July 6 Playing For Change

I am way behind on updates, check this site out. A record producer recorded street musicians from around the world and combined their versions of some great songs into a collection of cool videos. The proceeds go to building music schools in impoverished areas. A CD is now available from this site or Amazon.com

July 5 Wilco The Album

Wilco is one of my favorite bands. They do something that is very rare in today's music landscape. They don't make hit singles, they make great albums. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely songs that could be hit singles but they don't play that type of game with the record companies. They famously had to buy back from their record company the Yankee Foxtrot Hotel album. The record label said they didn't hear any hit songs so they refused to release it. Wilco had to pay their label to give them back that album. Then they released it for free on the internet and when it was finally released as a CD, it became their top selling CD at the time. This and many other stories like it make me wonder why bands even deal with the big record labels anymore. Over the years Wilco has made some 'serious' music. They have experimented with different instruments, sounds and song structures. To use a record review cliché here, they have returned to their alt country roots with their latest CD, Wilco (The Album). Just to prove that they have a sense of humor and not everything they release has to be scrutinized seriously, the first track is called Wilco (The Song). Once again, they have made a great album. If you are not familiar with them but are a fan of good music, check them out. Let me know what you think of them.

July 4 Independence Day

Happy Birthday to my favorite country.

July 3 Same Old Shit

There are some who believe I have exaggerated how crappy our weather has been this year.

June 22nd

July 4th - I know this is my July 3rd post, but it has rained just hard enough all day long to fuck up everyone's plans.

June 19th

July 3rd

July 2nd

June 26th and these are just the days I took a picture of the weather.

July 2 The Big Game

We played the first place team tonight. Last summer they trounced us and taunted us while doing it. This summer we got some revenge with a 6-3 victory. Since it is a holiday weekend, we were missing several regulars but the part timers stepped up in their absence. The team had it's best performance in quite awhile and it was topped off by Ian McDonnell's stellar performance. Ian scored 4 goals. He also had a highlight reel goal where he used a spin-o-rama move to beat two defenders and followed it by undressing a defenseman in the slot then beating the goalie. The team back checked throughout the game and Pat O'Gorman continued his solid play this season. I took a few bench shots tonight and one of our new mascot, the Gnome.

July 1 Walking The Dogs

Because of the weather this week, I'm losing my will to live. 48 straight hours of gray clouds, scattered showers and misty rain and the cherry on top of this crap, it's barely 60 degrees for the high. I feel exhausted and quite frankly depressed. So I decided to take the dogs for a walk through my neighborhood. Hell I had no idea what to write about today, so I took a few pictures.

Here's me and yes I'm wearing a hoodie on the first of July. There is no God, just in case you were wondering.
There is no Santa Claus either, but he has a house on the next block. He is only available between Thanksgiving & Christmas. I know you thought he lived at the North Pole and maybe he summers there. But Lansing is really his home, he helicopters into our airport, then there is a parade to his little house shown here. I'm not making this up, it really happens.

I know the message they are trying to convey. I just think it could have been worded better. Your probably thinking these people edit my blog. Hell I'm thinking they would do a better job than me.
This sign is posted in an empty lot around the corner. It says "Dog Waste is a threat to the health of our children". I'm sure it is if you raised your children to believe it is okay to pick up stray dog shit and eat it. If your kids are that stupid, maybe eating dog crap isn't their biggest problem. Just for the record, I always pick up my dog's waste and wish everyone else would too. I just don't believe it is a major threat to the health of our children.

June 30 Just Plain Disgusting

Words really can't describe this picture correctly. So let me just say viewer discretion is advised. I bought a wet suit and here it is....