUSLIM and he performed a TERRORIST ACT. Ask the people in the mall if they were terrorized. Of course they were. I think that it is about time the truth be reported.

Until next time..............stay reasonable.

Grammy Nonsense

Oh well, another year.......another prime example of bogosity wafts throughout the airwaves. At this point, it is rather difficult to remember when exactly it last was when the Grammy Awards were important, relevant, and actually having anything to do with quality of music.

For some odd reason, I decided to tune into the annual Grammy Awards show last night at the risk of being called a masochist. Actually, the Grammys is like a bad accident on the highway........when you pass by, you just have to bend your neck and have a look. That's a shame ain't it? The Grammy Awards should attract an audience because of an anticipated excellence, quality and achievements that are worthy of recognition. Instead, the Grammys is a bad accident. I find it difficult to believe that there are not hordes of people that really really know that the Grammy Awards are bogus. We all knew that officially back when Jethro Tull won Best Hard Rock Group several years back. Interestingly, this year, the winner of the Rock Group category was the Red Hot Chili Peppers......hehehe......one of whom, by the way, upon accepting the award...said "we need some more rock groups!" as if there wasn't any. Well if the media moguls that run the Grammy would have it their way, as they already have, you will never ever hear about all of the numerous rock groups out there. They never get airplay......and this has been the problem all along, hasn't it? The very same people that are in charge of the Grammys are the very same people that ruined the initial concept of MTV. I haven't heard any "music" on MTV in years.

It should be no surprise that my own favorite music to listen to never gets airplay. The musicians never win awards either. Oddly, those same musicians operate outside of the control of the big music industry conglomerates. Some of those musicians have managed themselves rather nicely for many, many years. Example: Consider Todd Rundgren. I cannot even comprehend exactly what Todd would have to do to get recognition for his efforts from the folks at the Grammys. Musically, Rundgren has always been on the cutting edge, a pioneer..........a musician whose sounds are often copied by others. Aside from being a great musician and vocalist, he happens to be a great producer. Strangely, not many people are aware of this. XTC's Skylarking, Grand Funk Railroad, and Meat Loaf! to name a few he has produced. The same industry that rejects Rundgren's efforts also once rejected the Bat Out Of Hell album. Idiots! That album went on to be one of the largest selling albums in history and started a franchise that continues to this very day.

So instead of watching a program where I would be in awe of the performers onstage, the only reason for me to have any "awe" was how so many talentless morons were able to be considered worthy enough to perform and be presenters.

If ever there was a sign of the end.........this is one of them.

Music isn't dead.........yet.........but they sure want us to think it is. Meanwhile, I shall be listening to folks like Todd Rundgren, David Sancious, Kate Bush, and others like them...........oh.......and I discovered something recently...........it appears that other countries have much more appreciation for great musicianship. So I figured I would listen to music from around the world instead of any radio. Sorry........I just cannot support the morons that run the music industry in the USA. If my radio is on, it's on talk radio.

Therefore......the 100% Certified Bogosity Award goes to the Grammys.

.............they should be ashamed of themselves.

Bee Gees - I Could Not Love You More - Wetten Dass 1997

Valentine's Day is coming upon us. It is appropriate for me to to dedicate this video to my wife, the love of my life and owner of my heart.

Assorted Ramblings

Here are a few things I just have to mention today:

They might as well cut to the chase and create the "Law & Order" Channel.

While they are at it..........a "CSI" Channel, too.

I used to think MSNBC's Chris Matthews was at least worth watching now and again.........but not any more. "Hardball" sucks more than ever before. Somebody needs to tell Matthews that his infatuation with uttering the name "Scooter Libby" as if it is the most important thing to do every day.....well.....maybe Matthews could sit down with Keith Olbermann and actually watch some of the other news programs and take notice that there are other more serious issues out there that they need to be telling people about. (hint hint........as in there are people on the planet that want to kill Americans including Matthews and Olbermann)

I visited my cardiologist for my annual checkup. He said "See you next year". Sounds good to me.

I also went to the Maryland Motor Vehicles Administration offices to renew the license tags on my car. For the first time in history, I only spent fifteen minutes there! Later that evening it snowed!.....no kidding! On a sad note.........the next day I read in the local newspaper where the Motor Vehicle Administration announced that because of more stringent requirements regarding driver's licenses, we will all be spending more time in line at their offices. One step forward.....three steps back!

I am irritated by all of the yack on the news about the idiots that want to be President. We are nowhere near an election yet and people are trying to tell us who is in the lead! Did I miss something somewhere?

Regarding those news polls.............they have never called me....not even once! I wonder just who they have been calling?

It is almost laughable how people on tv rant and rave and whine about how many of our soldiers have been killed in Iraq...........all the while these same morons haven't expressed any outrage about the number of people killed in Baltimore every year. They also have no complaints about the thousands of deaths every year resulting from lousy driving, the flu, pneumonia, heart attacks, poison, etc, etc.

There is a part of me that gets irritated when tornado victims say "God protected us!" Part of me wants to scream out "If God was protecting you, there would not have been a tornado" or "If God was looking out for you, He would have prevented you from buying that trailer"

It's hard to believe it's February already! I still have candy canes to eat.

Da Bears blew it.

And how about that Purple Publisher, Prince. Prince is now a Jehovah's Witness. Most people probably did not notice that during his performance during halftime at the Super Bowl, Prince threw in a snippet of Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower". Well I noticed. I noticed how he managed to insert his own words into that song....."allllll along the watchtower......"and I've picked up a few". Apparently he has. I wonder how all of the other Jehovah's Witnesses out ther felt seeing one of their own strutting around in a pimp suit on top of his own personal icon which was designed to reflect the male and female in him.......hmmm. And did you notice that "do-rag" on his head? I did.....and then it hit me.........he is copying Little Richard. By the way, I wonder if Prince wears those high heels when he goes door to door on Saturday mornings. Ain't he special?

Oh well.....I feel much better now having said this stuff.


Have a look at some of God's artwork.

Lady Lake Tornado

Last night I was using my computer and doing some random searches for stuff, for no particular reason.......just out of boredom, I suppose. I always check for latest news reports and stuff like that. After getting my fill of news, I decided to check for some stuff on You Tube. I, of course searched for videos about Baltimore and some of my favorite musicians....to see if there was anything new out there..........and for the first time, I searched the word "Maryland". To my surprise, I saw some videos listed for a cheerleading squad that just so happens to be the very same cheerleading squad that my daughter had been a cheerleader and coach with for many years. It brought back memories of hauling my daughter back and forth to dozens and dozens of practice sessions and competitions. Of course, her cheerleading squad was one of the nation's very best.........snicker snicker.

I got tired of looking at You Tube stuff and went back to searching Google for stuff at random. I had no particular reason to do a search for the town of Lady Lake, Florida.......except for the fact we lived there for a few years back in the early eighties. I figured I would see what was up with the town. Well, outside of news stories about retirement communities and the local police chief asking for money for more high powered rifles.........there wasn't much happening. This was about midnight and I got tired and went to bed. By the way, that Lady Lake Police Chief is none other than a guy named Ed Nathanson. Ed was once an employee of mine. I hired him as a bouncer when I managed a liquor store and lounge in Leesburg, Florida. At the time, he was attending training classes so he could become a cop. As it was, at that time, I don't believe Lady Lake had more than two officers and he became one of them. Ed was a pretty decent guy and I am sure he still is.

So I wake up this morning to look at the television and see where Lady Lake, Florida was decimated by tornadic weather at about 3 A.M. I was shocked! I saw the pictures and watched and listened closely to see if I could recognize anyone or any buildings. I couldn't.....of course alot of that area has changed alot over the years and I probably wouldn't recognize much of it at this point anyway, BUT, on FOXnews I heard them interview a woman on the phone. She was the manager of a Dunkin' Donuts (they didn't have one of those in Lady Lake when I lived there) and she mentioned that she was particularly upset because one of her friends who "owns a nursery, lost her mother.........and the nursery was destroyed". Lady Lake is not a huge place, in fact, when I lived there it was a wide place in the road....so to speak.........a speed trap along 27/441. But when I lived there, I lived in an upstairs apartment.....above the NURSERY! It was called Cange's Nursery and it was right next to the building that was a "miniature castle"......right down the street from the log cabin. My apartment was at the very same northern part of Lady Lake that was being spoken about as having been destroyed overnight.

It is pretty strange to see people live in a small, somewhat perfect world and in the blink of an eye......a few seconds...........it is all gone. Nature can be good and can be very bad. Those people are gonna need alot of help....it is amazing that anyone survived. So what does all of this have to do with me searching the internet last night?..........

I cannot explain why I happened to search "Lady Lake" on the internet news last night BEFORE the destruction.

I cannot explain it except to say it was all a "coincidence"..............
.........one problem with that explanation..........remember that cheerleading squad I mentioned above?.............the squad's name is the Maryland "TWISTERS" and their logo is a tornado........so now I have absolutely NO explanation for THAT.

I just do not know what to make of it.

See the nice picture above.

It is a nice picture of bubble wrap.

People love to pop bubble wrap.

You can pop bubble wrap now without actually having any.

Go ahead...you know you wanna......you cannot resist....... www.virtual-bubblewrap.com/popnow.shtml

Les Dawson - Melody Hour - British Comedy

Wouldn't it be nice if television was like this again?