Midnight Music Club # 4 - Dan Hicks - I Scare Myself

He may be the only really hip person there is. Dan Hicks was with San Francisco band The Charlatans and left in 1968 to form Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks with violinist David LaFlamme. This band was a cult favorite because of their both funny and wonderful original songs. My favorite release from that time is "Last Train To Hicksville." Dan works with only the best players and singers and the way they work is amazing. In a live show the music is enhanced by their low key antics. Here's the band doing "I Scare Myself" :

Happy Birthday A. Lincoln - We Honor You, Cracks And All

He was in his time the most popular and the most disliked American. "Abraham Lincoln was one of the four most hated presidents in U.S. history, the other three are Andrew Jackson, Harry Truman and George W. Bush." , explained James Cornelius, curator of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. He is now, without question, our most beloved and respected citizen.

"Looking For Lincoln" is Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s quest to piece together Lincoln’s complex life. The 2-hour documentary airs on PBS television on Feb. 11, 2009, it can be viewed online now here in it's entirety. There are over 14,000 biographies of Lincoln, more than on any other person in the worlds history. In this new PBS video we see a Lincoln that will disappoint some and enrage at least a few. Viewers will find not an iconic hero but a human with all the normal faults and fears ( and sometimes extreme fears ) that we all have.
Lincoln has been described as the representative American, he's a representative human and like all a mixture of elements of courage and fear, wisdom and folly, accomplishments and mistakes. Many of his speeches were poetry and his personal writings were sublime in their wisdom and sensitivity. Witness :

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

A progressive theorist but coldly realistic thinker who stayed within and shared many of the accepted prejudices of his time. One will see here some cracks and chips in the complexion of the marble iconic figure that carried the nation on his back for over four years. Acknowledging these cracks does not diminish his place in history nor the value of either his service or his example to us.
Bob Dylan said " Woody Guthrie was my first hero, he taught me that there were no heroes." People are only human, but some, when needed, when called by History, like Lincoln, can be heroic.

Cold / Warm - Cat In A Box

When it was doing this outside



Shadow aka Pete the neighbor cat came inside to find a warm spot for a nap.

Laying in a warm bed of antique papers.

Pittsburgh Steelers And The Joy Of Six

Pittsburgh is the first team in NFL history to win a sixth Lombardi Trophy, surpassing the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, each with five.

PITTSBURGH (AP and other sources) — Gold and black-clad fans with Steelers' iconic Terrible Towels waving in the air or tucked into their back pockets partied into the early morning hours Monday in an impromptu block party across Pittsburgh to celebrate the team's historic sixth Super Bowl win.Thousands of people gathered in the city's Oakland neighborhood near the University of Pittsburgh and also along the quirky strip of bars known as the South Side. City officials had anticipated the large crowds, and had about 400 police on the streets as a precaution. Moments after the Steelers sealed the 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Tampa, revelers poured out of area bars, and some broke out in song, bellowing Queen's We are the Champions.The city's Oakland section, near the University of Pittsburgh, was ground zero for post-game revelry, where thousands flooded the streets, waving the yellow and gold and lighting what they could on fire. Police, who has barricaded several streets so that fans could celebrate without jumping on cars, reported no major incidents, just a few good-natured couch fires.

Down in Tampa, the Super Bowl itself went off with minimal bad behavior, as less than 30 fans were arrested, including two who tried to snatch someone else's tickets and sneak their way into the big game, and one particularly drunk driver who somehow managed to drive her way into a police horse.
Police in riot gear patrolled the South Side on bikes and in cars, letting the loud and rowdy
celebration run its course. Jim Jacobs, 43, had his 8-year-old son, Marcus, on his shoulders and 9-year-old Luke by his side. We're going to have a hard time getting them up for school tomorrow, and they are home schooled," Bars were packed in the area popular with college students and the 20-something crowd, with music blaring. One man carried a life-size cutout of President Barack Obama, with a Terrible Towel draped around the neck, while a one-man band played in the middle of a blocked-off street and photos of players were projected onto the sides of buildings.

The Pennsylvania politicians who watched the Super Bowl at a White House party with President Barack Obama gave high marks to the team and the Fan-in-Chief. Mr. Obama had declared his allegiance to the Steelers before the Super Bowl."It was great, just a real honor to be able to watch the Super Bowl with the Steelers in it anywhere, but it was that much more of an honor to watch it at the White House," said Sen. Bob Casey, of Scranton. Mr. Casey brought four Terrible Towels and Eat 'n Park cookies to bring a bit of Pittsburgh to D.C. Mr. Casey said the event was "99 percent social." "The president was paying close attention," he said. "I think he saw every play."

Ah, the Super Bowl, gotta love a night that includes couch fires, driving into a horse, and dozens
of arrests, but is considered surprisingly orderly.

Here is how some of America’s leading sports pundits saw the Steelers’ triumph:

Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times: “In the end Sunday night, with Pittsburgh dancing and Arizona moaning and America struck dumb with the true spectacle of it all, Super Bowl XLIII will
overwhelmingly be remembered for one thing. It was the greatest. From a stirring national anthem to a tingling late finish, the Steelers’ 27-23 victory over the Cardinals was the greatest Super Bowl ever, one whose Roman numbers should have been XXL for its double-extra-large helping of theatrics and dramatics.”

Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports: “The fourth quarter had been a disaster for the Steelers, 16 unanswered points, a tiring defense and an offense that couldn’t get out of its own way. A lesser team would’ve crumbled. A weaker-minded group would’ve pointed fingers. Anything less than a champion would’ve let the Cardinals momentum wash right over them. (Ben) Roethlisberger had no such concerns. He knew his guys. He gathered the team before that final drive, embraced the opportunity and dared his teammates. This was their chance. It’s one drive for the Super Bowl, who doesn’t want this?”

Mark Kriegel, FoxSports.com: “Hines Ward might be the soul of the Steelers. Larry Fitzgerald, who now owns Jerry Rice’s single-season playoff records, might be the best receiver in football. But as the night moved toward its finale, Santonio Holmes kept telling himself this was his game. And so it was.”

Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com: “Do you have any idea how hard it is to win a Super Bowl? The
Steelers have now won a record-breaking six of them, two in the past four years. Fifteen of the
NFL’s 32 franchises have never won one. Five have never even advanced to the game. So trying to put an Iron City six-pack into perspective is like trying to comprehend Michelangelo’s Sistine
Chapel or Rod Blagojevich’s hair. Some things are beyond explanation.”

Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel: “In these trying economic times, how can you not feel good that
it’s the Steelers who have become the model franchise in all of professional sports? Some other of the NFL’s other dynastic franchises have come and gone, but the Steelers just keep coming. The Dallas Cowboys? They make headlines because their quarterback dates Jessica Simpson, but they haven’t won a playoff game in a dozen years.”

Other Quotes from the news:

Steelers football is 60 minutes. It’s never going to be pretty.

At 36-years-old, Tomlin is the youngest coach to lead a team to a Super Bowl victory.

Making his annual Groundhog's Day appearance Monday in Punxsutawney, Pa., Phil gazed out at a cheering crowd and "saw his shadow," the event's announcer said, signaling more winter to come, CNN reported. "After casting a joyful eye towards thousands of his faithful followers, Phil proclaimed that his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers were world champions one more time," the announcer said, adding, "And as he looked, 'a bright sky above me showed my shadow beside me. So six more weeks of winter it will be.

I just checked a map -- I had no idea Tampa was a suburb of Pittsburgh.

It was, in a word, marvelous. And none of the above even accounts for Jennifer Hudson's national anthem, the wave to the crowd by the members of that U.S. Airways flight crew who pulled off the Miracle on the Hudson . . . and, of course, the Boss, Bruce Springsteen,

This Ben Roethlisberger is one part bull rider, one part whirling dervish and three parts all man.

Harrison, the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year, picked off Kurt Warner's pass in the end zone and rumbled 100 yards the other way for a touchdown. That play was the longest in Super Bowl history .

The big apple is celebrating the Pittsburgh Steelers' big win on Sunday.In honor of the Steelers' Super Bowl win, the Empire State Building is shining its tower lights in yellow and white from dusk until midnight on Monday

A little more information on that Terrible Towel guy.
Myron Cope left behind something far more personal than a legacy of terrycloth, a battle flag for
a city and its team. In 1996, he handed over the trademark to the Terrible Towel to the Allegheny Valley School. It is a network of campuses and group homes across Pennsylvania for people with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities. It receives almost all the profits from sales of the towels. “It’s an incredible help for us,” a spokesman said. “We’re a nonprofit organization, and our primary funding is through Medicaid. While Medicaid is very good to people with disabilities, it is limited in what it will cover.” Myron Cope wanted the money to go not for construction projects, but for individual assistance for residents. Recent purchases include high-end specialized wheelchairs and sensory programs that allow severely disabled residents,including quadriplegics, to perform tasks such as turning on lights or music with a movement of their eyes.
Hundreds of thousands of the towels, trademarked as “Myron Cope’s the Official Terrible Towel”, are sold every year, for about $7 each. Through the Steelers, who handle the marketing of the towels, the school receives a check every month, usually for tens of thousands of dollars. Before this season, Allegheny Valley School had received more than $2.5 million from the towels since 1996.Roughly $1 million of that came during and immediately after the 2005 season, when the Steelers won Super Bowl XL. This season is likely to top that.

Thats part of the Steelers story too. It is always noted that the Steelers reflect their community of fans' personality. One never reads that about any other football team.

The celebration continues with a parade in downtown Pittsburgh at noon on Tuesday. Come and celebrate a wonderful success story in these lean and cold days. Come and be joyful.

I told you so !

Pittsburgh Steelers - Tonight's The Night

When the Pittsburgh Steelers win tonight they will have won more Super Bowls than any other team.

The Steelers ride into their third American Football Conference championship game in five years tonight, their fourth in seven years, their sixth since 1994, and their 14th since the original cast of football icons led by Franco Harris himself mapped out a sporting empire in the 1970.

The line: Steelers by 6.
Series: Steelers lead, 17-10, including 1-0 in playoffs.
The skinny: Teams have met three times in the same season 18 times, with 11 sweeps. ...

The Ravens led the NFL with 34 takeaways. Ed Reed has 10 INTs in their past eight games. ... John Harbaugh (16) and Mike Tomlin (32) have 48 regular-season games between them as head coaches, fewest for conference title game coaches in the Super Bowl era since the Colts' Don McCafferty and the Raiders' John Madden had 42 between them in 1970.

Terry O'Neill takes the term "Steelers fanatic" to a whole new level. Some may remember his name from the last time the Steelers were in the Super Bowl. O'Neill is the guy who had a heart attack at Cupka's Bar on the south side when Jerome Bettis fumbled. A few years later, as the Steelers are approaching another big game, O'Neill said his friends are a little worried about him come Super Bowl Sunday. Terry O'Neill now has a pacemaker that still goes off occasionally on Steeler Sundays."This is how I'm introduced: 'Remember the guy who had the heart attack back when Jerome Bettis fumbled?'" O'Neill said. O'Neill's name is on T-shirts that say "Home of Heart Stopping Action." O'Neill went to the hospital after his heart stopped beating when Jerome Bettis fumbled on the goal line against the colts in the playoffs. Alive, O'Neill laughed a lot. "Another Pittsburgh guy, Andy Warhol, said we all get 15 minutes of fame, and here I am, talking to you after being dead," he says.

When did this game of games, this week where endlessly irritating television commercials used to trumpet the coming of Super Sundays with a chorus of trumpets and kettle drums worthy of the closing credits of "Britain at War" disappear into a world where the pregame words of the combatants sound like Elizabeth Barret Browning talking in her sleep?

A lot started with Myron Cope, for him, the Steelers were the best men. Myron passed away last year, but don't let that fool you. In both my mind's eye and hear I see him and hear him shouting from wherever the best of Pittsburgh calls heaven.
If that's a little confusing, then be aware that Myron spoke three languages: Pittsburgher, Cope-Speak and English -- definitely in that order. For 35 straight seasons, following a distinguished newspaper career, Myron was the Steelers' "man in the radio-TV booth." He was also Pittsburgh Nation's conscience, cheerleader and elder statesman. When it came to the Steelers, he was about as objective as a Florida real estate guy trying to sell you 32 acres of swampland.
A good catch in Cope-Speak was a "yoi." A great catch was a "double yoi." On the rarest of rare occasions, he even resorted to a "Triple Yoi." A Steelers first down was greeted with "Okel Dokel."
When Myron spoke, Pittsburgh listened. It had no choice. Picture the sound of the Last Empress of China dragging her elongated fingernails across the face of the world's largest blackboard. That was Myron's falsetto voice spreading the saga of the Steelers up and down across the air waves of Western Pennsylvania.
He knew his audience the way a father knows his children, and that bond led to the invention that lifted thousands and thousands of battered Pittsburgh emotions at a time when it was clear that the empty mills were never coming back. When the blue collar economy went straight down the old outhouse shaft, it was Myron Cope who rallied the Faithful.
He gave them The Terrible Towel.
The way Myron explained the birth of the Terrible Towel was like this:
"The general manager of my station wanted a gimmick, but I told him I wasn't a gimmick guy, and he said I better reconsider because my contract ran out in three weeks, so I told him 'I'm your gimmick guy.'
"I got on the air, and I told anyone and everyone within the sound of my voice (at Myron's decibel level, that meant from Three Rivers Stadium on up to Saturn) should bring a yellow towel to the game. If they didn't have one, they should buy one, and if they couldn't buy one, they should dye one."

The Terrible Towel was born. It is the most recognizable symbol in all of sports -- a yellow hand-held blizzard that could have distracted the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
If as you watch Sunday's game on television, one huge slice of the grandstand turns bright yellow, the sun has not fallen on Raymond James Stadium. An army of Terrible Towels has.
This will be the first time the Steelers of Pittsburgh try to win a Super Bowl without Myron Cope on this planet. But they best be warned. He's watching. He has always watched these Steelers with the same intensity that Pittsburgh always watched him. The older guys who retired from the front office will still tell you how amazed they were when Cope would check into the players' hotel surrounded by crowds of fans so large that security guards were needed in every city.
Not much has changed since then. Back in Cope's old hometown Sunday, the wind off the Allegheny River will rattle through downtown with all the subtlety of Harry Grebb's left hook. It will jar the teeth and cut through layers of clothing. This is the way it's supposed to be in the Western Pennsylvania weather, with God in his heaven, the calendar just dipping a single toe into February and the Steelers about to play football in the Super Bowl.
If Cope were here, he would frown on Florida's 70-degree weather but remind you it would be fine as long as his Steelers won. He would tell you that they had to win because back home there are generations of families that learned about Bill Dudley and Jock Sutherland and Bobby Layne and John Henry Johnson through the tribal elders. Now they tell their own children about Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swan and Franco Harris and Jack Ham.
And then he would remind all that he was the one who gave air time by the hour to the creation of Franco's Italian-American Army -- the Franco Harris fan club. He explained to the world -- or at least Pittsburgh, which was his world -- that Franco's Army was the brainchild of the brainchild of a pizza guy and a baker to honor the Steelers star who was of African-American and Italian-American ancestry.
This will be his kind of game with his kind of stakes and thousands who made the trip from Pittsburgh will wave their Terrible Towels the way Joshua's horn players zeroed in on Jericho.
Let the record show that two days after Myron's death, hundreds of people gathered in the teeth of a heavy snowstorm in front of City Hall in Pittsburgh. As one they saluted their fallen hero in the ceremony that featured one, whole, solid minute of silent Terrible Towel waving.

This is an athletic opulence few cities even aspire to with any practicality. The Arizona Cardinals, who play the Philadelphia Eagles in today's earlier National Football Conference title game, have not mounted such a grand stage since the Truman administration, or approximately two decades before anyone so much as thought of a Super Bowl.
And still modern Championship Sundays in Pittsburgh deliver a seismic coupling of pride and wariness, something realist short story master Alice Munro might call "a terrible amount of luxury and unease."
The Steelers lost both championship games in the short history of Heinz Field. They've lost the last three title games played in Pittsburgh and four of the last five. But because they took the hair-raisingly uncharted Cincinnati-Indianapolis-Denver route to Super Bowl XL just three years ago, and because a victory tonight against the Baltimore Ravens would put them in a seventh Super Bowl (more than anyone except the Dallas Cowboys), they retain the perpetual civic burden of capacious expectations.

"We're used to this in Pittsburgh," said Hines Ward, the dean of Pittsburgh's stars. "No disrespect to the Pirates or the Penguins, but the standard around here is the Super Bowl every year. That's just what's expected."
Expectations are only part of the Pittsburgh/Steelers equation. On the other side is identity, as there is likely no fan base so intense, so far flung, so proud of something even as often indefinable as Pittsburgh ethos. "More than any other sports franchise I can think of, there's a kind of work ethic about them, and I don't know if it's branding, because that gets oversimplified into black and gold or whatever, but it's something about the Steelers that is recognized in London, in Manchester; there's a Steelers bar in Leon, France."
Consequently, Pittsburghers, regional expatriates and converts the world over have an implied license to take this simple game hyper-seriously, regardless of the debatable global urgency of an event like tonight's. It's all predictably manic, if not a little bit comic.

"I've found what epitomizes Pittsburgh, what sums up what we're all about, and it's right there in the main terminal at the Pittsburgh airport," said Bill Crawford, the gifted young Pittsburgh comedian. "There are two huge statues there. One is of George Washington, and one is of Franco Harris. People from Pittsburgh pass them and think, 'Yeah, that's normal, let's get our flight,' or 'Yeah, that's totally all right, let's go to Brookstone.'
"But people from outside the city see that and think it's ridiculous. They're like, 'What? Wait, this guy's the father of our country, and this other guy caught a football off somebody's helmet 35 years ago.' You can hear the argument, right?
"Dude, he was the first president."
"Oh yeah? Well Franco was a first-round draft choice in 1972."
"But Washington beat the Redcoats."
"Hey, Franco beat the Raiders -- it's pretty well documented. It was Immaculate."
"C'mon; he was the leader of the Continental Army!"
"Franco had Franco's Italian Army, it was his army, so in my mind, Franco's up one."
Small wonder that our own view of world history, even as it's unfolding, often gets seen through a black-and-gold looking glass. On the front page of this newspaper, the morning of Dec. 29, an all-capital letters, five-column headline read, "BIG BEN DOWN, PROBABLY NOT OUT." The one-column head next to that said, "Israel pounds Gaza by air again."
As the next Steelers cataclysm draws within hours, additions to the faith are fervently sought and dutifully recorded. The Steelers have never lost to a division opponent such as Baltimore in a postseason game. They're 7-0. When they beat an opponent twice in one season, as they have the Ravens this year, they've never lost a third meeting such as this. They are 7-0.
In the compound Pittsburgh equation though, there is something more than, again, "a terrible amount of luxury and unease."
"The reason we watch sports is the uncertainty of the outcome, but it's particularly compelling in a framework of success, like in Pittsburgh," "Look at San Francisco. There is a history of bohemia, which is generally enough to color a future of bohemia to a certain extent.
"With Pittsburgh, the Steelers are the embodiment of everything the city has ever done right, presented today in the urgency of a live event, a live event that can color the question of whether we can continue to do so.

Go Stillers !
Kickoff: 6:30 p.m EST.

This was mostly pieced together from several different sports articles, too many to credit, so forgive me.

This is very cool , these musicians are aged 11 to 13. Do yourself a favor and check them out !

President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address - A Gigapan Image

This is very cool and one could get lost in here, I did. NYC Photographer David Bergman made this Gigapan image from the north press platform during President Obama's inaugural address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 20, 2009. It's made up of 220 images and the final image size is 59,783 X 24,658 pixels or 1,474 megapixels.

Click on the image, zoom surprisingly close and you can see what everyone is doing as the new President speaks.

Ain't Wastin Time No More

Gregg Allman wrote this song to help himself cope with the death of his brother Duane Allman. I feel our country has suffered a sort of death for the last eight years, it might be better termed a zombie like existence. We've been stumbling, like walking wounded, but tense, with shoulders jacked up around our neck. Even the sunshine has felt like rain for a long time. That ends today. There's very little sadness this song. It is, rather, a commitment to the present and the future. This is the best chance we've ever had. It is a beautiful day.


Last Sunday morning, the sunshine felt like rain.
Week before, they all seemed the same.
With the help of God and true friends,
I come to realize I still had two strong legs,
and even wings to fly.
And oh I, ain't wastin' time no more
cause time goes by like hurricanes, and faster things.

Lord, lord miss Sally, why all your cryin?
Been around here three long days, you're lookin like you're dyin.
Just step yourself outside, and look up at the stars above
Go on downtown baby, find somebody to love.
Meanwhile I ain't wastin time no more
cause time goes by like pouring rain, and much faster things.

You don't need no gypsy to tell you why,
You cant let one precious day slip by.
Look inside yourself, and if you dont see what you want,
Maybe sometimes then you don't,
But leave your mind alone and just get high.

Well by and by, way after many years have gone,
And all the war freaks die off, leavin us alone.
Well raise our children in the peaceful way we can,
Its up to you and me brother
To try and try again.

Well, hear us now, we aint wastin time no more
cause time goes by like hurricanes
Runnin after subway trains
Dont forget the pouring rain.

This is live at the Beacon Theater in 2003. Derek Trucks does the first solo and Warren Haynes does the second.

Pittsburgh Is Going To The Super Bowl !

Because they deserve it !..................................because they earned it !...........because ....they did it ! And tonight ............is one glorious night ...............in Steeler Nation.

It's A Steeler Nation, You Just Live Here

There will be one hell of a good football game on Sunday January 18th at 6:30 pm when the Pittsburgh Steelers play the Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh. Wherever you go around this country , you can find Steeler fans. Thats because for so many years many of the areas best and brightest moved on to where the pickin's were better, but they never lost the 'Burgh feeling. One can find a Steeler's fan bar in every major city and they could accurately be called America's favorite team.
The Ravens-Steelers rivalry is arguably the nastiest in all of sports. What happens when you throw the irresistible force that is Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward and the immovable object that is Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis onto the same field ? Breathtaking hits, some of them late. It is not the longest rivalry in the history of the NFL, but it is the most intense.

"What else would you expect -- us and the Ravens," Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Sunday after the Steelers handled the Chargers 35-24. "It would be a big game if it was a scrimmage. It just happens to be the AFC Championship Game." Familiarity between these two AFC North teams breeds, well, something beyond contempt. There have been alleged late hits, reported bounties and even not-so-veiled death threats.
"Every block, every tackle -- none of them are done casually," said Steelers radio broadcaster Tunch Ilkin, who played in Pittsburgh from 1980 to 1992. "They're all done with full intensity and malicious intent. If you have a chance to rub a guy's face in the dirt on a tackle, you do. If you can put a knee in a guy's back to help yourself get up, you do it."
This season, appropriately, the Ravens and Steelers have the league's top-ranked defenses in terms of points and yards allowed. The Steelers lead the series 17-10 -- including a divisional-round playoff victory at the end of the 2001 season -- and won both previous games this season, one in overtime, by a total of seven points.
The Ravens, though, have had their moments. In 2006, they won both games and sacked quarterback Ben Roethlisberger 16 times. One of them was a brutal shot by Ravens linebacker Bart Scott. "That's the cleanest tackle I've had in my life," Scott said later. "It felt good to hear the air leave his body."
That's the kind of game it's going to be !

After this win , February 1st at Tampa will have a scene much like this one from a few years back.

Go Stillers !..............................Number 1..........

This pic says it all

Now Guitar Heroes Can Play Real Guitar

I play guitar so I've never been impressed with the Guitar Hero game but at a bar near me on Thursday nights teams of crazy drunks compete playing it and it is loads of fun to watch. Of course no one is playing for real, they are just pushing colored buttons on toy guitars, kind of like high tech air guitar. Only the singers need some real chops / talent to play the game, the others including the drummer are just going through the motions. Well that's not going to impress the girls which is why every one learns to play guitar in the first place . Soon guitar hero wannabees can actually learn to play guitar or at least to learn where you put your fingers, which is very necessary in playing actual guitar. This is a great idea. Using a real and playable guitar in this game means you actually take something home after the experience, something you can apply to real life. The system uses a guitar with color coded strings and has lessons to teach guitar as well as featuring competitive game play. So now you can really rock out, make the other, plastic guitar guys or girls look like dorks and get the real chicks ( or guys ) too. Disney is involved in this so lets hope the music cranks and that its not High School Musical type drivel.



When I get big I'm gonna get an electric guitar..............when I get real big - Neil Young muttering between songs at a concert.


A real guitar, a 1982 Epiphone Spirit. The Spirit is Epiphone / Gibson's answer to the Fender Tele, a working man's axe, a solid slab of wood with two hot pickups and a perfect neck.
I never achieved hero status with it ( my guitar playing friends would quickly agree ) but for a few years I seldom paid for my own drinks in the local saloons.....now that's status you can use !

Happy New Year And The 2008 "WTF?" Awards

"As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man." - In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Siduri

From the Smirking Chimp comes the The 2008 "WTF?" Awards
by Ed Naha :

As 2008 stumbles to the finish line like the last member of "The Wild Bunch" to eat the dirt, it's time to pause and reflect on the past twelve months. Yet, how to do so without using George Carlin's famous "Seven Words" a thousand times in five minutes? There's only one course to take. It's time for the "2008 'WTF?' Awards:

THE "I GOT A ROCKET IN MY POCKET" AWARD is bestowed upon CIA operatives in Afghanistan. In an attempt to win the loyalty of grizzled warlords, the agents are giving them the gift of Viagra. In an effort to win the loyalty of warlords' wives, they are giving them running shoes and a six-hour head start.

THE "THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON DRUGS" PRIZE goes to economics whiz Rush Limbaugh who, shortly after the election, declared: "The Obama recession is in full swing, ladies and gentlemen. Stocks are dying, which is a precursor of things to come. This is an Obama recession. Might turn into a depression." He then forecast a return of zeppelin travel and told his maid go get more of his special take-out.

THE NO DOLLARS AND NON-CENTS tin-foil crown is shared by Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly, who declared that the current recession is just media hype designed to bolster the standing of Barack Obama. O'Reilly asked if it all isn't just an "effort on the part of 'The New York Times' and other liberal media to basically paint as drastic a picture as possible, so that when Barack Obama takes office that anything is better than what we have now?" The ever-sage Rove replied: "Yes." They then both interviewed Leprechauns about the myth of global warming.

THE "FANTASY ISLAND" MEETS "LOST" ORATORY AWARD goes to Condoleezza Rice who, this past weekend, declared that claims that the Bush Administration is one of the worst ever are "ridiculous." "I think generations pretty soon are going to start to thank this president for what he's done. This generation will," she declared before being tranquilized and carted off to "Our Lady of Cashews' Home for the Reality-Impaired."

THE "ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME" PRIZE goes to the Philippines' Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is having a hard time being taken seriously. Their acronym is MILF. Sarah Palin is thinking of suing.

THE "COVER ME BOYS, I'M TAKING THE HILL" AWARD is given to perpetually dour Tom Brokaw who, stuck in The Greatest Generation mode, consistently stated that Senator John McCain was criticism-proof because he was "a genuine war hero." Close friends are worried about Tom. He's currently having all of Audie Murphy's old flashbacks.

THE "BIGGUS DICKUS" PROFILES IN DEMENTIA AWARD goes to Dick Cheney. He began the year with an interview where he was told that two-thirds of the country thought the Iraq invasion was a colossal screw-up. He replied with: "So?" He ended the year, ruminating on the fact that he's as popular as an anal wart. "I don't have any idea" why. If nothing else, he's consistent.

THE "WHO COULD'VE SEEN IT COMING?" CRYSTAL BALL is awarded to the Bush financial team. The following is a series of headlines that appeared in a single week in February. "Recession fears rise on more job cuts." "Fed takes new steps to boost cash for banks." "World markets slide as US economy groans." "Housing market spirals, no end in sight." "Consumer confidence at lowest since 2002." "Studies: Iraq costs US $12B per month." "Gas prices rise to new national record." "Consumers increased their borrowing by $6.9 billion in January." "Bush says no recession in sight."

THE "JUNGLE FEVER" WASHCLOTH is tossed at Fox pollster Frank Luntz who, after a Clinton-Obama debate asked his control group, "How many of you want them to make love to each other?" He then went home and watched the film "Mandingo" with a can of Reddi Wip.

THE "I THINK, THEREFORE I AIN'T" TIN WHISTLE goes to ever vigilant broadcast barnacle Michael Savage who, pondering the existence of Obama, offered: "We have a right to know if he's a so-called friendly Muslim or one who aspires to more radical teachings."

THE "WHO WOULD JESUS PISS ON?" PRIZE is nailed by Southern Carolina Pastor Roger Byrd, who posted this message on a sign outside his church. "Obama, Osama, Hmmmm, are they brothers?" Hmmmm. Byrd? Turd? Separated at birth?

THE GOP BIG (PLANTATION?) SLAVE QUARTERS MEDAL is hung around the neck of Rep. Geoff David (KY) who, after calling Obama "a snake oil salesman," added, "That boy's finger does not need to be on the (nuclear) button." He later said his use of the word "boy" was not meant to be offensive. He meant to say "pickaninny."

THE "KEEP YOUR EYES ON HIS BALLS" TROPHY goes to John McCain who sold sacks of golf balls on his web site but didn't take into account the wave of satisfied "customers" who would post their testimonials. "The Golf Pack is great," wrote one, "but when are you going to offer a Joe Lieberman Certified McCain Ballwasher?" "I LOVE it!" declared a customer named Gramps. "I appreciate the compartment for my soiled Depends."

THE "GREAT AMERICAN PIG-OUT" PRIZE goes to the Republican Party who, over eight weeks, spent $68,400 for Sarah Palin's makeup artist, $42,000 for her hair stylist and over $150,000 on clothing. Swill, baby, swill! You betcha.

And, finally, THE DIRTY, ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS AWARD goes to the Bush Administration; the biggest collection of lying, corrupt, ideology-driven, callous, immoral, uncaring, arrogant, factually ignorant, pompous, preening clowns ever to befoul Washington. May your heads always be targeted by Buster Brown and Tige.

Condolences to the runners-up: the bankers, Wall Street wizards and captains of Industry who destroyed the American economy through sheer greed. You never literally bombed innocent civilians, so you missed by inches.

Read all the awards here.

Happy New Year everyone, and cheer up, it's looking a lot better this time around, and there's only 20 days, 6 hours and 47 minutes more to go till we no longer have to hold our collective noses.

Palin Family Values

These are two kids who were both forced to quit high school because of Grandma Bible Spice's holyroller style American values. So much for promoting abstinence and denying sex education. With the fundies it's all about how it looks, not what is wiser or better for everyone. Speaking of God, Lord Almighty could you imagine the weeping, whining, pissing and moaning if this were the Obama's 18 year old daughter, or any other Democrats' children ? That bloated Rush , Billo and the peckerheads at Fox news would never let it rest. All a reasonable person can say is best of luck to the the new parents, they are no different and no dumber than most eighteen year olds. Looks like they fired up the old Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator for this new child. Their bad fortune is to have to spend future holiday dinners at the tables of either of their crazy parents. I suggest you two move to the lower 48 and get the fuck away from both your families.

Bristol Palin gave birth to her much-anticipated baby son on Sunday, People.com reported this evening.
The first grandchild of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, weighing in at seven pounds, four ounces.
When it was announced shortly after Gov. Palin was named John McCain's running mate that her teenage daughter was expecting, it triggered national debates on teen pregnancy and marriage, abstinence education, the VP vetting process, the privacy of political families and, well, just about everything.
Bristol Palin is 18, as is her boyfriend of three years, Levi Johnston, a former high school hockey player. Both have dropped out of high school -- she to complete her diploma through correspondence courses, People reports, and he to become an apprentice electrician, he told the AP this fall. They have said they plan to marry in 2009. (Johnston's mother Sherry was arrested earlier this month on felony drug charges for allegedly selling OxyContin.)

This was pinched from the Washington Post. I'm sure the story will go on and on and on.

Dock Ellis - Psychedelic Pittsburgh Pirate

Pittsburgh Pirates' pitcher Dock Ellis who said he was under the influence of LSD when he pitched a 1970 no-hitter against the San Diego Padres passed away yesterday.

Dock Ellis, the former major league pitcher best remembered for his flamboyance and social activism as a member of the great Pittsburgh Pirates teams of the 1970s, died Friday December 19th of a liver ailment in California. He was 63. Dock Ellis won 138 games over 12 major league seasons. Ellis spent 12 years in the majors with Pittsburgh, the New York Yankees, Oakland, Texas and the New York Mets. He retired in 1979 with a record of 138-119. but was best known for several colorful incidents on and off the field.

Dock related the LSD story in 1984 while he was co-ordinator of an anti drug program in Los Angeles. He said he didn't know until six hours before his June 12, 1970 no hitter that he was going to pitch.
"I was in Los Angeles, and the team was playing in San Diego , but I didn't know it. I had taken LSD..... I thought it was an off-day, that's how come I had it in me. I took the LSD at noon. At 1 pm, his girlfriend and trip partner looked at the paper and said, "Dock, you're pitching today! She got me to the airport at 3:30. I got there at 4:30, and the game started at 6:05pm. It was a twi-night doubleheader.I can only remember bits and pieces of the game. I was psyched. I had a feeling of euphoria.I was zeroed in on the (catcher's) glove, but I didn't hit the glove too much. I remember hitting a couple of batters and the bases were loaded two or three times.The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder. They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn't hit hard and never reached me."

The Pirates won the game, 2-0, although Ellis walked eight batters. It was the highpoint in the baseball career of one of the finer pitchers of his time, and arguably,one of the greatest achievements in the history of sports.

In May 1974 -- in an effort to inspire a lifeless Pittsburgh team -- Ellis beaned Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and Dan Driessen in the top of the first inning. After walking Tony Perez, Ellis threw a pitch near Johnny Bench's head and was lifted from the game by manager Danny Murtaugh.
Ellis went 19-9 in 1971 for the Pirates, who beat the Orioles in the World Series.
Off the field, Ellis spoke freely about racial issues, once telling reporters that he wouldn't start against Oakland's Vida Blue in the All-Star Game because Major League Baseball would never start "two soul brothers'' against each other.

Ellis suffered from cirrhosis of the liver and was placed on a list to receive a liver transplant in May. The Los Angeles Times wrote that Ellis had no health insurance, but received help paying his medical bills from friends in baseball.Bill Scaringe, an agent who represented Ellis after he retired, said Ellis worked for years in the California department of corrections helping inmates transition from prison back to the community. He also ran a drug counseling center in Los Angeles. Scaringe said. "Dock was such a likeable person -- very gregarious, very outgoing. I would set up personal appearances for him, and after like 30 seconds, people were like relatives or neighbors. Dock was very easy to talk to. He was just a pleasure to be around.

That was Dock, peace be to his ashes .

Tattooed Pig

Words fail me.

Midnight Music Club # 3 - Norman Nardini

Norman has never worked a straight job for one day of his life. He has only ever played music. Pittsburgh has had some great rock bands: Gathering Field, The Silencers, Joe Grusheckey & the Iron City Houserockers, Rusted Root, Donnie Iris, The Clarks and Billy Price to name just a few. Among all these, Norman Nardini is a legend. He is working tonight, somewhere, at a festival or in a dive bar he's playing his rust belt rock & roll, his three piece band working man's music. It's American heartland music, like Seeger or Bruce or Mellencamp or Petty, no different than any of them and certainly no less. He's lacked a great commercial success but what the fuck does that have to do with making great rock and roll ?

In 1975 he was a bass player for the rock band Diamond Reo. Norman left the band to start Norman Nardini & The Tigers as lead singer, lead guitar and song writer. The 1981 release "Eatin Alive", recorded live at Cleveland’s legendary Agora Club, received a 4 Star Review from Rolling Stone’s record guide. The Tigers toured together through 1986. CBS in 1983 released "Norman Nardini and The Tigers", which featured Norman’s longtime friend, Jon Bon Jovi, on background vocals. In 1987, CBS released "Love Dog" which featured Rick Derringer, Dr. John and Paul Schaeffer. Throughout the 90's, Norman continued touring and released 3 CDs on New York City's Circumstantial label . 1991’s "This Ole Train" took Norman over to Germany for a tour with the Blues Brothers. In 1998, Moondog Records released "There Was A Time" and more great stuff has followed. 1993's "It's Alive" is live and alive Norman at his best. He's the real deal. He makes friends easily, shares his toys and jams well with others.

..."Norman Nardini is the epitome of rock'n'roll. He lives it and breathes it. The greatest compliment anybody can pay a player is that he lives it. God bless him for it.." ~Jon Bon Jovi

Here are my friends Norman and Whitey Cooper and Harry Bottoms doing "Rock & Roll City" in the Beachland Tavern, a neighborhood bar, the kind of place where they are most at home. With Norman , it's all about the music and the buzz he can pass on to you in the night.

If you want more I recommend the "Smoke Two Joints " video, above.

Pilgrim George - Walkin' The Walk

Last fall I was driving along a country road when I noticed an apparition in faded blue truckin' along the side of the road. Normally my curiosity would have demanded I stop and inquire just what was happening but I was running late for an appointment. I had to go along without stopping but wondered several times in the days afterward " who was that cat ? " Did I really see that or was it one of the acid flashbacks the government always promised me but never paid off on ? Several days later I read a story in the local newspaper reassuring me that I did still maintain my tenuous hold on reality. It was written by my friend Colleen Nelson, an illustrator, artist and free lance writer. I have never been accused of being overly religious but I do like to think I have a spiritual sense that recognizes and embraces the good that exists. My philosophy is that any one that practices love and gentleness has my support. It is nice to know something of the story of Pilgrim George, a good soul who walks the walk. The story Colleen wrote follows:

Drivers on their way to work on Tuesday morning might have spotted a tall, robed figure striding through Rogersville, on State Route 18- 21. The details of his dress were startling against the backdrop of Victorian houses, casual American dressers and passing vehicles – hooded robe, wooden staff and thick sandals keeping a steady pace. Curiosity won out over being late for work for one West Greene resident, who found the nearest place to turn around and drive back to find out what the heck Gandalf was doing out here in the boonies, snowy beard flowing, walking like he had some special place to go. Meet Pilgrim George, not of Middle Earth, but of this earth, just passing through, as he has for more than 30 years. He had left the highway and was sitting in the flowery grasses beside the creek, drinking water from a plastic bottle and being entertained by a young gray tabby cat who was delighted to find a fellow sojourner taking his ease in the natural world. "Yes," he admitted, eyes twinkling in an open, friendly face that was weathered and tan. His glasses were held in place with tape, but the big icon around his neck glistened with gold leaf and there was a wide embossed cross at the top of the staff beside him. A rosary encircled one wrist. "I’m a pilgrim. I left Cameron, West Virginia this morning and I’m on my way to Uniontown." After more than 30 years of making the road his home, from here to Jerusalem and back, Byzantine Catholic church deacon George Florien Walter knows a thing or two about the kindness of strangers. He doesn’t carry money or food, just water and a tent. His pouches and bags contain day-to-day necessities, including needle and thread for on-the-road repairs. His sandals are made of pieces of tire tread, bolts and wire he finds along the berm. The bottom of his wooden staff is shod in tread as well, neatly tied and tacked. On the road, those who are intrigued enough to say hello sometimes supply lifts to the next town and even breakfast at McDonalds. Passersby offer meals and showers, reporters write stories about his travels and those who ask are blessed. "For four months of the year I walk hundreds of miles. The rest of the time I’m a poustinik, a hermit ". His yearly pilgrimage will end at Mount. St. Macrina, near Uniontown. Thousands of Byzantine Catholics from all over America have gathered here for 74 years for a Labor Day weekend of prayer, teachings, fellowship and good food. Walter shouldered his pack and took up the staff the first week of May to visit shrines and celebrate holy days in the states he visited. For many, this chance meeting takes on a religious significance that reaffirms their own faith. Pilgrimages are part of all religions, and as such reflect the universal need to seek a conversion experience – a journey that brings a life change. For thousands of years, the faithful have made the journey on foot to holy places or shrines of special significance. The experience of walking great distances teaches that the way of getting there was just as important as the destination. For Walter, 67, his pilgrimage of faith is a global love affair. He has walked through 41 countries, starting with a pilgrimage from Barcelona to Jerusalem 38 years ago at age 29. He has logged more than thirty eight thousand miles, once traveling up to 30 miles a day, now down to a sage 10 to 12 miles through the heat and sudden showers of May through September weather. The tradition of traveling on foot is preserved at Mount St. Macrina and is honored by the many processions that take place this weekend. Ceremonies are accompanied by the singing of prayers and brightened by pilgrims like Walter, who put on the vestments of antiquity and poverty and walk their connection with divinity. "I’m living the life God intended for me," Walter said simply as he got in the passengers seat and headed to town with his new benefactor, who dropped him off at Bowlby Library and gave him directions to St. Anns Church on High Street. It was just another blessedly giving and receiving kind of day in the life of Pilgrim George.

The History Of Religion In 90 Seconds

This is really fascinating to me . I like to study the times that existed between the major events ( wars, plagues, forward leaps of collective consciousness ) of the world to fill in the spaces existing in my knowledge. I read books titled The History of Europe 1920 - 1935. It's necessary to know not just what happened but also how it all came about due to the years preceding. This short video does nicely as far as to show how the worlds religions have evolved. Only 90 seconds to expand your understanding of how we got here, where we are now , as people, in this shrinking world. Because religion, like it or not , drives most people's lives to some degree and we all have to live with that fact and in some sad cases people die with that fact burning into their freakin' eyeballs. Reason enough to stop and get a realistic perspective.

This is from a very interesting site called Maps Of War.

How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries, and where has it sparked wars? Our map gives us a brief history of the world's most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Selected periods of inter-religious bloodshed are also highlighted. Want to see 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds? Ready, Set, Go !

No Digital TV For The Elderly

Sorry Grandma, no more tv for you come February something. This poor lady's VCR has been flashing 12:00, 12:00,12:00 since 1983. She gives it a good try though.......... she's game.

Buy A Toaster And Get A Free Bank

No thanks , I have enough on my plate right now , thank you. .......trying to manage just my own affairs...............But it does remind me of the old joke about standing in a bread line and asking for toast.

Zappadan - It's Here, Wake Up The Kids !

A few days ago Blue Gal reminded us that it's that wonderful time of the year again.

Frank Zappa died December 4, and was born (earlier, they tell me) on December 21.Two years ago, the blog known as The Aristocrats declared that December 4 through 21 should henceforth be known as Zappadan: the days of the year between death and birth, that ethereal time when there was no Frank, so we must celebrate him to keep his spirit safe until his birthday again.Or it's just a great excuse for a party that has nothing to do with the greed and debt festival known as Christmas in America. In any event, it's a labor of love with the hope that Frank would be proud.

There are many stories of delightful and wondrous things taking place at this time. Every ones heard of the lady who, last year during the festive season , went to the DMV and applied for a new licence plate , received it , all paperwork complete, no lines , no red tape and even was offered a doughnut. Last year on December 4th, I put several dull razor blades in an old record sleeve of Frank's Weasels Ripped My Flesh and a week later when I shook them out over my oak coffee table they were so sharp that as they fell they stuck in the wood and could only be pulled out with pliers. Babies conceived during this season have a higher I.Q. than average and dogs adopted during this time are noted for their loyalty, intelligence and skills with a Frisbee. I had a one night stand during Zappadan that turned into a beautiful 4 month relationship. It really is a magical time.

I think it was someone at the Onion who said " If you don't like Frank Zappa you just haven't heard the right album yet ". Here's one of my favorites, Montana, and this live version is smokin'.