Son Of A Preacher Man

Rockstars of the 80's

2009-07-09T17:27:00.000-05:00

You Have Two Choices

2008-10-08T20:08:00.002-05:00

Before voting ask yourself how you actually live. You might be surprised at how you live compared to how you vote. You should always vote the way you live, though. If you are comfortable in your lifestyle, then you should be comfortable voting that way. If you aren’t, then you have further questions to ask.

1. Do you live off of a government check or have a government job or do you have a job in the private sector?
2. Do you make your own decisions or let others make them for you?
3. Do you give donations to private charities?
4. Do you only pay your taxes owed or send extra money to the government?
5. Do you handle your own personal issues in life maybe with family and close friends or do you ask for council from your neighbors and community or a government body?
6. Do you allow just anyone to walk into your house or do you lock the door and expect people to knock or call first before coming over?
7. Do you have a fence around your yard or a portion of it? Do you have a privacy fence?
8. Are you involved in things like the PTA, local community groups, or charities?
9. Do you have a savings account?
10. Do you live on credit or within your means?
11. When people ask you for money do you just give it to them no questions asked?
12. When you loan someone money do you tie certain behaviors to it?
13. Do you hope to be able to pass your property on to your children when you pass on?
14. Do you look for bargains or sales when shopping or do you use coupons?
15. Do you believe your money should be taxed more than once?
16. Do you pay attention to what is taken out of your paycheck in taxes?
17. What percentage of your paycheck should be paid in taxes?
18. Do you think everyone should pay the same percentage in taxes or that the more you make the higher your taxes should be?
19. Do you think anyone should not be taxed?
20. Do you think you should be bailed out of any and all financial risks you take?
21. Would you rather pay into Social Security or have your own private retirement fund?
22. Do you own/drive an SUV or “gas-guzzling” vehicle?
23. Do you bike to work?
24. Do you carpool?
25. Do you recycle?
26. Do you actively hang out with people who have different belief systems than you?
27. Do you put your trust in the people you know or people you’ve never met before?
28. Do you attend church?
29. Do you believe in right and wrong?
30. Do you play games/sports where there is a winner and a loser?
31. Do you believe that global warming is man made or are you not sure all the facts are in, yet?
32. Do you hunt?
33. Would you prefer to send your children to private school if you could afford it?
34. Do you show pride in your country or do you think there is a better country in the world?
35. Do you go to political rallies and/or protests?
36. Do you obey the law and expect those around you to do the same?
37. Do you vote?

There are two choices in all federal elections. You have the Republican and Democrat parties as your two central choices. (In some states there are more choices, but they rarely matter. Maybe that's a shame.)

It doesn’t matter who is running. It doesn’t matter what side the individuals take on social issues. It doesn’t matter which side the individuals take on any specific war. It doesn’t matter what the individuals think of the economy. It doesn’t matter what the individuals think about much of anything, to be honest. They are going to vote with their party on most everything and there won’t be much crossing of party lines. That just happens to be a fact of life in government. Look at the two current candidates for president and see how many times each has voted against their own party.

The two choices come down to each party’s core belief system. If you believe that government can solve most problems, then you vote one way. If you believe that people have most of the answers to their own problems, then you vote the other way.

There are key phrases to tell you which party is which.

If you hear talk of raising taxes, discontinuing tax cuts, taxing the rich, taxing big business or big oil, or phrases such as these, then you are hearing someone say that government has the solutions and they want your hard earned money. If you hear someone talk about starting new programs, creating new government offices, and growing government, then you are hearing someone say that government has the solutions. If you hear someone talk about job creation, creating incentives for social change, and additional regulation of business, then that person believes government is the solution. When you hear a candidate talk about making new laws because current laws aren’t sufficient, then be aware that this candidate is telling you that government has the answers.

If you hear someone talk about tax cuts across the board, continuing or increasing tax credits, or anything that means people of any stature get to keep more of their hard earned money, then you are hearing someone who believes people have the answers to their own financial woes. If you hear someone talk about cutting government funding to certain programs, closing certain government offices, and reducing the size of government, then you are hearing someone state that government is not the answer to most of societies ills. If you hear someone talk about reducing government regulation on business, that person believes that people are the solution.

Can you tell which party is which? Which way do you actually live? Are you going to vote the way you live?

Bret Michaels Makes Dream Come True

2008-04-20T14:15:00.001-05:00

Sometimes you are just put in the right place at the right time. My buddy Brad was that guy last night and he kicked off a series of events that led to Bret Michaels being able to make a 13 year old girl's dream come true.

I'd been debating on going to the Bret Michaels concerts this weekend in both Kansas City on Friday and Dubuque, IA, on Saturday. I had hoped to make both shows, but knew I had to make at least one. I don't like traveling alone so that figured into trying to make my decision. I decided to stay in Friday night and see if someone wanted to go on Saturday. Saturday morning I even started debating making the even longer drive to Dubuque, but then I received a text from Pete Evick asking if I was going to be at the show. I just made up my mind for sure at that moment and said I'd be there so I started texting friends to see who was willing to go. I enlisted my friend Brad and my friend and S&S Entertainment partner Dave.

We got to the show and found our seats inside. At the inside end of our row was a very young girl who seemed to be there by herself. Brad is the talkative and social type and the first question out of his mouth to this young girl was to ask what she seemed to be doing there alone.

Turns out Elaina M. is a 13 year old girl who has a very rare form of cancer. Doctors told her that she is only the 8th person they know of documented to have the form of cancer she has. While she seemed to be a very normal and healthy young girl with a great spirit, she had recently been very sick under chemotherapy and doctors are unable to tell her if she is in remission. Apparently, the others with this cancer have died within 5 years of being diagnosed with it. She wore a knit cap to cover her head and made comments to Brad about how beautiful another girl's hair was and that she missed having hers. Elaina's favorite program to watch on TV during her lengthy time in the hospital was Bret Michael's Rock Of Love. While she had been quite ill, she turned in an application to the Make A Wish Foundation in the hopes of some day meeting Bret Michaels. She was able to get a ticket to this show, but had to come by herself due to what seemed like her family's ability to be able to afford to get her the one ticket. Elaina was very excited to be at the show and hoped she might be able to find some way to meet Bret.

Brad heard this story and soon turned to me to relate it. I have been very fortunate since Bret played Waterstock in Des Moines a few years ago to have kept in touch with Pete Evick. I knew I had to find a way to let Pete know this girl's story and see if there was a way to make this girl's wish come true.

I found a young woman who was assisting at the merch table and I'd seen her talking to Pete earlier and with her access she'd be able to get the word to Pete if I didn't catch him first. I brought Elaina out to meet this young woman and she said she'd do her best to get word to Bret.

I happened to catch Big John and related Elaina's story briefly to him as well. I knew Big John is a father and I had a bit of trouble holding it together as I told him about Elaina because I have two daughters myself. Big John said he'd see what he could do for Elaina, too, and asked that I bring her to the front curtain at the end of the show.

Everyone I could find in Bret's group I had to stop briefly just to let them know about Elaina's wish. I introduced her to Lucky Chuck as he passed through the crowd and finally found Pete to relate the story to him.

The compassion and honest emotion was evident with each of the people I stopped and I knew they would each find a way to let Bret know about Elaina.

This evening became more than just a night out with a couple of buddies to see a concert. It became a mission to make Elaina's wish come true. My 9 year old daughter happened to call before Bret went on stage and I related the story to her, too. She said she really hoped that Elaina's wish would come true, too. She was proud of her old man for trying.

Bret put on a fun show as he always does. Evick is the perfect band to be the Bret Michaels Band. These guys are tight, fun, and always great to watch and interact with. Bret made a great choice not only musically, but it seems to be a great decision on a personal level to have these guys in his band. I will separately write about the show itself.

After the concert, my friends and I had to look around for Elaina. She had initially followed Brad to the front of the stage as the seating really didn't matter at this show. I was in row J and yet was crushed front and center for the entire show against the barrier. Elaina had gotten separated and while she really seemed like she could handle herself just fine, my buddies and I still felt a little responsible for her safety and really wanted to make sure that she had the opportunity to meet Bret.

We found her and as Bob (Bret's cousin), Pete, and Big John tried to get things wrapped up we waited by the merch table. Bob had made a promise to Elaina that she'd meet Bret. It sounded like she really was going to have this dream come true. I asked Elaina if she had brought a camera and all she had was her RAZR to take pictures. I offered to take pics with my camera for her if they would allow that and gave her my card so she could contact me and I could get the pictures to her.

After the merch area had been taken down and packed away and carted off, Bob asked Elaina and me to follow him. Big John and a friend of his came with us and we made our way out to Bret's tour bus.

Bret was the perfect host as we walked on. Elaina immediately got a hug and Bret struck up conversation with her. He asked her if she had anything to sign, which she did. She even asked him to sign her phone. He signed a huge cardboard Rock Of Love tour piece from a previous show with "Something To Believe In". He signed a notebook she had once for her and once for a friend she wanted to give it to. I used my camera and took a couple of pictures of her with Bret and was able to get a picture with them both while one of the crew took the picture. Bret is coming back to Iowa next month and asked if Elaina was going to be there. She hesitated and you could see Bret's heart start to sink as she wasn't sure. She certainly hopes to and it was hard to tell if her hesitation was due to her health or due to other circumstances. Bret was honest in his desire to see her at that show next month.

Elaina has a great sense of honesty and humor about her. I mentioned that Bret certainly made the right choice by picking Ambre on his TV show Rock Of Love. When I said that, Elaina agreed and then added that Daisy "looks like a whore". This brought laughter from everyone on the bus as Bret certainly disagrees in that he believes Daisy is "hot", but he was laughing because Elaina certainly has a knack for honesty and hearing this type of talk from a 13 year old girl was almost shocking. Bret let Elaina have as much time as she wanted and as she was ready to leave, he gave her another hug. As she turned to go, she took a step away and then turned right back around again for another hug from Bret. You could see the raw honest emotion on Bret's face as she did this. It's certainly not easy seeing someone so young and so full of energy and life in that moment knowing that she has been through so much and her future is very uncertain.

I thanked Bret myself for making this Elaina's dream come true. I had never met this girl before this night and just by making Bret's band and friends aware, Bret was able to make this moment happen for Elaina. I thanked everyone in Bret's bus, Bob, Big John, Rob, Ray, Pete, Doyle, Whitey, and the wonderful young lady who helped make everyone of Bret's crew aware of Elaina. These people are incredible and they each have a huge heart.

My friends and I waited until Elaina's family showed up to pick her up. Elaina couldn't wait to tell them and their expressions were pure amazement as she quickly told them she met Bret and we put her cardboard poster in their SUV. They were very thankful and anxious to hear more as they took her home.

I've been to tons of concerts. I've had a lot of great times and even what some might term "religious experiences" as there are just moments in life that hearing certain songs performed live can touch you deeply. I've pretty much been able to attend most concerts in a more selfish manner as I get lost in the music. Last night while I still get lost in the performances, meant so much more as the honesty of Bret's lyrics was followed up in the honesty of Bret's actions after the stage was dark and the crowd had left.

Elaina and her experience touched a lot of people last night, none more so than her. She is in a lot of people's prayers and if her energy and spirit are any indication, she may just surprise her doctors, too.

First Solo Promotion

2008-03-15T08:36:00.002-05:00

S&S Entertainment

2007-10-01T01:55:00.000-05:00

My New Entertainment Biz

2007-09-24T21:26:00.000-05:00

Been A Long Time

2007-08-23T19:35:00.001-05:00

It's been a long time since I've posted here. Sorry for the delay and with the political season approaching again, I will have more before long.

In the meantime, a lot has been going on in the music part of my life. Check out my MSN and My Space sites to see all the pictures and such that has been going on!

Happy Easter

2007-04-08T11:46:00.001-05:00

So many things going on in the world today.

Iran took British hostages and then released them. Someone on Fox News asked a guest if this made the Iranian President look good. His quick answer was that it did. My answer is that most of the world already knows this Iranian President is a terrorist sponsor, which in turn makes him an idiot. Who doesn't realize this guy is a moron?

Nancy Pelosi visited with a terrorist sponsor. This seems to make this terrorist sponsor a legitimate government to many, but most of us know better. Of course Pelosi made mistakes publicly while making this trip. She's not exactly playing with a full deck. It does seem curious that Democrats are consulting with enemies of the United States. That's nothing new, though.

Harry Reid wants to cut our soldiers' funding off. He actually wants to cause our nation to be defeated in the war on terror. Granted, that political party has made it a rule not to use the phrase "global war on terror". How dare they admit we are at war! Rush Limbaugh says the Democrats own defeat. They own it. This seems accurate. I'd prefer that we fight to win and quit handcuffing our soldiers. This is a war. Fight to win. Do not let the enemy known when you plan to pull out. They must be defeated before we can even think about leaving. If you want to let the enemy know when you are leaving, you are securing defeat.

Dianne Fienstein has been voting repeatedly to reward her husband's company some military contracts. Seems like her family is profiting from this war. Of course she quickly resigned from the committee that she was on when her own supporters started reporting this. I haven't seen much of an uproar in the press about this, though. Isn't this a huge deal?

The Attorney General issue...non-issue. What's wrong with firing people? These are political appointees, right? What's the big deal here? I can't find it. Sounds like a witch-hunt to me.

The war on terror in Iraq seems to be shaping up. Looks like the generals are implementing the right plan. I'm praying for our country and our troops and the freedom loving Iraqi people.

Freedom rocks, doesn't it? I hope every nation has a shot at freedom and I'm glad to be part of a nation that is helping others reach this goal.

Happy Easter. Jesus died for your sins and mine. Enjoy the freedom He has given us!

Some Things Never Change

2007-03-01T00:34:00.001-06:00

"It appears we have appointed our worst generals to command forces and our most gifted and brilliant to edit newspapers! In fact, I discovered by reading newspapers that these editor/geniuses plainly saw all my strategic defects from the start, yet failed to inform me until it was too late. Accordingly, I'm readily willing to yield my command to these obviously superior intellects and I'll, in turn, do my best for the Cause by writing editorials - after the fact."

- Robert E. Lee 1863

Presidential Race 2008 Already?

2007-02-25T10:05:00.001-06:00

Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama? The devil you know or the devil you don't? That seems to be the main question for Democrats as everyone is talking about the 2008 Presidential Race a bit too early. Of course, Democrats don't equate their candidates to the devil, but they certainly do that to Republicans. I have enjoyed the recent bickering between those two campaigns. Hillary thinks the Presidency should be handed to her. Obama thinks he is a rock star. Neither has what it takes to run a Representative Republic. If you want to experience a similar fall to Rome, vote Democrat. If you want to strive toward more individual freedom, vote Republican. Vote conservative.

All the talk about the 2008 race makes me realize that there aren't any Republicans standing out to get excited about. McCain is much too liberal and wishy washy for most of the conservative base. Rudy Giuliani cleaned up New York, but is he too liberal socially? George Allen was a great candidate for Congress, but then he made a comment that some deemed racist. Of course, it wasn't, but the media slammed him enough to cause his defeat. He would make a great President, though, in my opinion. Newt Gengrich would make a great President, too! Of course, the media has already compared him to Hitler in the past so they would do it again.

I'm looking forward to getting involved where I can. We need a true conservative in the White House. We need true conservatives in Congress. It's the only way to get this country back on track with greatness. We are still the greatest country in the world. We are the most free country in the world. We need to return to that foundation which makes us strong. Bring on the Conservative Republican candidates!

Losing Sucks

2007-02-21T20:14:00.000-06:00

When did it become ok to lose? I thought losing was a bad thing. Winning is the goal, right?

We went to war against terrorism a few years back. The goal was to win. U.S. citizens were united in the idea that we needed to win the war against terrorism. We all realized that we must enjoy our freedom and protect it at all costs.

Now the voice to leave the war is louder than the voice to win. Voices are telling us to pack up our things and go home. These voices are telling us that the war against terrorism isn't one we can win. How did we let these voices get so loud? They are telling us we are losers. They are telling us it's ok to lose.

I believe in winning the war. We must pursue victory. Only after victory will there be peace. Peace only follows victory. It's time we raise the voice of winning and drown out the voices of losers.

Political Survey

2007-02-08T20:52:00.001-06:00

Liberal/Conservative	Registered Repulican who votes Republican.
Abortion	Wrong. Pro Innocent Life.
Gun Control	The second amendment isn't just about hunting.
Immigration	Protect our borders and enforce the law.
Marijuana	Illegal
War in Iraq	Glad we liberated them, now get the job done right and patiently.
Communism	Freedom rules! Communism, socialism, and liberalism have never worked.
George Bush	Usually great president who doesn't waver on most principles.
Third Parties	Don't win elections.
Michael Moore	Communist propagandist.
Gay Marraige	Wrong. Not homophobic. Wrong
Piracy	Huh? Did you say something? Support artists as much as you are able.
Education	Should be a state and local issue. Get rid of the Department of Education on the Federal level. Lots of money and only going backward.
Prostitution	Illegal
Smoking in Public	Freedom. No second hand smoke study has been conclusive that it's worse than any other smoke inhilation.
Taxes	LOWER THEM DRASTICALLY!! Why should any government get 30% of what I earn?
Take this survey / PimpSurveys.com

Minimum Wage Is Anti Small Business

2007-01-24T17:22:00.000-06:00

I found an interesting headline on CNN's website. They are calling the Minimum Wage a raise for poor people. First of all, that's complete hogwash. Secondly, it verifies quite plainly the liberal slant at CNN.

I'm surprised that people get suckered into the minimum wage debate all the time. I've heard it explained that there are more employees than employers and it's natural for people to think negatively about their employer. Employees always suspect that an owner has more money than they really do and that they aren't sharing enough of it with them. There needs to be a re-education on this matter.

Markets decide wages. It's that simple. Free markets make our economy work. It needs to stay as unbridled as possible. If you start imposing on business owners what wage should be provided, you will likely put many small business owners out of business in favor of big businesses. This is also ironic since Republicans seem to have been characterized by the liberal press as being pro big business.

Superstition and Christianity

2007-01-20T22:57:00.001-06:00

Ever said "good luck"? Ever found a penny heads up and thought it was your lucky day? Ever hung a horseshoe above the door for good luck? Ever thought you had a lucky shirt or pair of socks when your team is on a winning streak? Ever owned a rabbit's foot?

There are all kinds of things that we tend to put a loose form of trust in for various reasons. As a Christian, should we be indulging this nature of ours? Are these harmless little things or proof of a lack of honest faith?

I've played along with some of these things and others. I know they aren't real. I know that superstition doesn't get me anywhere. It really is all about faith. How much do we really have and how much trust do we really have in the Lord? I wonder that about myself sometimes, especially in regards to my car.

Change In Format

2006-12-28T12:44:00.000-06:00

There will be changes to this site in the coming year. I'm planning on taking this site to a mostly political bent. I will include things philosophical, logical, theological, and all things related to ideas.

My MSN site will be used to cover everything in my life and include a ton of pictures. The My Space site will change to a purely music related format. Instead of just having 3 mostly duplicate blogs, I thought it best to set them up differently since they tend to work better for these environments. Please continue to check out all 3 and feel free to comment on them all as well.

Have a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas 2006

2006-12-26T20:13:00.001-06:00

I'm home alone this particular Christmas. It is kind of nice, actually. You see, I had a great Christmas weekend with my kids. I was able to get them several things this year. The big gifts were a KC Chiefs winter coat for my oldest and a Dallas Cowboys hoodie for my youngest. They were very grateful for their gifts. I also got them some games, books, clothes, and other goodies that girls would like.

I also cooked for my girls. I made a turkey dinner complete with mashed potatoes, corn, and dinner rolls. We had pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert. I also made them a nice breakfast on Sunday. They seem to agree that I should be doing more cooking for them.

It was a great weekend. I got to call my folks and the girls were able to visit with them and my little brother and his wife. I also visited briefly with my kids today to wish them a Merry Christmas.

I've added some pictures for Christmas 2006 that are in the family section of my photo albums. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas today!

Birthday Weekend Recap

2006-12-14T19:10:00.000-06:00

My birthday is December 4th. I celebrated a bit the weekend prior. As you can read below, the weekend was started off with the Guns N Roses concert, but some other things went down that day and the following couple of days.

The original plan was for my girlfriend to get off work at noon to make the trip to Des Moines and join me in getting to the concert early. I figured there would be quite a long line for the floor seats that night so leaving my house at 5pm, grabbing a quick bite to eat, and then hanging out at the Hilton Coliseum should have been a breeze to get us up front. There isn't any other reason to have floor tickets if you aren't going to be toward the front with a great view.

Thursday was a huge snow day in Missouri and my girlfriend wasn't sure she'd make it. I stayed positive and sent her a link with the road conditions. By noon that day, the roads were ok to travel and got better the further north she'd have traveled. Well, the day started with her getting stuck in her parking lot at home. Her boss got her to work and had some guys get her truck out. While the truck has turned out to be in the same running condition prior to getting stuck, she was told that there were problems with it and she shouldn't travel. That put her in a not so great mood as this concert may be a once in a lifetime thing depending on Axl's mood. It's not something you take chances with if it's important to you. Well, there was no way she could get out by noon and the later it got the more likely it was she'd be stranded in Missouri for the weekend. Well, that turned out to be the case. I called my roommate and he offered less than half of the ticket price if I couldn't sell it and mine for more. It was too late to sell so I took the rip off price and let him have the ticket that cheap. (I have other ways to get the rest out of him. He reads this blog on occasion, too!) You can read about the concert experience below.

At about 3AM, my roommate and I started heading south for a Missouri road trip. We stopped at Wally World for a case of water and some caffeinated drinks. I did all the driving and we only saw one deer along the way to Missouri. We arrived at our destination about 8AM to the smell of biscuits and gravy. We were welcomed by my girlfriend and her daughter and fed heartily before crashing for a few hours. My roommate got the couch and I got a fairly comfortable Queen Size bed. I say fairly comfortable because I have a King size pillow top mattress and I have to give my girlfriend a hard time for having the more comfortable sleeping area. I told her to not let me sleep past 1pm and just before time was up, she woke me up. It's always great waking up to someone you love.

We pretty much puttered around the house most of the day, but I had the pleasure of joining my girlfriend for some taxi excursions for her daughter. In doing so, I got a nice trip around the town I spent most of my youth growing up in. It was great to see the changes and the familiar. Memories came rushing back at every turn.

My roommate and I were fed a wonderful chicken dinner that evening and we all turned in early since we needed the sleep. Sunday morning we had the aroma of more sausage, bacon, and French toast made by her daughter. Breakfasts like this are awesome. We ate a lot and then spent the rest of the morning just visiting for a while. I told them that we had to make a trip in to Wal-Mart for some shopping before leaving town, though.

We finally got around and headed out for another tour around a couple other parts of town and I wanted to see if anyone was at my old church. Sure enough, there was a carry-in dinner occurring at the church so my roommate and I headed inside. While in there I ran into some friends from my youth. Adults who had helped teach me and people who were friends of the family were there to say hello to. It was also great admiring the addition onto the building. I will be back in June for a celebration of my parents' wedding anniversary.

We finally got around to heading to Wal-Mart. I had received some Christmas money from my parents and wanted to get some new work clothes. I had asked my girlfriend to pick out something she'd consider stylish that might look good on me. She has great taste and picked out two wonderful outfits. I've received compliments on them at work and sent a picture to my mom for her to see. Thank goodness people like this stuff! I've always gone the plain route, but this new set of clothes looks good. If someone doesn't like them, I can always just say my girlfriend dresses me funny.

My roommate and I took off for Des Moines and made it home before 7:30pm that night to get settled and rested after such a crammed in weekend. I figured that if my girlfriend couldn't come see me, I'd go see her and we had a great time. She was kind enough to get me a handheld Yahtzee game and a card that fit me to a T.

Yes, I'm another year older, but it was a good way to celebrate.

Thanksgiving Recap

2006-12-13T20:21:00.001-06:00

I guess I forgot to put up any details about my Thanksgiving trip to Missouri. It was a great week. My entire family was there and we created some great memories for a few days. My parents, my brothers and their families, and even my dad's sister were there.

I picked up my daughters not long after school on Tuesday that week. We went through KC and on to Kingdom City. We stopped there to meet my girlfriend and have a bit of ice cream. We got to my folks before 10pm and soon got the kids off to bed.

Wednesday was a nice quiet day for me and the girls to spend with my parents and aunt. We had raisin bran muffins for breakfast, which are my favorite. The middle brother got into town about 5pm with his wife and 4 kids. We had some dinner and then went to a Thanksgiving church service. My daughters sang a special with my niece and my brother accompanied them on the piano. It was great seeing all the girls sing together. They sounded great. The 4 oldest grandkids stayed with my parents and the rest of us went and stayed where my mom works. It was like having my own hotel room with my brother, his wife, and the two youngest boys next door.

Thursday morning we all went to my parents and my youngest brother and his wife joined us. It was a nice warm day so we went out and played some catch in the backyard with my oldest daughter. It was great tossing a baseball around with my brothers and Brittany. I haven't done that for a long time. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner of turkey and ham. We played Farkle and other games.

My girls and I then headed off to see my girlfriend and spend Thanksgiving evening with her. She had some ham made and had some key lime pie for us. It was great to just spend the time with her. She even bought a Yahtzee game and we played that with her. Yea, I'm pretty crazy about her.

Friday was another one of those days to sleep in a bit. I took the girls and my aunt in for some shopping to the outlet malls. We looked around a bit for some Christmas ideas. My niece was given some money to do some shopping and bought a beautiful dress to wear. We got back in time to get ready for family photos. My parents had scheduled a professional photo session for the entire family. We also had a sitting for the kids. Both pictures turned out great and I can't wait to get the prints I ordered. We had another nice meal when we returned home. There is little like mom's cooking to make a holiday or any day.

We had said our goodbyes to my youngest brother and his wife on Friday evening and Saturday was the day to say goodbye to my other brother and his family. The kids had so much fun together and they only get to do it about once a year.

I left that afternoon to go see my girlfriend while my girls spent the evening with their grandparents and my aunt. The helped bake a cake and did some other fun things like watching a movie that evening that was finishing when I arrived. I had a great time that evening just spending some quiet time with my girlfriend. She even had another piece of pie for me. I got home in time to get my girls tucked in.

Sunday morning we all got up early for church. It was great to see some old friends while there. We had another nice dinner when we got home and left shortly after.

While at my folks on Sunday, we found out that my ex-brother-in-law had a mild heart attack that morning. Instead of taking my girls back to their mom's house, we took off for Des Moines. It was nice to have a shorter trip home, but would have been better under other circumstances. Turns out he was ok after surgery, though. I got home in time to spend a couple of hours relaxing and spent a part of the evening on the phone with my woman. It was great to be home with so many wonderful memories that had been made the previous week.

There is truly a lot to be thankful for.

Guns N Roses in Ames, IA

2006-12-04T15:23:00.001-06:00

I have mixed feelings about this one. I've read a ton of comments to other reviews and it sounds like most people are griping about this show with a few of the "die-hards" defending Axl Rose for everything. This is only my opinion of the Ames show so here goes.

My girlfriend got snowed in and was unable to come up from Missouri to attend this concert with me. I sold my roommate my other floor ticket at just under half the price and we got to the Hilton Coliseum about 6:40pm. There wasn't a huge line at either entrance, so we knew we'd get a decent spot on the floor. The doors opened on time at 7pm and we walked in to get frisked and were let into the floor area. We looked at prices for the merchandise and almost died laughing that key chains were $10 and beanies were $30. They have a great baseball jersey at an outrageous price of $125. It's a shirt that wouldn't cost $50 elsewhere, but since it has a GNR design on it, it must command a higher dollar than sane people are willing to pay.

As we got to the front of the floor, the St. Louis band Modern Day Zero was starting a set long before the 8pm start time. They are a tight band that is still using the dated "nu-metal" sound, but considering that everything is considered dated at a GNR show, this wasn't entirely out of place. I actually enjoyed some of the rhythms of the band and they were very energetic. Everyone seemed to command the stage in that band with the only low point being the singer. The bass player and guitarist on the left hand side of the stage were great players with great presence.

When 8pm rolled around, the Suicide Girls came out with their entertaining and erotic burlesque show. Their whole thing is that they are natural girls with a bit of the gothic look and they look good without the harsh diets and fake parts. They were quite entertaining with their dance numbers on chairs, a ladder, with a flaming hula-hoop, dressed as cop and prisoner, and even as airline stewardesses. They came out again before GNR went on and even used chocolate syrup. It's not a concert type of production, but was entertaining.

Sebastian Bach came out with some great Skid Row tunes from their early days. He did Piece Of Me, I Remember You, Big Guns, and several from Slave To The Grind and Skid Row before closing with Youth Gone Wild. There were even a couple of tunes that I didn't recognize, but seemed to be new. Bas made some cheesy comments to go along with the titles of a few songs. He initially said he couldn't remember his last time in Ames, but before I Remember You he mentioned that he certainly remember us. That was one of the cheesier intros to a song. Bas does deliver, though. He has the vocal chops to hit everything and then some and he certainly gets the crowd into the show. He just has a natural enthusiasm for entertaining. Bas did brag about lying to Ted Nugent about his drinking, but I'm not sure how much of that is an act. The band did a great job playing the tunes, but it would be great for Bas to get a crack band that can keep up with him and look better doing it. Metal Mike looks like a Dimebag fan, but I'm not so sure that's a good thing. At least he has the chops.

Helmet followed Sebastian Bach and got booed loudly and angrily. I like Helmet. I liked their set, but it was out of place and out of pace with this concert. Helmet should have gone on at 8pm and then should have been followed by the Suicide Girls and Sebastian Bach. When you have to follow the crowd singing Youth Gone Wild and you are then put before Guns N Roses, you face the daunting task of keeping that energy up. It wasn't Helmet that had the fans angry, but the pacing of the show and the fact that many didn't even know Helmet was going to be at this show. The fans were expecting Bas and GNR, not Helmet and the Suicide Girls. Helmet got to the point of not even taking much of a break between songs in order to play their set. They were laughing off the crowd a bit, but thankful for the very few that were into them. I'm anxious to see how they perform the rest of the tour, but GNR would be better served to put Helmet on first.

The Suicide Girls came back out for another few dances, but the crowd was even more restless at this point in their anticipation for GNR. Many were unaware that Axl likes to go on after 11pm or even after midnight and that there was some trouble getting through the weather from Chicago to Des Moines. There were many that left at 12:30am angry that they spent their hard earned money on a show that they weren't aware would last over 7 hours.

Axl and his band finally came on about 12:40am. I'm not sure if it was worth the wait, but it was a great show. Axl did sound good and had a lot of energy. They started with Welcome To The Jungle and did the first three tunes from Appetite For Destruction before launching into their cover of Live And Let Die. There were a few new songs sprinkled into the set, but mostly the familiar. Sebastian Bach came out for his duet on My Michelle and both sounded great. There were fireworks, flames, and a great light show to go with the large backdrops and video screens used. The stage was split level with the drums in the center at the top flanked by keyboard setups on either side. Dizzy Reed, the only other member to record on a previous GNR disc was up on the left and he got a solo front and center on a grand piano. Axly used the piano on November Rain, too.

The band looked like they have been playing with Axl for quite some time as they were very tight. I just didn't get the feeling that this was truly a band, though, as it still came across like Axl and his backing band. That could just be my impression. The members have some originality and are very good players. The guitar players do play a little clean for my taste as I'm used to hearing Slash's tastefully sloppy play when hearing these songs.

Overall, there is no way to complain about how much you got for your ticket price. Four bands and a burlesque show for a top price of $77 plus TicketMaster charges isn't a bad value. The bad parts are the advertising for the show being that two bands would be there (some included The Suicide Girls.) and the late hour at which GNR goes on. If people were warned in advance, they could have just shown up later instead of thinking that they'd get a show and be home in time to get their babysitters home. The other bad part was the pacing of the show. As good as Helmet is, they aren't as popular as Sebastian Bach and certainly don't get the crowd going for the headliner when they are being booed.

Hopefully, this review will serve as a warning to some so that all will know what to expect in future shows. See it once, but don't bother a second time unless you have seats or the legs to stand it.

Black Label Society in Des Moines

2006-11-08T20:23:00.000-06:00

Zakk Wylde is the leader of the Black Label Society and he has quite the army of followers. The ValAir Ballroom was rumbling with the strains of 3 heavy bands that worked their way up like a rally from one guy who introduces the next who introduces the main speaker.

Priestess led things off to set the mood. These 4 guys hail from Montreal so they are on quite the trip through free country. They brought their straight ahead metal sound to people awaiting their leader. They were good at starting off the heavy night, but some comments were made about their songwriting. These guys have a good sound, but a way to go. They are worth keeping an eye on.

Black Stone Cherry made a lot of new fans last night. They brought their brand of Kentucky hard rock and had existing fans along with them for the ride. They played their new single and other tunes from their debut CD. Each member brought a ton of energy to the performance. The singer, while usually the eye of the hurricane, got swept up into the energy the audience gave back to them. The two Les Paul guitar attack worked in their favor as the singer took most of the leads, but traded off with the other guitarist. It's good to see long hair coming back around and these guys all created a whirlwind with it while playing. The ending of their set was classic as the two guitar players put their heads together and played the guitars behind their heads. The bass player then stood in front of the drummer with his bass offered up as a sacrifice while the drummer played it with his sticks. The guitarists then went to opposite sides of the stage and knelt to make some noise. They suddenly got up with the last remaining chords of their set and thanked the crowd. Visually, this was brilliant and something I hadn't seen before. Nice guys and they met everyone they could at the merch table after the show.

The crowd had been chanting "Zakk" most of the night. The front of the stage was blocked by a BLS curtain as the crew set up the stage. Zakk and the boys hit the stage with some light sounds until the curtain dropped and the metal began. Zakk had the crowd in the palm of his hand while a pit was formed and the fists were raised. He kept the rhythm going for quite some time with new songs and old. Midway through the set, he sat at a keyboard and played several songs from there. It surprised me that this guitar hero was tickling the ivories like a pro and was willing to bring the beat down for a bit. He still retained the heavy while offering up a tribute to Dimebag while a roadie brought a Dimebag T-shirt out and set it on the far left amp. There were 8 double stacks of Marshalls across his backline and after several songs at the keyboard he turned them back up for a few more stomps in the Wylde. Zakk them went into a long guitar solo that culminated in the National Anthem. This guy almost had smoke coming from his finger tips as he played. Most long guitar solos tend to bore after a short bit for everyone except the hardcore fans. Zakk has such a command that he could have been playing any of his tunes as the crowd was just as much into the solo as his songs.

The Iowa Chapter was out for Zakk last night and it was declared good. Catch these bands and get there for all three!

Bret Michaels Rocks Des Moines

2006-11-05T16:21:00.000-06:00

Bret's first club show in Des Moines was a sold out success. He probably could have sold out Val-Air Ballroom in Des Moines. The owner sold 300 tickets and maybe a few more for this show and mentioned that he could have sold a thousand if he'd had the room. The owner, John, was cool enough to let the first 50 ticket buyers into the club at 6pm for a meet and greet. This basically consisted of a soundcheck set and Bret finished it by signing about everything offered and taking pictures.

Before Bret came out to soundcheck, we were treated to his backing band, Evick. Pete Evick seemed to be in charge of making sure the stage sound was just right so that Bret would be pleased when he came out for soundcheck. While I was hoping we'd here an Evick original, we were treated to covers we all knew. They played tight versions of Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, Cold Gin, and Walk This Way. Pete handled both lead guitar and lead vocals while Ray and Chuck held down the bottom end groove. I hope that John was listening because Evick is a group that needs to be playing Keyster's with their own show.

Bret came out for a four song soundcheck and the sound was good. Your Mama Don't Dance got things rolling so he could here what the harmonica would sound like and he grabbed his acoustic to hear how things sounded on Every Rose Has Its Thorn. Bret brought out his electric guitar for Fallen Angel and then rocked us all with Nothin' But A Good Time. The sound system sounded great and he touched on a few things with the band before coming to the front of the stage for signatures and pictures. I was fortunate enough to get the newest CD signed as well as get a picture. I also asked when we would here something newer from him. Bret said that POISON ENTERS THE STUDIO AFTER THE FIRST OF THE YEAR! This was news to me as I hadn't heard for sure if Poison would be doing any new recording from any online source. Of course Poison is taking their show back on the road for the summer and Bret wants to come back to Keyster's next year.

During the break, I visited with Pete Evick a bit and he asked a favor. Bret has a video camera and he's just getting into the internet a bit more. He would like to take video from every night and put it on YouTube. They were having trouble getting what Pete described as a firewire cable to get the camera to hook up to the PC. Being a computer guy, I was able to grab a couple of cables from CompUSA for them and I'm sure the USB2 cable I found should be proved to be the right cable today. I had it looked up online, so that helped.

The Gibbs Brothers opened the show this night and they sounded great as they did last week. It seemed like a very similar set and they should be doing their own shows at Keyster's, too. While their cover or Kickstart My Heart seems a tad loose and Roll With The Changes picks up and slows down in spots for my taste, the originals sound great and the guys do a good job of getting the people in attendance into their stuff and ready for the headliner.

Evick came out after the house tape had played You Shook Me All Nite Long and Welcome To The Jungle. Evick started up with some noise and after the opening chords of Talk Dirty To Me were played, Bret came bounding out on stage ready to start the party. Bret got a feel for this sold out crowd and adjusted his expected set list in some major ways. He just had a feel for what we wanted and when it was time to deliver it, which meant he delivered all night. The set list that was supposed to happen is below what was actually played:

SETLIST

Talk Dirty To Me
Rock N Roll All Nite
Bittersweet
Sweet Home Alabama
Driven
I Won't Forget You
Your Mama Don't Dance
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Unskinny Bop
Raine
Something To Believe In
American Band
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Fallen Angel

ENCORE

Nothin' But A Good Time

WRITTEN SETLIST

Talk Dirty To Me
Rock N Roll All Nite
Look What The Cat Dragged In
Driven
I Won't Forget You
Party Rock Band
Your Mama Don't Dance
Raine
Sweet Home Alabama
Bittersweet
Something To Believe In
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Unskinny Bop
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Fallen Angel

ENCORE

Nothin' But A Good Time

As shown above we didn't get to hear Look What The Cat Dragged In or Party Rock Band, but we did get American Band. Chuck told me that he had played that song twice before and was shocked when Bret called it out, but he didn't miss a beat or a break in the song.

I've seen Bret 3 times with Evick as the Bret Michaels Band and they just keep getting better and tighter. The breaks, the breakdowns, the solos, the backing vocals, and the show were spot on. Chuck was singing along and adding backing vocals while holding down the beat. Ray was adding a few backing vocals and rocking out at the front of the stage while manhandling his bass. Pete was playing the solos spot on as we all grew up on them while providing backing vocals and a guitar foil to Bret for the show. The party was led by Bret Michaels calling the plays as any great quarterback. Bret and Evick make for a tighter combination than seeing Poison live. I'm not saying it's better as Poison is a classic and they play a pretty loose show that allows for each member to do something a bit different if they want. Bret's led Evick to be a very tight band playing the Poison classics tighter and cleaner than Poison while making this a Bret Michaels show.

One of the things I was really looking forward to for this particular show was taking Becky to the show. It's always fun to attend concerts, but when you go alone or with a group you tend to enjoy just about everything except the slow songs and when you get excited about something during or after the show, you don't have anyone to really enjoy and share it with. Concert buddies are great, but swaying with your loved one to a great ballad is a better way to experience things in my opinion. I can't wait to take her to Guns N Roses in Ames, IA.

Go see Bret on the nearest tour stop and enjoy the party he brings. Also, keep your ears peeled for some possible information about an upcoming show!

Bret Michaels Returns To Des Moines

2006-11-02T16:45:00.001-06:00

I have tickets to 3 upcoming local concerts. Bret Michaels will be at Keyster's. Black Label Society and Black Stone Cherry are playing the ValAir Ballroom. Guns N Roses will be in Ames. Three great upcoming shows! That will put my yearly total at 18, which is one shy of last year's 19. I'm sure there may be another one or two to tie or put me over.

Out of the three, I'm most anxious for the one this Saturday. I get to take my woman to see Bret Michaels. He's being backed by Evick, a great band from back east. As a few previous posts will show, I was fortunate enough to meet Evick on two occasions while backing Bret Michaels. Evick performed with Bret at Waterstock Rock 2005 and I got to meet and hang with the guys at the dividing fence after the show. Pete, Ray, and Chuck were as cool as could be signing things and telling stories of the road. Pete Evick is a Metal Sludge fan and we talked about that website for a while. Later that year I caught the Bret Michaels show in Davenport, IA, and again Evick was backing Bret. I peeked into the window while Evick was soundchecking and Pete saw me and motioned me to come inside. After the show, we all hung out. My roommates, Steph, and I were just having a blast visiting with Evick, Big John, and even meeting Bret Michaels to get a picture and autograph. We took a group photo that night with everyone except Bret to publish on Metal Sludge to put some rumors about Big John's employment to rest. They were truly one big happy and fun family on the road. I tried earlier this year to get Pete Evick in touch with anyone and everyone about getting Evick on Waterstock 2006, but it fell through or didn't work out. I knew Bret would be there with Poison and it just seemed right that Evick should be on that bill this year, too. I hope they get on this next year.

I've been fortunate enough to meet Bret Michaels on two occasions. Steph was kind enough to help me get to meet Bret in Cedar Rapids in 2004 at 3rd Street Live. I was part of the first small group (all women except me) to get on Bret's bus for a short meet and greet after his show. He was very gracious and funny and even though he didn't have to, he asked me what my daughter's names were when I mentioned that they loved his song Raine and enjoyed the video. The second time I met Bret was in Davenport and it was just a brief spot in line for a picture on the steps of his bus. The really cool thing was that I mentioned I was anxious to hear Menace To Society from his CD Songs Of Life. He started into a verse and I joined him for a couple lines. He looked at me and said, "Yea, you got it." I actually sang with the guy I grew up seeing on MTV for about two lines of a song! Now that's cool!

With my ticket for Saturday night's show, I am supposed to be able to meet Bret and the guys from Evick before the show. I've e-mailed Pete to let him know I will be there. It will be great to see the guys again and welcome them to Des Moines for what could be the first of many times. It even looks like this show may have already sold out and they just announced it at the LA Guns show last Saturday.

I've heard stories and rumors posted online about Bret Michaels. Some are completely idiotic, but most have a very common theme. This is a guy who loves to play music live and he's always gracious to those he meets. I've seen this up close in two very small encounters and can see why this guy is still at it.

Poison was my rebellion as a kid and seems to be that as an adult. I was struck by the guitar and attitude of Talk Dirty To Me the first time I saw it on MTV and have followed the band ever since. Being a singer, my favorite of the 4 was always the guy who has the same name as me. Bret has a lifelong battle with diabetes and in spite of that has been rockin' and rollin' for over 20 years. To keep doing what you love at the level he does says something about what you love and what you are capable of. Bret is still drawing a crowd doing Poison tunes, solo CD tunes, and even a few covers.

Check out the bands I've listed in the Upcoming Shows area. Tell me what you thought. Most of all, support the artists who are doing this. They need us as much as we need them.

Naked Beggars In Des Moines

2006-10-30T08:21:00.000-06:00

If songs, talent, and showmanship were what really mattered in the music industry, Naked Beggars would be ruling the rock n roll world. Songs that remind you of all the bands you listened to growing up from one genre to another with a sound all their own. The talent among these 5 musicians is incredible and everyone already knows the pedigree of Jeff Labar and Eric Brittingham from Cinderella. The lead and rhythm prowess of Kris Casamento is something to be seen as well. Kris has been part of the song backbone for this band since the inception. New drummer, Lisa Rev, is a very welcome addition to this band. She brings a steady backbeat that just grooves in the pocket with Eric's bass playing. Her dynamics bring a seductive feel to songs as the beat infects you and makes you move. Leading this band on stage is Inga who has a great sense of humor and a unique way of bringing you into the lyric with her showmanship. The whole is greater than the 5 members, which is what makes Naked Beggars such a wonderful band and live experience.

Last night was another great live show from this great band. The crowd was quite small so we had an intimate night with Naked Beggars. (Doesn't that sound like fun?) There was a lot of joking around as Inga picked on Jeff. Jeff had a recurring theme all night that he just learned the songs yesterday or learned to play the Mandolin yesterday. Inga led the humor, but the guys were right there with the jokes. When Inga told everyone that Eric was a farm boy, Jeff piped up that it was a pot farm. Jeff told a story about getting the finger from Inga and said it was the best finger he'd ever gotten. Eric then chimed in saying "except for the time in jail". Jeff having gone to jail was another running joke throughout. You could tell through all the banter that this is a group of friends who have become family and let it shine through all they do.

The songs are what Naked Beggars boil down to. It's the songs that move them and the songs that provide further insight into this family. The set list is as follows:

Ain't Your Mama
Lies (I love the rhythm of this song! Drums and a Les Paul through a Marshall stack make this song!)
Spit It Out
Bitch
Go Where You're Wanted (The first new song of the night! Tasty groove!)
I'm All Over It (Another new tune with some great rhythm.)
Creep
Naked N' Beggin' (Jeff has a very melodic guitar part that sets the tone from the outset on this new song.)

ACOUSTIC SET
What You Give (Tesla)
Discombobulated
Nobody's Fool (Cinderella)
Destiny (A new song Jeff really did learn the day before! There is a great vibe to this slower tune.)
Going To California (Led Zeppelin)
Lullaby

No More
Kind Of Girl
Too Late
Dream On (Aerosmith)
Never Runaway (My favorite of the new tunes because this rocker just makes you involuntarily! You have to!)
Nothin' But Trouble
Hole In The Wall
Get It On

Twenty-two songs. Most bands are content to do ten, twelve, or even 15 tunes, but these guys gave us a full evening and obviously enjoyed every minute of sharing their talent with us. They took us away from our day to day lives for a full evening of great rock n roll. They enjoyed smiling, sharing, and rocking out with us. Not to us or for us, but with us. They invited us into their music and we loved every moment.

I had a few personal highlights visiting with the band afterwards. When I arrived at Shooter's Hideaway, I saw Eric milling near the front door, but I went over to see some new friends first. I figured the band was gearing up to get ready and I wanted to take in the venue. When the band gathered up getting ready to leave to go eat dinner, I walked toward them and Inga said "You made it!". She remembered that I had mentioned that I may not make the Clear Lake date, but I assured her that in Des Moines, I'd be there. She and Eric shook my hand and genuinely seemed glad to see a familiar face of a fan. Lord knows I've pestered Inga enough about getting to Des Moines. Of course, I hadn't known about Shooter's having shows so it was a venue I hadn't even mentioned to her. I'm glad others have been instrumental in getting Naked Beggars to Des Moines. Now to just have them back often! Dave, the Waterstock webmaster, took pictures since I'd left my memory card at home. I will post the ones he took of me with the band and put a link here for his live shots if he allows me. JW was able to get some pictures he'd taken previously in Clear Lake signed by the band members. I got a set list signed and was able to go over my recollection of the originals with Inga. They were also impressed that I had a Spit It Out sampler that I brought in to get signed. (I have two of them.) I was able to ask Inga and Kris about the new CD they HOPE to have out in February. I know that Inga and Kris have done a major share of the writing in the past and there have been member changes with each CD. With the new CD they have 4 members that have toured and written together for quite some time now. Inga said that there is more of a collaborative effort this time around as they have lived with each other and the songs for a while now. They still have more songs to write and the titles of the new songs may change and the songs themselves alter as they grow into the tunes with time. Kris said they hope to be in the studio in the first part of December. They still have more to do, but as a fan I can hardly wait to hear the new CD and I'm hoping they are able to hit the February time frame with something they are proud to share.

I asked Inga about their missing member, Kristine. I was curious when she might return to touring with the band and that seems to be up in the air right now. Kristine is missed with her keyboards, violin, and wonderful harmonies. The band sounds very muscular without those instruments, but they do provide a great feel to the tunes. I hope Kristine is able to return. I know the band and fans miss her. She's a great addition. Of course, I have to stress, too, in all fairness that there is so much talent in the five that were there last night that while Kristine is a great addition, the band certainly isn't lacking without her. In fact, it does provide a more muscular sound with stipping it down to guitars, bass, and drums. Watching Kris and Jeff trade licks at one point was incredible!

I didn't know Shooter's Hideaway had any live music until I heard about this gig. I had the good fortune of meeting Paul who set up this room for live shows. He knows what he's doing with the sound and lights and he was absolutely correct about the acoustics at Shooter's. This is a great venue for smaller live shows and maybe over time bigger ones. They may need to raise the stage off the floor more as people will block people in a larger crowd and with a small drum riser, Lisa did hit the ceiling a couple of times. There is talk of having Naked Beggars back some day soon and I hope it works out to do so. Word of mouth will help this venue as they start bringing bands like Naked Beggars there on a regular basis.

Go see Naked Beggars. Support them by spreading the word about this wonderful band. They will laugh with you. They will rock you. They will move you.

LA Guns in Des Moines

2006-10-29T11:59:00.001-06:00

You can always expect a great show from LA Guns. Steve Riley holds down the beat with Adam Hamilton. Stacey Blades cranks up the Les Paul through his Marshall stack with some tasty leads. Phil keeps the crowd entertained with a sense of humor and his plays to the crowd.

Keyster's hosted this event with Iowa's own Gibbs Brothers opening. The Gibbs Brothers were tight with a rock sound based in the blues. Their drummer is also the singer and he puts his kit front and center so that he can entertain while keeping time. His brother provides some soulful licks while their bass player keeps the groove going. They covered Cinderella's Last Train and Motley Crue's Wild Side in addition to some previously recorded originals and some from their upcoming CD being produced by Rikki Rockett. I was impressed. I'd heard about these guys, but this was the first I'd seen them. I can't wait to hear the new CD and see them live again.

LA Guns hit the stage with their brand of sleazy Hollywood rock firing on all cylinders. Phil was sans hat, but wore a new mustache that he said he's trying out. About halfway into the set, the owner came up and mentioned that it needed to be turned down as he'd received his second citation in two nights. The guys turned it down a tad, but being front and center it still sounded great. The set list was as follows:

No Mercy
Sex Action
Never Enough
Some Lie 4 Luv
Over The Edge
I Wanna Be Your Man
Rock N Roll Outlaw
Gypsy Soul (My personal favorite from their newest CD!)
It Don't Mean Nothing
Wheels Of Fire
Hellraisers Ball
Nothing Better To Do
One More Reason
Electric Gypsy
Ballad Of Jayne
Rip N Tear

There was no encore, but the set list had "Don't Look At Me That Way" listed at the end and it wasn't performed. There wasn't but a few of us calling for more tunes. We had an extra hour with the time change, but the band didn't return to the stage.

LA Guns came out with their remaining T-shirts and CD's and met with everyone and signed everything they were asked to sign. As always, a great show by my favorite sleazy Sunset Strip band.

TV Schedule Fall 2006

2006-10-18T16:01:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd throw up my TV schedule here to give a detailed account of what I watch.

SUNDAY

Meet The Press (NBC) - The mostly liberal interpretation of politics for the week.
Fox News Sunday (FOX) - The mostly conservative interpretation of politics for the week.
Various Football Games (CBS, ESPN, & FOX) - Gotta see the Cowboys and Chiefs!
Cold Case (CBS) - A great procedural with heart.
Without A Trace (CBS) - A great procedural with great characters.
War At Home (FOX) - I've always loved Married With Children and this has a similar humor.

MONDAY

How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - Great comedy! Gotta love Barney!
The Class (CBS) - Fun new comedy with a payoff each episode so far.
Two And A Half Men (CBS) - This comedy gets away with so much for the hour it's in.
The New Adventures Of Old Christine (CBS) - This comedy is really finding its legs. Humor in divorce.
CSI: Miami (CBS) - Fun setting for a procedural. I hope they start getting into the characters better soon.
Heroes (NBC) - I love shows about superheroes. Brittany watches this one with me.
Justice (FOX) - I hope this show survives. Great procedural on the side of the defense. Always the truth at the end.
Studio 60 On Sunset Strip (NBC) - I've just caught the opener so far and have 3 shows to catch up on.
WWE: Monday Night RAW (USA) - Everyone needs to see someone kick some butt with hot women by their side.
Gene Simmons Family Jewels (A&E) - The Demon as father, husband, and business man. Much better than Ozzy's show.

TUESDAY

Friday Night Lights (NBC) - Very realistic look at a Texas football town. Similar in style and feel to the movie.
The Unit (CBS) - The men who serve and the women who love them. Great stories on both the battlefield and the homefront.
ECW (SCI-FI) - Owned by WWE, but with more "extreme" style.

WEDNESDAY

30 Rock (NBC) - Tina Fey is a good writer. I'm anxious to see if this is gonna be as fun as it sounds.
Twenty Good Years (NBC) - John Lithgow and Jeffrey
Bones (FOX) - Great prodedural with great characters. I love the banter and the search to understand each other.
Criminal Minds (CBS) - Reminds me of a short lived show called UnSub. Loved it and love this procedural about catching serial killers.
CSI: NY (CBS) - A tad more gritty take on the CSI procedural theme.

THURSDAY

Ugly Betty (ABC) - Selma Hayek produces this show about a Latino girl trying to make it in the fashion business.
Smallville (CW) - Superman! What more needs to be said?
Supernatural (CW) - A great horror TV show about brothers who hunt the supernatural.
My Name Is Earl (NBC) - Redneck trying to understand karma and getting laughs in the process.
The Office (NBC) - This is the best awkward comedy I've ever seen.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS) - The original CSI procedural. Great show with great characters.
Shark (CBS) - Great procedural on the side of the prosecution.
Ultimate Fighter 4: The Comeback (SPIKE) - Gladiators vying to get into the UFC. A new fight every week.

FRIDAY

Ghost Whisperer (CBS) - A horror show with heart? You may jump in the first half and tear up in the second.
Men In Trees (ABC) - Ok, I can't believe I'm watching a chick style show like this, but it's got so many truths.
Happy Hour (FOX) - Fun sitcom with potential.
Foxworthy's Big Night Out (CMT) - Jeff Foxworthy continuing the Blue Collar style.
Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders (CMT) - Cheerleaders from my favorite football team. What more needs to be said? I watch this with Paige.

Is there anything on Saturday nights now? That's currently my catch up day.

My Space, Blogger, and MSN

2006-10-15T22:23:00.001-05:00

I've been having trouble all weekend with My Space. I can view my page, but I can't log in. I rarely get a login page. When I do get a login page it won't allow me to log in. It's been this way since late Friday night. I love the networking on My Space. If it was similarly done on MSN, I'd just do everything through my MSN site.

The Blogger site has been upgraded to the new beta version. I think I've lost all of my comments, but there hasn't been much action on Blogger for a while. I like it a lot better now since I don't know HTML. Blogger has always been reliable, but the new look adds some features that I like about the MSN site. My favorite upgrade is being able to rearrange all of the lists. Blogger is a great site for people who know HTML, but I'm a bit of a rookie so it's great to be able to have simple things like that.

I like the MSN site the best, but there are two major changes I'd make. MSN doesn't allow list rearrangement and I could really use that for my concert lists. The other major change would be the layout. I'd love to be able to add columns to fit higher resolutions so that you can put more at the top of the page to catch people's eye. The less clicking, the better. The less scrolling, the better. The only other change I'd make is a minor one and that would be to add a Calendar similar to My Space.

It's easy to keep up three blogs when I'm mostly copying and pasting posts to each one and updating the Calendar on My Space. The minor layout changes I make on occasion aren't a hassle, either. I believe it's good to be a part of a few environments for various reasons. Mainly, you will only meet some people in certain places. My Space has been a great area to meet rock bands and fans. I've even run into a couple of old classmates through it. Blogger is a great place for another network of friends that I've made through concerts. This site was my first and still the best and I link to it from every place I post about music. I've had great people from Metal Sludge and the Waterstock site come here to view the pictures and a few people have hit this site from the Des Moines Register blogs. Each blog is good in its own way. Now if only My Space will let me log in!

Softball Week 7

2006-10-11T07:12:00.000-05:00

We won one and lost one Monday night and didn't even play the games. We had to forfeit the first game against Milo Methodist due to not having enough players to play. Heaven Help Us called earlier in the day and forfeited the second game for the same reason. We expected to lose against Milo and win against HHU, so it worked out the way we thought only without having to actually show up to play. That put us where we thought we'd be at 6-9 or 4th place for the fall season. Now we await tournament details.

Yankees Lose

2006-10-08T16:01:00.000-05:00

Only 4 playoff games in, the Yankees are done. They won the first game against Detroit with heroics by Derek Jeter going 5-5 and finishing his at bats with a home run. The Yankees then lost the next 3 in a row to end the season. This wasn't supposed to happen. The Yankees were on their way their first World Series since 2000 and now that dream has ended. I'm shocked and saddened by this, but as they say every year...there's always next year.

Yankee Fan

2006-10-04T16:11:00.000-05:00

I've been a Yankee fan since the 1977 World Series. It's the first baseball I can ever remember knowing about or understanding. The Yankees beat the Royals in the playoffs and then beat the Dodgers in the World Series. The same thing happened the following year. I wanted to know more about baseball and started playing on my small town team that my dad coached. I started collecting baseball cards and my mom got my brother and I each a half box of cards for Christmas. Since the Yankees were the big winners, I tried to collect mostly their cards and wanted to know more about the team. My dad encouraged this since he grew up a baseball fan and a fan of the New York Yankees. His favorite player was Mickey Mantle. I started reading about the players that contributed to the history of the Yankees and Mantle was my favorite, too. I read biographies about Ruth, Maris, Mantle, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and all the rest and wanted to know more about the players of the day like Reggie Jackson, Craig Nettles, Ron Guidry, Sparky Lyle, and Goose Gossage. I knew girls that thought Bucky Dent was the cutest thing and had his poster on their wall. I could mimic the pitching styles of Catfish Hunter, Tommy John, and Luis Tiant.

I've been a New York Yankee fan since those days and have followed them and all of baseball every year since to some degree. They are consistent winners. I've heard all the derision over the years about them paying large salaries and buying up the best players, but people don't seem to understand that you still have to play the games. Also, the Yankees have a huge history of being winners. They have had this history long before George Steinbrenner and his antics. There is a Yankee tradition of excellence that hasn't been matched in baseball. There have been 101 World Series' played since the first in 1903. The Yankees have been in 39 of them. They have won 26. The closest team to that kind of record is the St. Louis Cardinals. They have been in 16 World Series' and have won 9. The Oakland Athletics have won 9 out of the 14 they have been in. It's tradition and the fans expect to win every year. The Yankees have also had the highest run of World Series Championships with 5 in a row. Winning is expected. Isn't this what we teach our children when they learn about life? We expect excellence.

I've been fortunate enough to see a few Major League baseball games in my life. My first was at Busch Stadium watching the Cardinals and Dodgers. Roger Freed hit a 3 run homer to end the game and win it for the Cards. That night must have been his highlight that year because it was on the back of his baseball card the following year. I got autographs from Ron Cey, Boog Powell, Ted Simmons, and Roger Freed. I've seen the Astros play the Cardinals twice. One of those games I sat in the right field stands and watched Nolan Ryan win one for the Astros 4-3, I believe. I've also seen three Royals/Yankees games. I was fortunate enough to see them win two of the three. I got autographs from El Duque and David Cone. Cone signed his baseball card for me as we sat right behind the Yankee dugout and El Duque signed a baseball for me through his bus window.

I own a Yankees cap, a Yankees leather jacket, and over the years I have owned a T-shirt and those plastic hard hats you can get at fairs and such. I also have an autographed baseball from that 1977 team that was sold through Post Raisin Bran with a small plastic stand. I don't have all the baseball cards I had as a kid, but I have a few. I remember selling my Mickey Mantle card. It was tough to part with and I probably shouldn't have. I still have the book "And On The 8th Day God Created The Yankees".

There are bigger fans than me for sure. I'm just an average fan, not a bandwagon fan. I like rooting for winners and enjoying the history of this team as it unfolds. Just thought I'd post a few memories of days gone by with the hope of more to come.

Softball Week 6

2006-10-04T08:32:00.000-05:00

We are staying solidly in 4th place out of 6 teams. We played a triple-header on Monday and won the first game easily, but lost the next two. We had hoped to win the second game against a team we'd beaten before, though. We have one week left. So far our season has looked like this:

WEEK 1
FDCC - 4
Fairview Christian - 5

FDCC - 2
TRYM - 8

WEEK 2
FDCC - 9
Indianola Church Of Christ - 11

FDCC - 8
Heaven Help Us - 4

WEEK 3
FDCC - 1
Fairview Christian - 2
(Not accurate, but we lost by one.)

FDCC - 3
Milo Methodist - 6

WEEK 4
FDCC - 9
Indianola Church Of Christ - 8

FDCC - 8
TRYM - 27

WEEK 5
FDCC - 10
Fairview Christian - 6

FDCC - Winner by Forfeit
Milo Methodist - Loser by Forfeit

WEEK 6
FDCC - 8
Heaven Help Us - 7

FDCC - 7
Indianola Church Of Christ - 24

FDCC - 11
TRYM - 15

WEEK 7 (Yet to be played.)
FDCC
Milo Methodist

FDCC
Heaven Help Us

This puts us at 5-8 for the season above Fairview Christian and Heaven Help Us. With next week's schedule we will likely finish the season 6-9 and be the 4th seed in the Fall Tournament. Not a bad finish, but a drop from last year's second place finish and first place tournament finish. Of course, you never know until you play the games.

Baseball Prediction

2006-10-02T15:35:00.000-05:00

It's time to lay out my prediction for the Major League Baseball Playoffs. I've been predicting since about a month before Labor Day that we are going to have a Yankees vs. Mets Subway series. The Yankees are going to win the World Series this year and it won't go 7 games against Detroit or the Mets. Oh, and yes I can say I've been predicting this that long or longer as I've been giving a co-worker who is a Mets fan a hard time for quite a while. E-mails will back that up. :) Ok, I'm usually not very good at sports predictions, but you gotta admit that this is an easy one! Go Yankees!!

Now as for my own team tonight. Game one should be an easy win. Game two could be a good close game win like we did last time. Game three we will get creamed! It's going to get tougher as the night wears on, but you never know what happens until you play the games. One more week and then it's tournament time.

Irregular Blogging

2006-09-29T12:35:00.000-05:00

There have been several things I've been wanting to blog about in recent weeks. Topics include the wacko Venezuelan president, the wacko former US President Clinton, weekends with my woman, and weekends with my girls. There have been political hot topics such as how to treat captured enemy combatants, racism and who is allowed to get away with it, and the campaign season. Also, TV season has started into high gear and there are many new shows I've been checking out. I'm going to try to consolidate this post a bit and cover as much as I can.

Wacko Presidents: Even some liberals call the Venezuelan president "nuts". This guy thinks it's ok to come on to our soil and call our president the devil. He thinks his little oil is a cause of concern for the US and that we will bow to his whims if he threatens cutting it off. My reaction is that after the elections, we just shut his country down financially. It's not hard to do and will show him who he should be falling in line with. Dictators rarely can run a country properly and this guy has to go. Our own wacko former president Clinton showed just how off his rocker he is by getting upset and defensive while retorting with lies to a guy who was just asking questions as a journalist. Clinton still thinks that people are out to get him when in fact we just want to hear the truth once out of this guy's mouth. You would think that a guy who was the leader of the free world for 8 years would know better how to respond to a simple Sunday morning interview. Just more proof that he and his family need to be put into private life and work to understand how real people live.

My woman is just fantastic! Yes, I can call her mine and she can call me hers. She's a great cook, homemaker, mother, friend, and just plain awesome. Our last visit consisted of a lazy weekend that was just the ultimate in comfortable and fun. She cooked 3 great meals. We watched a couple of movies. We even took a nap one afternoon! It was just proof that we can really have a great time doing nothing! I loved that weekend and so did she.

My girls are enjoying school and doing great. I'm already in Christmas gift mode, too. They are a joy to spend time with. They both tell me stories about what they and their friends are doing at school. The oldest is hoping to get involved with Volleyball again this year. The youngest missed a cheerleader camp, but is already looking ahead to being involved next year. They are both reading a lot and really excelling in their studies.

Political Events: Senator George Allen is not a racist. Ask anyone who has known him. In over 20 years of service to his fine state, this is the first time anyone has tried to make this claim. It's making his opposition look foolish. Has anyone questioned Senator Byrd to see if he was ever involved in any lynching or cross burning? Has anyone made him out to be a racist for his use of the N-word on Meet The Press a while back? Does it seem weird that Democrats can come out with programs designed to stigmatize race and not be called racist? Why does race matter to anyone after all this time? It's just simple skin color. It doesn't matter.

Enemies of our country have already been defined and our Supreme Court botched up a recent ruling. If you signed on to the Geneva Conventions, you have to abide by them in any conflict with someone else who has signed them. If your enemy has not signed them, such as our enemies in the war on terror, the Geneva Conventions do not apply. The Supreme Court disagrees but they are flatly wrong and this ruling will eventually change by a future Supreme Court. Your enemy, as stated in a previous post, sets the rules of engagement. Our enemy beheads civilians and soldiers on camera. Should we do the same? Not exactly, but they have shown that they want combat with no rules. We should take them out without tying the hands of our soldiers. We should not be afraid of striking first. We should do what it takes to take out the enemy quickly and easily. If we accidentally get someone else in the process, so be it. Quit being afraid of bad press and take this conflict to the terrorists.

It's almost election time for the midterms. There were so many articles about the Democrats taking control of both houses a while back, but that seems to have been grossly inaccurate as the recent findings point to a lot of exaggeration before. There is no way that the Democrats will be in control of either house and it's foolish to think so. The American people are much smarter than that and they know what it takes to make a country great. That formula is freedom for the people. Give us our money back, keep the enemy off our soil, and stay as far out of our lives as possible. This has been the goal of most Republicans and they will maintain control. The economy is rolling right along with low unemployment, falling gas prices, and people are keeping more of their money due to lower taxes. My prediction is that control of the houses stays the same and I hope you keep it that way now and in the future by voting conservative and voting for freedom.

TV Season: Familiar favorites are off and running with Smallville, Supernatural, Ghost Whisperer, Criminal Minds, the 3 CSI shows, Bones, and various sitcoms. New shows have shown promise in Heroes, Justice, and sitcoms like Til Death and The Class. I tried watching Vanished, but couldn't sit through the entire first episode without realizing this show would be vanishing soon, too. I've enjoyed Gene Simmons Family Jewels. Funny stuff without lowering his rock n roll status. Ultimate Fighter The Comeback has been fun to watch as well as the WWE/ECW and TNA wrestling shows. There are others I'm looking forward to like Friday Night Lights and 30 Rock. I hope to have more commentary on some of these shows within the week.

Softball Weeks 4 & 5

2006-09-27T19:15:00.000-05:00

The last two weeks of softball have gotten our team back on track with winning, but we still have a ways to go. Week 4 consisted of a one run win in an extra inning against a tough team. We won 9-8. Sometimes it pays to be the home team! That was a tough and fun win. I like tough games like that and I like them better when we are the winner. The second game is one we knew we'd lose and we lost big 27-8. This week was a better story. We won the first game easily against a team we should always win against, but have lost the last several. It was nice to pull that win out. They are a good team, but we have most always been the better team. Great bunch, though. The second game was one we were sure we'd lose, but the game they played first caused a turn of events. The team we had just beaten played these guys between our games. The girl pitching for the team we were about to play took a line drive to the chin. She was rushed to the local hospital by another girl on the team which put them at 3 women. They were sure the two girls would be back in time for the next game against us, but they weren't so they had to forfeit. We played for fun and lost huge, but at least it counted as a win in the standings. That's 3 wins out of the last 4 games, which we can certainly use. Out of 6 teams, we have now moved from 5th to 4th. We have three games next Monday and two more to make up. It would be nice to move up at least one more notch.

I moved from number two batter to the number one spot and the team seemed to do better with that batting order this week. I tend to hit up the middle and with a runner on first, it's possible that I'm off a tad hitting to the shortstop or second baseman. This tends to get a lead runner out and doesn't advance anyone on base. The woman that was hitting first always gets on base with a hit to right field. We figured that switching that up would put me on first and get her to advance me while getting on herself. Instead of potentially one runner on, we get two runners on. It worked quite well last night and I'm sure we will continue that next week. My only other concern is having some strong male players next week. We had one of our best power hitters end his season early with a Monday night commitment, so I'm hoping we can get a player to pick up the slack. We shall see!

Buckcherry In Des Moines, IA

2006-09-20T08:32:00.000-05:00

Buckcherry has got to be playing bigger places! These guys put on an awesome show. There are those of us who believe the world needs rock stars and these guys are it!

The openers, The Bangkok Five, were truly happy to be playing on this tour and made comments to such. They were rocking through a set that consisted of most of their new CD they have coming out on Halloween. The singer had a bit of the Iggy Pop thing going on and the rest of the band was like a whirlwind churning out their tunes. Check out their My Space site for more information.

http://www.myspace.com/thebangkokfive

The set list is as follows:
Karmakazi
Diary Of A Teenage Cutter
Dead
Damaged Goods
Tiara (Played for the first time live.)
Chapter 11
Too Much
Spread Eagle
Giana (Played live for the first time.)
Who's Gonna Take Is Alive? (Title of the CD.)

I got to hang with the lead guitarist after the show for a bit and he told me they were going to be on the Cult/New York Dolls tour coming up. That will be a great show to see!

If The Bangkok Five were a whirlwind, Buckcherry were the hurricane! These guys came out and blew the roof off the ValAir! The crowd pressed forward and I have the sore ribs as a result. I was up front against the barricade and there was quite a push that got worse during Crazy B!tch and Lit Up. Josh Todd was constantly moving as you can tell from a few of the slightly blurred pictures. The band was tight and yet the songs sounded loose like all good rock n roll should. I was fortunate enough to meet them after the show and express my gratitude that they have returned and I hope they take over the rock n roll world. There haven't been any true rock stars since Guns N Roses and these guys should be heir to the throne! The set list is as follows:

So Far
Broken Glass
Porno Star
Whiskey
Everything
Sorry
Crazy B!tch (Choruses from Billy Squier's The Stoke and Jimi Hendrix's Fire were used at the end.)
Next 2 You
Ridin'
Lace In The Sun
Dead Again
For The Movies
Slammin'
Lit Up

ENCORE
Crushed

I stood next to a woman who was at her 10th show on this tour and she had flown out from Philly. She was very small so I was a bit worried about her during the show, but there were several girls behind her that had her back as the crush rolled forward. This was her 28th show overall, so she helped me with the set list (I still procured one after the show.) and made me aware of a few things I didn't know about the band. She wasn't even expecting an encore, so it was nice to know that this was a surprise for Des Moines.

I also stood next to a guy who had been to our parties. We had each others back and even had to help move some people backwards to quell the crush and even throw a bunch of people over to security. The security guys were great and kept us taken care of. Some of us got a bottle of water since it was hot up there and they were nice enough to hand me a pick and set lists from both bands. It's good to know there are good people who have your back at shows like this. Too many roughnecks can really be a problem and it seemed that some of the girls were worse than the guys about trying to sneak holes at the barricade.

This show rocks and I hope they hook up with a big tour soon. It would be great to see them on the Motley Crue/Aerosmith tour, which doesn't seem to be making it to Des Moines, but will be in Kansas City. Go see Buckcherry and buy their new CD 15. It rocks from start to finish and I can't wait to hear what these guys have in store in the future!

Rules Of Engagement

2006-09-14T08:09:00.000-05:00

I've been seeing pictures of the Taliban at a funeral and heard reports that we could have taken a large group of them out all at once. The reports tend to state that we opted not to take them out due to them being at a funeral in a cemetery. The reports go on to state that we have higher ethical and moral standards in the way we are waging war. My initials are BS, so I know it when I hear it.

Your enemy sets the rules of engagement in any conflict. Being the nice guy doesn't win a war. We can still be the good guy, but we don't always have to be the nice guy. When our enemy is filming the beheading of civilians and killing their own people to try to incite a civil war, they are throwing any rules of war out the window. When your enemy's goal is your destruction at all costs, including strapping bombs to kids and offering rewards to families for doing so, there are no rules in how to engage them.

Our goal is the destruction of our enemy. We must find, capture, and kill our enemy at every available opportunity. This means that if we catch them at a funeral, we take them out. If we catch them on the toilet, we take them out. That is the rule of engagement with this enemy. Anything less only costs us lives.

We may want to be seen around the world as the nice guy, but I'd rather be the good guy and rid the world of terrorism. The old saying is that nice guys finish last. I want to win this war as do most in our country. Peace follows victory. We must secure victory.

9/11 Remembered

2006-09-12T08:06:00.000-05:00

On the morning of 9/11/01 I was getting ready for work when LKA came running in my room to tell me something huge was going on and being reported on TV. She said my roommate's girlfriend had the news on and that I should see it. I went to the living room and there was the video of the first WTC building smoking. They were showing as many angles as they could and speculating on what was going on. I went back into my room and tried to hurry in finishing my morning ritual so that I could see more. When I came back out to watch, it was just a couple of minutes later when we saw the second plane hit the second building. I was in shock. I asked out loud if I'd just seen what I thought I saw. We were definitely under attack. I was stunned! I hurried to get to the car and get to work because I knew that we'd have all the TV's at work tuned into this. LKA and I worked at the same place so we had the news on in the car, but didn't get many details. We drove in very little traffic and were horrified at what this could mean. Sure enough, when we got to work all TV's were on detailing the news of what we'd seen. We had hoped that the FDNY and NYPD would be able to save those inside and get the fires put out, but it didn't take long before we saw the smoke billow upward as the first building collapsed and then the second. Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. We weren't open, yet, but all the employees just stood in a stunned silence. Within minutes, our manager was on the phone with our district office trying to figure out what to do that day. We had one employee of Middle Eastern descent who was asked if he wanted to go home for his safety and ours. He was fine with things as he's been an American all his life, but was worried about his family with the speculation of what could happen around our country.

It took some time before we saw an airplane other than a fighter jet in our sky. It took a few days for things to begin to return to normal at work as well.

I've written about heroes before and who mine are. There are everyday people who are heroes, whether it's those who were a part of 9/11 rescues or people who had to deal with the aftermath in some form. They deserve our respect and our support. Thank you to everyone involved in any way, whether grieving family member who has been able to go on and make a difference or soldier who has fought for our freedom or firefighter involved in the rescue or politician doing their best to work against terrorism. You are true heroes that make this country great. Thank you to our allies in this fight against terrorism around the world. You have shown us true friendship and heroism as well. Thank you to the parents of these heroes for providing them with the values they are living by.

We are a free people enjoying our freedom thanks to these heroes.

Journey And Def Leppard In Ames, IA

2006-09-09T11:02:00.000-05:00

The Def Leppard/Journey show in Ames was AWESOME! They each played the hits and were really appreciative of the fans. It was great seeing it so close to the stage and I wish I'd have had a zoom on my camera to get better pictures. Both bands are made up of great musicians and songwriters and it seemed as if everyone knew almost every single song played.

Jeff Scott Soto is still singing for Journey on this tour as he replaced Steve Augeri not long into it. I had thought by now that Steve would be healed and back on the road, but he may still be taking care of personal business. Regardless, Jeff is probably the perfect frontman for this tour anyway. Jeff has the rock n roll moves and attitude for Journey to successfully share this stage with Def Leppard. Jeff has a phenomenal voice and none of the past Journey singers were missed by this appreciative crowd. My humble opinion is that Journey may do well to hang on to Jeff as he does bring some life to this band and brings out the rock side. Of course, that could be sharing the stage with Def Leppard, too. One of the friends I went with was just blown away by this version of Journey and the other now needs to get their Greatest Hits CD because he didn't realize how many of these songs belong to Journey.

The set list was mostly the same songs as the St. Louis show, but in a different order.

National Anthem (Neil's Solo)
Stone In Love
Ask The Lonely
Wheel In The Sky
Keep On Runnin'
Edge Of The Blade
Who's Crying Now (Dean on vocals)
Chain Reaction (Apparently Joe Elliot said this was his favorite Journey song and convinced them to do it on this tour.)
Lights (Ended with a progression of Wind Cries Mary by Jimi Hendrix.)
Jon's Keyboard Solo
Open Arms (Dean on vocals)
Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'
Escape
Dead Or Alive
Faithfully (Dean on vocals)
Don't Stop Believin'
Any Way You Want It

ENCORE
Separate Ways

Def Leppard came out and put on the full show. They had the ramp behind the drum kit, the stage riser with steps leading up to it, and made even better use of the video screen behind the band than Journey did. Journey had more of a psychedelic color thing going on with some video and still shots, but Def Leppard made use of some great graphics from their album artwork over the years. I wish my computer had some of that for a screen saver! The guys looked like they were having a great time and enjoyed bringing their hits and cover tunes to us. The set list is as follows:

Let's Get Rocked
Let It Go
Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)
Bringin' On The Heartbreak
Foolin'
Hysteria
20th Century Boy
Rock On
Rocket
Photograph
Armageddon It
Animal
Rock Of Ages

ENCORE
Love Bites
Pour Some Sugar On Me

As you can see in comparison with the St. Louis show, it's mostly the same set. They put Let It Go and Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop) in place of Make Love Like A Man and Promises as well as substituting 20th Century Boy for No Matter What. It's all in the same order, though, with the same encore. I'm kind of wishing they'd drop Love Bites and do something different there, but it's not my show. It was great to hear some different songs at this show. Def Leppard never disappoints and always puts out the extra effort to give the fans what they crave.

Go see this tour. It's on the third leg and both bands have had nothing but positive reviews and results from this pairing.

Labor Day Weekend

2006-09-07T08:12:00.000-05:00

So many things have been going on the last few weeks around here. More relationship leaps and bounds. More events. More of life happening in such great ways.

The relationship just keeps getting better. I met the teenage daughter. She's so full of energy and really has a great head on her shoulders. It was great watching her interact with my kids. They got along famously this last weekend. We took them to a couple of malls and all of the girls had a blast. Shoot, we didn't even buy anything and they just got along and had so much fun. We made pancakes for the kids, grilled out, and the kids made a spaghetti meal. We played Dodgeball, the girls had a pillow fight with a roommate, we did a little sightseeing, and just had the best Labor Day weekend. It was hard to have to leave on Monday for all of us. We can't wait to get together again.

I topped my Labor Day off with a Yankees game in Kansas City. The Yankees scored 10 runs in the 8th inning to win 12-5. How many times will you see that in your lifetime? It was Star Wars night and they were giving away the new DVD set and even had a fireworks display to the Star Wars theme. I love watching my Yankees and it's great to see them win, of course. In the fashion they did it, it was incredible to watch. My bold prediction is that the Yankees are going to be the 2006 World Series Champions. Even bolder? How about a NY Subway Series with the Mets? Ok, maybe those aren't bold predictions the way both teams are playing, but you heard it here first!

I have the Def Leppard/Journey concert coming up tonight so a big review will follow. I hope to have pictures, too!

Iowa State Fair 2006

2006-08-28T20:47:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I posted, but a lot has occurred. I will slowly get things up to date here.

I took the girls to the Iowa State Fair on the last day of the fair. I kept it cheap by just going to all the free stuff like the Ag building to show the girls the butter sculptures, the Varied Industries Building, and 3 different concerts. The first was Raven. I had no idea she was there and the girls watch That's So Raven, so I thought they'd enjoy going. The place was way too crowded two hours before the show and even during her soundcheck. I was able to get the girls in for about 3 songs and they were just disappointed that they couldn't see well and the crowd was just a nightmare. The second show was Vocal Trash. We had decent enough seats. I blogged about Vocal Trash last year. Very impressive and my girls really enjoyed seeing them play trash cans, empty water bottles, and brooms. Another great set this year and a band you have to see.

The finale of the day was the Joan Jett concert. She didn't refer to this band as Joan Jett and the Black Hearts, but said "we're the Black Hearts from New York". She breezed through all the hits and then some. The stage wasn't a tall one so it was hard to see her since she is also so petite, but she rocked the place like a giant. She has a tight band and hearing all the songs together in one show brought a realization about Joan Jett to me. I've heard the hits over the years, but have really never delved into her discography. She has a simple sound and a great sound that could be a revved up 50's band with an emphasis on songs. She loves the sound of the guitar and the tight rhythms that rock n roll was built on and she delivers it in a style all her own. The set list was as follows:

Victim Of Circumstance
Cherry Bomb
Light Of Day
Do You Wanna Touch Me?
Bad Reputation
Androgynous
Change The World
Five
Love Is Pain
AC/DC
Naked
You're Gonna Make It After All
Riddles
Fetish
I Love Rock N Roll
Crimson And Clover
I Hate Myself For Loving You

ENCORE

Real Wild Child
Everyday People

My kids were most impressed by Vocal Trash for the day, but enjoyed Joan Jett since they knew a few songs due to other artists recording them.

Well, there are more shows coming up. I have my Buckcherry ticket and I'm heading to the Def Leppard/Journey show in Ames next week. More to come!

Fall League Week 3

2006-08-23T13:07:00.000-05:00

We lost both games again. The first was a heartbreaker against the team we started this season with. They beat us by one in the last inning then and did it to us again. The second game was against an upper level team and we really held up well defensively. We just weren't hitting. That's been the knock on the team this season. We are doing very well on defense, but not getting enough runs to get ahead of the opposing team. This puts us to 1-5 and in the next to last place of the league. It would be great if the team would actually practice, too. We haven't had a single practice that all the players have shown up to. Last Saturday one other person besides myself showed up. Too many excuses, it seems, when we said at the start of summer that this would be our competitive team. The disappointments continue into the fall. I'm hoping it picks up fast as the season is almost to the midpoint and we have a lot of ground to make up.

Fall League Week 2

2006-08-19T18:02:00.000-05:00

So much in the last week... Let's see...

Last weekend was another great one in Kirksville. New levels of trust and always a lot of fun. We went to see The Descent. It was filmed to make you feel the claustrophobia of the characters in the movie. I'd recommend it.

Monday night was week 2 of the fall softball league. Now that was an interesting night. We lost the first game 11-9, but played some great defense and the bats were rattling. I hit a sharp grounder to the shortstop. As I was almost to first, I got whacked in the face. The shortstop is a great player who played for us during the summer league. He threw the ball hard and it glanced off the first baseman's glove and hit me in the left jaw. I tripped over first and had a skinned up right leg in addition to the huge lump on my face. I continued in the game, though, and still had a good night.

The second game was more interesting. We played against some other former teammates who put a second team related to our church in the league. They aren't very good and we expected to win, but it was fun seeing how we matched up in certain ways. They started out 3-0, but we soon tied it up and then ran away with the game. The odd part was the behavior of a couple of our former teammates. I pitch for my team. As the pitcher, I tend to pay a lot of attention to what goes on during the game. I keep track of outs, who tends to hit where, and sometimes even the score. There was one out and the batter up made the second out of the inning. My coach, playing third base called it three outs. I knew it wasn't, but both teams started to switch spots and I walked over to first base with the ball and hollered to the umpire that I was making the third out since the runner vacated the base. My coach felt bad for calling it three outs and offered to retake the field. As a player, not a coach or umpire, I have no control over these things, but I play by the rules and expect that from everyone else. Our former assistant coach made some derogatory comments and said to let my play stand. He even called my actions un-Christian, which was greatly offensive. I just did my job while I'm on the field and made the out since the other players hadn't been paying attention. I don't control the game and if my coach and he agreed, I'd have retaken the mound and continued pitching. It wasn't my call, but I played by the rules of the game. I thought that was the end of the conversation about that inning. Apparently, the old assistant coach's wife had words to say to me later. My coach had called out to her to watch for interfering as she tends to play aggressively at first base even when there is no play. She's been run over a couple of times in games because she is dangerous and can get in the way. My coach was looking out for his son at first base when she interfered. He was just offering a warning. She apparently thought I had made the comment and said that she wouldn't count this game as a win since it was tainted by the earlier play. I mouthed back that she may want to read up on the rules of the game and my coach then stood up and told everyone on both teams to cut out the mouthing back and forth. She had even previously made comments about them throwing the ball to my face, too, as did their pitcher. It was just too much. After the game, she couldn't even come out and shake hands with the team.

After the game, I approached our coach and pulled him aside to let him know what offended me. I told him that it doesn't offend me if they want to make stupid comments about me playing by the rules and my knowledge of them. They can sound as childish as they like. It's when they start calling the fact that I play by the rules un-Christian that it offends me. It also offends me when they make comments about personal injury. I'm one player on a team. I'm not the umpire. I'm not even a coach. Yet, the other team was acting as if I controlled the game. Turns out my coach was quite offended and taken back, too, by this behavior so he told me he'd talk to them and get things in order. I gained respect for our coach and lost a lot for the former teammates. Strange behavior indeed.

I spent Tuesday working from 9AM-11PM. That was a long day, but it afforded me time to relax and heal from the night before.

I have my girls this weekend. We've been having fun and will hit the Iowa State Fair tomorrow. Joan Jett and the Black Hearts are going to be in concert at the fair so that will be fun to see.

Monday night makes week 3 for the league. We are 1-3 so I hope we start picking up and winning.

Middle East Cease Fire

2006-08-16T21:50:00.000-05:00

First of all, GO ISRAEL!! Secondly, how ridiculous is this stupid cease fire idea? How can you possibly agree to a cease fire with people who will stop at nothing to destroy you? Peace follows VICTORY, not a cease fire. I'm disgusted that our country would support such a thing instead of helping Israel wipe these terrorists from the face of the earth.

There is no cessation of hostilities in a holy war. That's what this is. We have Islamic Fascists trying to wipe out the Jews. It boils down to that. There is no peace as long as there is no victory.

We have declared a war on terrorists and those who support them, but now we are supporting a cease fire that is sure to lead to more deaths and more war in the future. I'm disappointed. We should be wiping the terrorists out without regard for what the rest of the world thinks. Terrorists must cease to exist and the only way to do that is through swift victory.

Fall Softball 2006

2006-08-08T08:04:00.000-05:00

The fall Church League started last night. We are without two of our starters the first two weeks and did quite well without them defensively. We only allowed each team to score 5 runs and the second team we played is considered an upper level team. We still lost both games, but it wasn't a bad start to the season.

The first game we lost 5-4 against Fairview. We had never lost to Fairview until the last two times we played them in the summer league. They haven't really gotten better, but we just haven't hit against them like we should. My game last night was horrible against them. My pitching was off a bit and I walked in a run. I rarely do that and usually only have one walk per game if that. Last night I had two walks in that game and control problems throughout. At the plate, I walked the first time up, which is a double for guys in the church league. I actually struck out the second time up, which hasn't happened to me all summer. The third time up I popped out to shortstop, which rarely happens, too. It was not a good game for me at bat. The rest of the team was having the same problems and it showed that we were having a rusty time at the plate. It was a close game, but we just couldn't pull it out in the end.

The second game impressed me more than the first in that we didn't just get blown away by the team we played. They are a great group of young talented guys and a couple of really talented girls. They played in the upper division all summer and ended up in second place in that division. They have a really talented shortstop that can put the ball over the fence seemingly at will and did so only once last night. My control was a lot better pitching and the defense really stepped up and played as a unit. I was actually hitting the ball where I usually do, too. My first time up the shortstop got my grounder up the middle and turned a double play, though. After that, I put it up the middle, but stayed enough away from him that they were singles each time. I got stranded on base, though, the entire game. We have some really talented guys on the team, but they tend to hit line drives right to a good left fielder. If they can start putting the ball where they want to, it will get us a lot more runs. Thankfully, we are practicing every week for the fall season, so I'm excited about the potential for winning most of our games.

Our second church team, headed by one of our coaches (TR), pretty much faired the same. They lost both games and one was a washout. They played an upper level team that was up 12-0 after the first inning and TR's team didn't make a single error. We met up at DQ for a short while after the games were played and exchanged stories. It will be an interesting season and I'm anxious to get our other two starters in the lineup. Our normal leadoff hitter wasn't there and the guy who hits behind me in the lineup (third) wasn't there. This will certainly help our run production and help us have a winning season.

UPDATE: THE SCORE OF THE SECOND GAME WAS ACTUALLY 8-2. Still not a bad effort compared to what it could have been and still an impressive defense from my team.

Mediocre Week

2006-08-06T09:56:00.000-05:00

The last week has been a non-interesting week. Work, extra work, and just biding time. I miss my woman and the highlight has been talking to her every day. She has a wonderful mind, so that has been very nice to get to know a bit of. We had a fun day last Sunday, so that was at least a good start to the week.

I put in my 40 hours and then some. I started Monday working 9AM-11PM. Overtime is always a good thing. I also had some side computer work that filled up two evenings.

The next highlight to the week was picking up my girls on Friday evening. We had a nice weekend planned. We went to a local diner for dinner that they loved. The desserts were huge and thankfully I split one with my youngest. Later on Saturday we went to Sleepy Hollow, a local fun area with go-karts, batting cages, miniature golf, and other fun activities. My youngest almost made it to the very top of the climbing wall, which was amazing to watch. My oldest drove a go-kart with the youngest by her side while I lapped them twice in the fastest kart on the track. It was fun racing around with co-workers at this work related outing. We left after 100 minutes and went to softball practice.

The fall softball season starts tomorrow night. Only 5 of us showed up at practice, but it was thrown together last minute and it looks like we will be practicing once a week in this more competitive season. There are only 6 teams and we have a solid lineup as we pared down our summer team to the best players only. I hope we do well like we did last fall.

I began this week on the wrong foot. I ticked off my woman a bit with a poor choice of words. I hope we make it threw the growing pains ok. The beginning of all relationships is tough things. In a state of bliss, you can tend to overlook things and make beginner mistakes. It's tougher as you get older, too, because your tolerance for some things is less. As you get older, you know more about yourself and what you want for the rest of your life. It's tough to bring someone into your life after the life experiences that can harden the heart. I think we will work through the small stuff just fine, though. There are so many great things about the way we interact and get along that something as small as this should pass quick as we look forward to seeing each other again. I try to be optimistic anyway.

The girls and I have a swim party this afternoon for the summer softball players. We will grill out a bit and just have fun interacting with the others. My girls are looking forward to it.

Now to go get some laundry done...

Kirksville Trip

2006-08-01T01:18:00.000-05:00

You know it's true love when you can waste an entire day away and have a blast doing it. My female friend and I spent the weekend away from both of our towns in a small college community. We didn't go there for the things to do in that town, but just to spend time together. There isn't even much to do in that town, but we had a blast and found a couple of things we will do on the next trip out.

Saturday was such a great time just getting to know more about each other. We decided to drive around and see what this place had to offer and as soon as I saw a sign that said Used Books And Unicorns, I had to find a place to park. It would have been so cool to buy a unicorn and ride it around all day, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, the place was closed when we got to the front door. I was so disappointed! It was a funny thought, though. We decided to walk up to the square and see the small shops. From a block away, I could see the Hidden Treasures sign. I wasn't sure I wanted to go in if all the treasures were hidden. What would be the point of it? We made our way around and I purchased a few small things for my roommates and kids. When we got to Hidden Treasures, I was ready to see if I could find what was hidden. It would be a real treasure hunt, right? When we got inside, much to my dismay, I actually found hidden treasures!! I saw a remote that looked like my DVD remote and when I bent down to pick it up, I saw some plastic coming from under a throw pillow. Sure enough, I lifted it up and there were some comic books hidden under this pillow. I was truly amazed and said so loud enough for the people running the shop to hear. We continued looking around and found a cabinet that had black material that kept you from seeing inside it. I decided to open the doors to it and again I found more hidden treasures! There were some dishes inside it. I was on a roll finding these hidden treasures. I felt like a real treasure hunter! I just needed the Indiana Jones outfit and I'm sure I could have used a whip. Maybe not in the store... This was truly a fun time just going through this small town square. We found a couple of tattoo shops, a business called Sugar that had some great African chocolate, Pungo Jungo (a Spencer's style store where I got the gifts), and a used CD shop that was fly infested on this particular day.

We didn't do anything of importance, but seeing how each other reacted to our humor, the heat, the interesting things we spotted, and the things we both avoided was just a great way of getting to know more about each other.

We saw the movie Lady In The Water that night and it brought tears to my eyes. I'm an emotional creature as much as I hate to have emotions at all sometimes. That movie was just a great fairy tale that centered on a regular guy who seemed to have lost everything once you knew his story. It was great at drawing us in to the movie. There were people in front of us on the edge of their seats watching with interest. I was truly impressed by this movie and hope to share it with my daughters when it comes out on DVD.

We got to have real A&W root beer floats this weekend. I'm a sucker for a root beer float. My grandparents got me started on them. We also had some TCBY yogurt yesterday. I know those things are in Des Moines, but I haven't been to TCBY since living here and I've probably only been to the A&W in town 3 times since living here. They are truly a treat and fun to share with someone you care about. I've taken my daughters to A&W as a treat and will probably take them there before the summer is over this year.

This is probably the first of several trips to this community as it's a good half way point. In two weeks we are heading there and hitting the beach we found. I don't think I've ever felt this way before, so this has been quite the adventure finding love at my age.

Missouri Trip 2006

2006-07-27T08:10:00.000-05:00

Lots of great stuff lately! I spent last week at my parents' home in Missouri with my kids. I picked up the girls about 10AM last Tuesday and hit the road. It's become a "thing" so we stopped in KC at a Steak & Shake for lunch. I love this restaurant and try to take my girls when I can. They have grown to love it, too, and with my love and my oldest daughter's love for KC, we try to combine those things. We also spent some time driving in downtown KC. My girls had only seen the skyline from a distance, so it was cool for them to see things up close. We also drove through Crown Center. I just wish I had more time to show them some of the places I frequented in KC and where I lived. In the future we will pick a different part of KC to go through each time.

We arrived at my folks' place just after 5pm. We ended up going to the Montgomery County Fair, which my dad was supposed to ride in for the American Red Cross. While they were getting the parade in order, Mom took us to El Rancharito. Very nice Mexican food and environment. We sat outside to watch the parade. We thought Dad was supposed to be at the front of it, but as more floats passed, we were beginning to wonder where he was. Paige was collecting candy with the occasional help from Brittany. After most of the parade had gone through, Dad came walking up the sidewalk. The van they used for the American Red Cross had made it about 2/3 of the way through the parade and then broke down. They had to push it off the route and start hoofing it the rest of the way. At least they made it through most of the parade. This little town has a huge fair and the parade can last a good 90 minutes or so. We were able to leave not long after Dad arrived.

Wednesday was spent at the St. Louis Zoo. It was very hot out, but we made a route that allowed us to see many of the animals and still stay cool for much of the day. We didn't see any large cats, hyenas, or giraffes, but those animals were probably staying cool, too. We did get quite the entertaining show from a certain puffin that was taking a bath and dancing on the water. He even got close to the edge a few times and splashed us. We got back home about 4:30pm which allowed us to hit most of the zoo while leaving a few places out to hit next time.

My mom made some great meals all week long. We had my favorite meal, meatloaf, on Wednesday evening. We had roast beef au ju for one dinner. We had biscuits and gravy the final morning we were there with other meals including breakfasts of pancakes and sausage and an eggs and bacon day. It's always great having home cooking.

We spent a lot of time swimming in their pool. The girls got a lot of time in doing that and even invited a neighbor girl over to swim with them. We also learned about Sudoku puzzles, which I had never heard of before. The girls made key chains and spent time doing other crafts with their grandma.

We got together for dinner with SB and Patti and her kids on Thursday evening at Denny's in Kingdom City. It's always great seeing friends that you don't see often. We had a corner booth and spent a lot of time visiting and laughing and letting the kids goof off.

Friday morning I took Brittany to Mexico, MO, with me. I used to work at a local grocery and the public library there so I was anxious to see if I knew anyone still working there. We initially stopped at this gorgeous woman's apartment. (Yes, I'm finally seeing someone.) We visited there for about 45 minutes and saw her new, but empty, apartment. She was pretty excited to get this move of hers over with. We then went to the grocery store and ran into two former co-workers there and had a great visit. One of them used to be my boss so we caught up on what a few other people were doing these days, too. I then headed to the library and was able to see three former co-workers there. That was probably my favorite stop as I used to have a lot of fun at that library. It was great catching up and seeing everyone that day.

When Brittany and I returned to my parents, we awaited the arrival of my youngest brother and his wife. When they arrived, we grilled out and then they took us in to the Def Leppard/Journey concert, which you can read about below. It was a great evening of great music.

We took off after breakfast on Saturday and stopped in KC for lunch again. The girls were anxious to get back and so was I. It was a long, exhausting drive, but after such a great trip, it is something we all hope to do again soon. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving where my other brother will join us with his family and it will be a great holiday with all three generations of my family together. It's amazing how much more important family becomes the older we get. I can't wait to see everyone again.

Summer Jam 2006

2006-07-23T23:36:00.000-05:00

I really debated hard about going to Summer Jam. It had nothing to do with the bands, but with how tired I still was from the drive home on Saturday. I'd spend the week in Missouri at my parents' home and the drive was just exhausting! Sunday, I knew I really wanted to see The Atomic Punks, Ratt, and I'd never seen Kansas before. I'm also a Ted Nugent fan and REO fan. Even though I was still exhausted, I decided to go at the last minute. I got their in time to see The Atomic Punks on the second stage. They originally were to hit the main stage, but a scheduling conflict with the arrival of REO's sound equipment.

The Atomic Punks had a set list on stage, but I think they veered from it a bit. The printed list is as follows:

On Fire
Every Body Wants Some
Mean Streets
Runnin' With The Devil
Eruption
You Really Got Me
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Dance The Night Away
Jamie's Cryin'
Ice Cream Man
Panama
Unchained
Hot For Teacher

The guitar player has only been with The Atomic Punks for 3 months but has the licks down. Ralph Saenz is the ultimate David Lee Roth impersonator and had a lot of fun with the crowd that gathered at this stage. I was able to meet Ralph and the guitarist after the show. They were very kind and hope to be back this way in the future.

Ratt is the main band I was anxious to see. I have always been a fan and they have never disappointed. The set list was:

Lack Of Communication
Lay It Down
Over The Edge
You're In Love
Way Cool Jr.
Nobody Rides For Free
Wanted Man
I'm Insane
Back For More
Walkin' The Dog (John Corabi sang lead on a verse.)
Round And Round

Jizzy was excited to see such a large crowd. Robbie was rocking out the entire time and seemed to have some fun with Jizzy on stage. Warren DeMartini is the consummate guitar hero and shared the mic on some background vocals with John. Bobby didn't miss a beat and led the band through the set. From the side of the stage, Barry Sparks (Dokken and Ted Nugent bassist) and Ralph Saenz were enjoying most of the Ratt set and the Ratt gang seemed truly appreciative to have them there.

Kansas was up after a set by the Hat Trick Heroes. I guess HTH is some kids that play from Florida. I just didn't pay much attention. Even during the Kansas set, I found myself wandering around while listening. It was a tight set and many people seemed to be into the show, but I didn't know most of the songs. They played about 5-6 songs before whipping out Point Of Know Return. They played another tune before leaving the stage. They really sounded great and seemed to have most of the lineup from the Freaks Of Nature CD. They came out to encore Dust In The Wind and Carry On My Wayward Son. For me, this was finally the payoff. I was hoping for Play The Game Tonight, but Steve Walsh didn't sing on that song so it was expected that they may skip it. It just may have been more familiar to a guy like me who only has 3 of their CD's in my collection and mostly has heard them from the radio. Still a great band and I'm glad they are still around.

Ted Nugent was up next and the crowd was constantly chanting "Ted" even while the drum kit was being brought on stage. This was one fired up crowd! Uncle Ted didn't disappoint, either. He kicked off with the American Anthem backed by Barry Sparks and Mick Brown, both from Dokken. These guys are tight! Ted's tunes tend to jam out with some great guitar and the band really was on fire supporting him. I've got some titles wrong, so feel free to correct me, but the set list was:

National Anthem
Get Ready
Wango Tango (You Really Got Me was in the middle of this.)
Who The Hell You Think You Are (Yea, this title is wrong.)
Free For All
Wang Dang Sweet Puntang (Some great blues playing!)
Klstrphnky
Rawdogs And Warhogs
Soul Man
Hay, Baby (Barry Sparks sang lead on this tune.)
Dog Eat Dog
Fred Bear
Kiss My Ass
Stranglehold
ENCORE
Cat Scratch Fever

Ted had the crowd eating from his palm the entire set. He is an icon and a full bluntal frontman. He used the bow and arrow to shoot Osama and the crowd went nuts. He constantly brought up his hunting and politics and love of America and rock 'n roll. Barry and Mick were genuinely having a blast and this truly seemed like a band with a leader.

I left after Ted, so I don't know how REO did, but I'm sure it was great. I've seen REO a couple of times and they never fail to put on a great show. I hope someone got a set list and review of this part of the day.

KGGO did a pretty good job of putting on this event. I'm not sure how many were in attendance in comparison to Waterstock, but the area was spread out more and there were more food vendors. There wasn't a real tattoo parlor, but you could get temporary ones if you were into that. There just didn't seem to be the variety of the Waterstock event. Tickets were a bit higher and the VIP tickets were $150. I heard complaints about the VIP tickets as there was no band interaction that I heard of and their area ended at the corner of the stage where Lazer at least added some front of the stage access at Waterstock. The VIP tickets apparently included only one meal and 5 beers. This seems to be less than Lazer provided for their $125 ticket. Both stations have a long way to go to make this a real value.

While the crowd was large, it was a bit older since KGGO is more of a classic rock station as opposed to Lazer. The big drawback to the crowd is the fact that there are still idiots who seem to represent the worst of Des Moines concert-goers. There were actually people there expecting to be able to sit in lawn chairs at the front of the stage the entire day. Signs need to be posted at these events or a roped area that lets people know that chairs aren't allowed within 30-50 feet of the stage. This is a rock concert, not a picnic. People need to realize that and leave the chairs in back of the people who want to rock out and represent the best of Des Moines down front. Live music needs real energy feedback and sitting on your backside at the front of the stage does nothing for any band. Jizzy Pearl even poked a little fun during Ratt's set at these people by asking if they were comfortable and could use a sandwich or something. The only other drawback is the women who want to show off their chests at these shows. Please don't lift your shirt if you don't look young and nubile. Overweight or flat and saggy boobs are not what these bands want to see. Sixty year old women in thongs and bikinis are not appropriate at these shows, either. It's embarrassing to live in a place like this and try to enjoy a rock show when there are people like this showing up at the shows. I'd prefer to make a good impression on these bands so they will want to come back often. Just my humble opinion, but I heard this voiced by many others, too.

Overall, Summer Jam was a great day of great music. I wish I hadn't been so tired so I could have stuck around for all of it.

Pictures are up at http://sonofapreacher.spaces.msn.com if you want to check them out.

Journey And Def Leppard in St. Louis

2006-07-23T23:35:00.000-05:00

I was fortunate enough to be able to take my daughters to see two great bands in one night. I got lawn seats so they would be able to see more since they are still quite young. It was also cheaper since this tour isn't easy on the wallet. My lil bro and his wife drove us out from High Hill where I was spending the week visiting my folks. It sprinkled on us a bit on the way in, but as cloudy and dark as it got, we didn't get any rain during the show. We thought it looked like it was just going to pour, but the weather held out for us. There was an opener, Stoll Vaughn, but we didn't pay much attention. If I remember correctly, he had some Johnny Cash influence in his bluesy old fashioned sound. I'm sure it was ok, but just not my thing as I was more anxious to see the headliners.

Journey came out with Jeff Scott Soto filling in for the ailing Steve Augeri. I've been anxious to see Jeff sing for years as he has performed with Yngwie Malmsteen, Talisman, and others over the years. After hearing his collaboration with Neal Schon and Dean Castranova in Soul SirkUS (Dean recorded a released version of the CD, but had to leave the project due to other committments.), I was quite anxious to hear Jeff on some Journey tunes. He was fantastic! I think he's a better frontman than Steve is, but vocally on a similar level as they are both great sounding on the Journey classics.

The show started with Neal doing the American Anthem and the video screen behind him was lit with stars. The crowd was on its feet in honor of this great nation and anxious to hear this show. From the solo they kicked into Any Way You Want It. After that tune, Jonathan Cain announced that Steve was not there this particular night, but their good friend Jeff was filling in. I appreciated this as many probably didn't know. The crowd just went nuts as Jeff sounded great and looked good fronting this band. He was obviously thankful for the fans making this the best summer of his life. Ask The Lonely was followed by my favorite Journey tune, Stone In Love. These guys really cranked it up this night and I'm sure they are doing it all tour since Def Leppard is following them. I'm glad they came out to rock. The set list is as follows:

National Anthem (Neal's solo)
Any Way You Want It
Ask The Lonely
Stone In Love (Cain on rhythm guitar)
Keep On Runnin' (Cain on rhythm guitar)
Who's Crying Now (Dean on lead vocals)
Chain Reaction
Lights (Added a progression of Wind Cries Mary to end the song.)
Jon's Keyboard Solo
Open Arms (Dean on lead vocals)
Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin' (Cain on harmonica and lots of blues throughout.)
Wheel In The Sky (Cain on rhythm guitar)
Escape
Dead Or Alive
Faithfully (Dean on lead vocals)
Be Good To Yourself
Don't Stop Believin'
ENCORE
Separate Ways

Def Leppard came out with the full staging they haven't used in quite some time. They had the steps up the side leading to the walk in back of the drum riser. They used this on several occasions. The screen lit up with graphics that included live shots of them as well as album art in several spots. That digital screen looked sharp! The boys were in full force as the entire crowd seemed to stay and rock out to both bands. Def Leppard cranked things up from where Journey left it at Separate Ways. Def Leppard came out with Let's Get Rocked and went right into Make Love Like A Man. Over 15,000 people were singing along from the beginning. The set list is as follows:

Let's Get Rocked
Make Love Like A Man
Promises (My kids were glad to hear this as they grew up on Euphoria.)
Bringin' On The Heartbreak
Foolin'
Hysteria
No Matter What (Vivian sure can play some slide!)
Rock On (Featured Sav's bass solo intro.)
Rocket (Vivian and Phil traded licks at the end. I love a good guitar dual.)
Photograph (Ran right into the next tune...)
Armageddon It
Animal
Rock Of Ages
ENCORE
Love Bites
Pour Some Sugar On Me

After Hysteria, Joe introduced the new CD, YEAH!, and said to check it out for their true influences. The transitions from song to song were flawless and the run from Photograph right into Armageddon It was really a great rhythm turn. Joe kept getting the crowd fired up all night and had us all screaming before Rock Of Ages. When they came out for the encore, Sav thanked the crowd for their support and Joe later added how great it is that after all these years we are still turning out to see them. It really is true what he repeatedly says. We don't forget them and they won't forget us. This crowd hasn't forgotten either band and this sold out show is proof that this music will live on for generations.

What A Weekend

2006-07-16T23:08:00.000-05:00

This weekend was better than I imagined it to be. I have a wonderful friend who came to visit me for the weekend. She's just awesome. She arrived about my normal time home on Friday, but I had gotten off work early to get some things done before her arrival. When she arrived, we spend the evening in together and probably didn't get to sleep until about 2AM. We visited, we watched a movie, and I gave her a gift of a CD case with some CD's I thought she might like.

We had to get up early Saturday morning because I had a softball tournament. We listened to a couple of CD's on the way there and back. We won the first game, lost the second, and won the third. It was a double elimination tournament that they drug out over one day, so we lost players after that third game and forfeited the rest of the tournament. Last year they did the tournament over a couple of nights of play. This year, some bright person thought it might be fun to have it all in one day. This may work for other types of leagues, but not for a church league. There were a couple of teams that couldn't take part and some that had to forfeit later games like us. Weddings and other church activities occur on Saturdays, so it just wasn't condusive. Anyway, I got to show off a bit. I pitched the first and last games and pinch ran the second game for a guy who has a broken toe. Every at bat I was on base. I hit a double, several singles, and even walked 3 times, which I can't stand. There is nothing worse than playing what I call "looky-lou slow pitch". At least we did well for the most part, but I'm not sure why we lost the second game by one simple run against a team we normally beat.

After we exhausted ourselves playing softball in the excruciating heat, we headed back to my place so that I could get a much needed shower. I felt so dirty from the sweat and heat. We puttered around the house for a bit and around supper time headed out for an evening I had planned. I drove her around Des Moines, concentrating mostly on the nicer west side. I pointed out some things like the many businesses and shops and malls for the purpose of selling her on the idea of moving to Des Moines. There are so many more opportunities here than where she is from. Of course, I did this light-heartedly, but with a point. Maybe in a year or so she may be able to actually make the move.

We had a good dinner at Court Avenue Brewery. I'm not a drinker, but I heard they had a fairly upscale restaurant. We first sat in the pub awaiting our seat. We got a table in that half, but elected to go to the quieter side once our table was ready. It really made a difference as it was tough to hear each other in the pub. We had some good food and conversation. We left to go to Grey's Lake for a walk after dinner. It was light out when we started, but getting dark when we finished. We walked the entire trail around the lake and probably should have just done a short portion of it, but we made it. It was great just walking, talking, and joking. When we came home, it wasn't long until it was time to get some sleep. It was an early bedtime, but it had been a long, hot, exhausting day.

We both got up a bit earlier than normal for a weekend today, but just spent some time relaxing and watching EuroTrip before she needed to make her journey home. I wish I could have convinced her to stay longer, but there is so much to be done back home for her. She really needed the time. We bid farewell before noon.

It was such a tough parting on both of us after such a great weekend. We will see each other again soon, but it doesn't seem soon enough. I thought I was too old to feel that way...but I do.

Softball and TV

2006-07-12T08:03:00.000-05:00

Just about have one softball season down and then the fall league to go. We are 11-11 and got rained out Monday night. We are seeded 4th in the tournament on Saturday, but may not have enough to play. Most of our best players will be gone. We are making up our regular season games next Monday. If we win both, we could get a 2nd or 3rd place trophy. That wouldn't be a bad thing.

Last Comic Standing is down to the final 5. They had a guy break a few rules and had to ask him to leave last night. Funny guy, too. I'm not sure these should be the final 5, but the audiences voted and the show only shows some clips, not their full acts. That's part of the show that should change next time around. Let us see the entire act. We are tuning in for the laughs more than the "reality".

Rock Star: Supernova has been an interesting watch. I do not like the fact that it's not a real band, but a side project. As much as I enjoy the music of Gilby Clarke and Tommy Lee and Jason Newsted, this is just not a band that will make an impact beyond one CD. Even that CD will be a novelty item since they all have regular bands to return to. There is some talent on the show, though. They really came down hard on the young lady who did a great rendition of You Really Got Me last night. That was an awesome version and I loved it. I also loved Ring Of Fire. That girl almost scared me! I can't stand Nirvana, so throwing a tune in every freakin' week by that dead guy just really irks me. What? Am I the only one who thinks Nirvana was just a one hit wonder? I loved the back and forth about what is expected of the talent pool in this competition. They haven't made their "style" known so the singers don't know what to expect. All they know is the past of these superstars, but not what they might be cooking up together. With Tommy Lee doing rap and Jason doing weird (Voivod?) and Gilby being a classic rocker, what are these guys really trying to do together? Tommy Lee said it was a new/fresh sound. What does that mean? Have the singers only heard the one tune when they were introduced in the studio? I love what some of the girls are doing and the guys seem weak this year. It has only been two episodes so we shall see what the future holds.

I've been watching ECW on Sci-Fi. Not a bad start to getting this brand back on the air. I miss the gritty stuff, but at least they are trying to establish themselves. It's going to be fun seeing how they do since they are really part of WWE.

Two other new shows to check out: Psyche and Blade. You almost know what to expect with Blade as they are taking up after the movies. Psyche is one of the coolest new shows and it's on USA. It's a detective style show, but with a great premise. There are comparisons to Monk and that may only be part of the style, but certainly not the substance. Check both out as they will surprise you.

I'm getting ready to kick off about 10 days of pure enjoyment on Friday. I will try to get everything covered as best as possible. I have a beautiful visitor this weekend in addition to the softball tournament. On Tuesday I head to Mizzou for the week. I have the Def Leppard/Journey concert in St. Louis. Possibly Faster Pussycat/Bang Tango in Cedar Rapids. Summer Jam on the 23rd. It's going to be a fun one and I can hardly wait!

Summer Softball Season Update

2006-07-04T15:01:00.000-05:00

Just a few more games left this softball season. We are 10-10 at this point, which is 5th place. They had us play 7 games in a row against the Upper league which cost us 6 of those losses. We finally started playing the Lower league games again, which is our division and won the last two games. We have 4 more games left and then a tournament. I'm hopeful that we win the last 4.

There is talk that we are going to enter the fall league with a very competitive team. We have 12 that can really play and I am hoping that we do this. I think we can win a lot of games if we do. The fall league is a bit shorter, but the competition should be good. We have enough good players on our team to do as well as last year so we shall see how it goes. I'm hopeful.

Special Olympics

2006-07-03T17:49:00.000-05:00

I had a wonderful opportunity and a great time today. I volunteered for Special Olympics. I was a bowling scorekeeper today. In our lanes there were 6 female bowlers. They were incredible. I have nicknames for each of them. The Dancer just had the most awesome personality and a pretty good bowling form. She was hard on herself, but had a great time and encouraged the others. The Bouncer loved powering the ball down the alley. She sought approval, but had a great sense of humor about the bowling. She was anxious and excited to play. The Quiet One was a great bowler and very polite. Granny was a small skinny girl who bowled with a granny shot. She had a slight right curve that came in handy at times. The Ringer was bowling over 110 each game. She was definitely the best player in our area. She had great form, but rarely said a word even though her smile said a lot. The Winger could go either way when bowling. She just flung the ball down the alley and with some consistency will be a great bowler.

It was only an afternoon and all I did was keep score and assist in moving the game along, but it was great. There were some mechanical difficulties, but everyone in our area made sure things ran very smoothly. We had so much fun laughing and encouraging each other. The athletes were very good, polite, and seemed to be having a great time.

This is the first National Special Olympics. There have been State and International Special Olympics, but nothing in between before. Ames, IA is the first host of this event and from the pictures and talk, I'd say things are going very smoothly. Come out and support the athletes and if you are able, volunteer.

Andy Rooney?

2006-07-02T11:02:00.000-05:00

Just got this information via e-mail and it was attributed to Andy Rooney on an episode of 60 Minutes. Now I'm not a watcher of 60 Minutes and I'm not a fan of those types of news programs, including 20/20. I'm not sure this is what Andy Rooney actually said as I'm just not taking the time to check it out. No matter who said it, it's stuff I've been saying for a long time as have others.

"I don't think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers. The only things I can think of that are truly discriminating are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America. Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America and see what happens. Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door.

"Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.

"I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason, that is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! Are you listening Martha Burke?

"I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia. It is an opinion.

"I have the right not to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off.

"When 70% of the people who get arrested are black in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling. It is the Law of Probability.

"I believe that if you are selling me a milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper, or a hotel room you must do it in English. As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American citizen you should have to speak English. My father and grandfather didn't die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours.

"I think the police should have every right to shoot your sorry ass if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can't understand the words freeze or stop in English, see the above lines.

"I don't think just because you were not born in this country you are qualified for any special loan programs, government sponsored bank loans, or tax breaks so you can open a hotel, coffee shop, trinket store, or any other business.

"We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms so that decades later they can come over here and tell us our Constitution is a living document and open to their interpretations.

"I don't hate the rich. I pity the poor.

"I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television. That doesn't stop you from watching them.

"I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that's better and put your name on the building.

"It doesn't take a whole village to raise a child right, but it does take a parent to stand up to the kid and smack their little behinds when necessary and say no.

"I think tattoos and piercing are fine if you want them, but please don't pretend they are a political statement. And please stay home until that new lip ring heals. I don't want to look at your ugly infected mouth as you serve me French fries.

"I am sick of Political Correctness. I know a lot of black people and not a single one of them was born in Africa so how can they be African-Americans? Besides, Africa is a continent. I don't go around saying I am a European-American because my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was from Europe. I am proud to be from America and nowhere else.

"And if you don't like my point of view, tough.

"It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having "In God We Trust" on our money and having "God" in the Pledge Of Allegiance. Why don't we just tell the other 14% to shut up and be quiet?"

I love being part of the majority.

Club G'itmo And Leaks

2006-07-02T09:31:00.000-05:00

The big political news this week is the Supreme Court decision concerning how we handle detainees during our war on terror. The Supreme Court was clearing wrong in their decision this week and you can see the political lines, of which there should be none, in their division. The people conspiring against us who are held at Guantanamo Bay are not US citizens and should not have the same rights as US citizens in our court system. The detainees are also not signatories to the Geneva Convention, so it doesn't apply to them, either. It's obvious that there are those that believe that the US is the bad guy here, but that is clearly not the case and our military should be able to do what it takes to get this war on terrorism won. Besides, the detainees are lucky they weren't gunned down in this was so they should feel lucky to be alive. Thankfully, the Congress is probably going to set up what the president wants anyway, so it will bypass this horrible Supreme Court decision.

Another sore subject this week has been the press leaks of highly sensitive information concerning a classified program. I'm not a fan of much of the press as is due to their agendas. I watch shows like Meet The Press, Fox News Sunday, and listen to and read Rush Limbaugh when I can. I view CNN and Fox News both and check out their websites for news and sports. (Ok, for entertainment, too.) All sides have an agenda, but it's funny how the more conservative side seems to give you more facts about the issues. Liberal newspapers like my own Des Moines Register don't provide as many facts for you to make your own opinion or if they do, they bury it in the story so that you have to read the whole article to get it. Most headlines in these papers try to make you think that liberal ideas are mainstream when in fact they are not.

Leaking has become quite the big deal the last several years. There are those in the government that are still there who disagree with this administration and are doing their level best to thwart the changes that need to be made in the bureaucracy. There needs to be something put in place to stop government leaks. The laws are there, but more enforcement needs to be done. Newspapers do not have a right to hide their sources according to the first amendment. I'm not sure where they got this idea that they are so untouchable. When you do a story, there should be no anonymous sources or if there are, an eventual revealing or an actual revealing to authorities who need to know.

Ideally, newspapers would not have an opinion page and simply report the news with all the facts. The facts would be presented without wording that provides an opinion. Yes, that's the dream, but it seems that many people want to be spoon fed their opinions instead of developing them on their own with proper research. Thankfully, I'm part of the majority on most of the issues that are important to me. It will just take time to undo the things the liberals did over the course of 40-50 years but as long as I and others keep voting the way we do, change will come.

Political Basics

2006-07-01T09:14:00.000-05:00

I've been a bit of a political watcher since junior high, but really got into politices after getting married in 1995. I haven't been the best about voting over the years, but have gotten better as the years have gone by. I tend to vote mostly in the presidential and congressional elections. The reason politics has always interested me is due to history and ideas. There are some great stories about America's history and what it took to get this country started. Out of that process came great debates on how this country should be founded and the rules by which we should live. Many of the debates were about the freedoms we should have and why we should have them.

The basics for me are smaller government and fewer taxes. The less role government plays in my life, the more freedom I have. The less I have to pay out for this government, the more money I have to spend making my own decisions. I'm on the side of conservatives and sometimes libertarians. If things went my way, we'd only pay 5% in taxes and they'd be collected as a sales tax. Lawmakers would only spend about 4-6 months in Washington and have to work real jobs the remainder of the year. The less they do, the better.

Government is made up of 3 branches. It seems over time that the Judicial Branch has been doing the job of the Legislative Branch and that has gotten out of hand. It is not the Supreme Court's job to make law. If there isn't a law concerning the case, they should turn the lawmaking over to the Legislative Branch. That's the process. It seems though that we have had activist judges try to read things into current laws that aren't really there. If the law needs to be spelled out better, that is a job for the Congress.

There are only a few jobs that our Federal government should be involved in. The first is protection of our borders. This involves the recent immigration issues and protecting our country from terrorists and countries that wish us harm. This also involves certain parts of our economics which leads to another of the jobs they have. This job is to assist the states in trade, foreign and domestic. This also involves mediating when the states need it. I can also see where the Feds need to be involved with transportation, such as our connecting highways and our airspace. There isn't much else for them to be involved in. The rest pretty much should be up to the states. We really need to get the Feds out of many of the things they are involved in. They have been involved in education since 1974 and it's only gotten worse. They have been involved in social programs since Roosevelt and it has only gotten worse. We keep throwing more and more money at the problems in this country instead of letting the states take care of their people in a more direct process that will cost less and be what the people of that state want.

The country was started with no income tax. This was a temporary solution during wartime, but the Congress decided to maintain it and then increase it tremendously over the years. Some people are paying out more than 50% of their income in taxes. Taxes take the form of income tax, sales tax, and all sorts of licenses. Much of our income is taxed multiple times. Even if we take the money we have after taxes and invest it and make more money, they not only tax the profits, but then tax what you invested again. If you die and pass what you have after taxes on to your family, they are then taxed on what you passed on. It gets tedious and rediculous and this is why so many people get confused with the current tax system and say bad things about the IRS. There needs to be major change and major reduction in tax code and taxes.

These are very basic things and it's what the majority of the people in the US want, but it involves such major change that lawmakers are afraid to do it. Sudden changes would cause some pretty drastic problems right away. Of course, with careful planning and slowing things down with just a few changes at a time, great things could be accomplished. Necessary things need to be done, but it takes some great leadership. It may even involve voting for "regular people with regular jobs" instead of attorneys who just want to get their name on a piece of history by creating more laws. It involves consistently voting for people who want the same things and are willing to accomplish them. The more we vote this way, the more emboldened they will be as others who share their ideas enter Congress. If we get fooled, we vote someone else in who has these ideas. At times, that will also involve voting for someone in our two party system that will at least lean most of the way you want them to.

I'm a firm believer that we know what is best for us. As adults we get to make our own decisions, good and bad. We should decide how most of our money is spent. We should decide how our children are educated. We should decide how our businesses should be run. We should decide the moral decisions in our own communities. What is good for someone in California may not be good for someone in Missouri and vice versa. It is imperitive that we make these decisions for ourselves instead of allowing others to do it for us. Get involved. Educate yourself. Vote.

Adventureland/Birthday Weekend

2006-06-29T18:41:00.000-05:00

Last weekend was a blast with my daughters. We spent last Saturday at our local theme park, Adventureland. The girls and I, along with a roommate, arrived there about 10:45AM. We went on some pretty tame rides except for a couple of rollercoasters, had lunch and then went back to another area of the park. The rain started in about 3:15pm so we decided to head to the tent for the 4pm circus. We were hoping the rain would blow over. The circus was great. They had a magician that had an assistant who did these fantastic outfit changes. There was a woman who did some awesome rope and swing work. There was a horse trick. A guy who wakled inside a wheel and outside a wheel as it spun around. The finale was two motorcycles in a ball shaped cage. This is great stuff for a theme park circus. After the circus, the rain had mostly subsided and then quit. The roommate had to take off and as we were walking toward the front of the park we ran into a couple of ladies that work with the same company and go to my church. They had their daughters with them so the entire evening was spent letting the kids run around and go on all the rides they want to. It was quite fun for me, too, as the older kids wanted to go on the more exciting rides. I didn't tuck my girls into bed until 10:45pm. We almost closed that park down.

On Sunday, we celebrated my youngest daughter's birthday. She turned 8 a week before, but this was our first chance to celebrate. The oldest made the cake with absolutely no help at all and it turned out great. The big gift was a trip to the mall and some money to shop with. Paige loves to shop so this was the best gift she could have gotten. She bought a purse and some makeup to keep at my house. We also got some gourmet ice cream to take home to eat with the cake. She loved how we celebrated with her, so that felt good. She has such girly tendencies that as a dad it's hard to figure out what would really be exciting for her. The oldest is more obvious about what she'd like, which is nice and easy for me.

Two great days in a row and not much sleep, but it was definitely worth it.

I've been needing to do some other posting on here. I have some great political posts to put up and some more autobiographical things to post about. I hope to get some of that done in the next couple of days.

Toto In Altoona, IA

2006-06-21T23:38:00.000-05:00

I went to Prairie Meadows to see Toto in a free concert tonight. The venue has VIP seating and an area you can set lawn chairs in. Those of us that want to stand and rock out are relegated to the far left of the seated area. I had a decent view of the side of the stage and the band did play to us a bit. I'd still have rather been down front trying to give back some energy to the band as they played their hearts out. The audience was mostly people my parents' age. So many gray haired 50-60 year old and they stayed seated through just about every song except Rosanna and Africa.

The band really put on a tight show. They tried to put some energy out there for the crowd and it was a crowd. This was a really good turnout. It took a lot of work to get people to stand, but the band worked the crowd. They opened with the rocker Falling In Between and then King Of The World from their new CD. I'm not sure of the title of the third song, but it was an older one and really good. They then went into the new Bottom Of Your Soul. This is a great song from the new CD Falling In Between. I love the lyrics "why is it always the ones that you love are the ones who will never come home...why is it all of the bridges we cross take their toll". What a powerful thought and a great way to put it.

There were some technical difficulties with one of the keyboards so while the techs figured it out the rest of the band was led into Hendrix's Little Wing by Steve Lukather. They just jammed this song out and it gave Steve an opportunity to show of some of his influences.

Make Believe got the band back into their set groove and they led directly into Hold The Line. This was the first time the crowd seemed to sing along. During other tunes you could see a few people mouthing the words, but you could actually hear them shout this chorus. The crowd sat back down for Stop Lovin' You, I'll Be Over You, and a tune I wasn't familiar with that really rocked.

The crowd was finally rewarded with another old favorite in Rosanna. The band really jammed this out with a keyboard solo leading into a guitar turn and even a few measures of a drum solo by the great Simon Phillips. These guys are phenomenal. They finished out their set with I Won't Hold You Back and Through The Fire.

After the band left the stage, an Africa chant started up behind me. It took just a few minutes, but Toto returned to the stage with Afraid Of Love and then the payoff, Africa. People were dancing in their aisles and singing along as Toto gave them what they wanted to hear.

Simon Phillips has played for everyone from Tears For Fears to Joe Satriani to Pete Townsend and Roger Daltry. This guy is a powerhouse on the drums and it just goes to show in a live situation why he is so desired in the studio. Tony Spinner is a talent I was unfamiliar with, but I did find out that he did some playing with Paul Gilbert of Mr. Big. He does a great job with guitar duties and even a vocal for Toto. Mike Porcaro is smooth as silk and equally as powerful on the bass. He makes everything look so easy with the complex rhythms that Toto utilizes. Greg Phillinganes sets up the mood of each song with some atmospheric playing, some horn punctuations, and some awesome piano all done on a very slick keyboard rack. Greg has such an accomplished record playing for George Benson, Christina Aguilera, Babyface, Anita Baker, The Bee Gees, The Carpenters, Mariah Carey, and host of others like Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, Kenny Loggins and Stevie Wonder. His voice and playing were spot on. Speaking of voices, the man with the power and emotion, Bobby Kimball, was in fine form. He still hits the notes that put most singers to shame and makes it seem effortless. The master of ceremonies, Steve Lukather, is the heart and soul of Toto. The man can switch from style to style effortlessly while still letting his influences shine through. He is a true guitar hero. There isn't a weak link in this band. All are accomplished and the really cool thing is that they bring these talents together to make great songs. This isn't a band that is interested in cranking out 3 minute pop tunes, but a band that wants to hook you from beginning to end and take you through a range of emotions high and low.

Get the new CD Falling In Between. Get the new 25th Anniversary DVD. Go see the live show. They don't tour the US that much so do it while you can. I did and it was FREE!

Waterstock 2006

2006-06-18T18:01:00.000-05:00

Bigger, better, and still room for improvement! That would sum up my take on Waterstock 2006. The main bands Quiet Riot, Dokken, Cinderella, and Poison were the best lineup Waterstock has seen in its three forms. There is talk of next year being a two day festival. An attendance record was set this year and it was no surprise since Poison and Cinderella were bringing their 20th Anniversary show to Des Moines. The young bands Endeverafter and Lorenzo were also fantastic and hung around much of the day to get their names out by visiting with music lovers. Cover bands Cold Filtered and Night Train had a sizeable chunk of the crowd getting into familiar favorites with Cold Filtered doing some original tunes, as well.

The schedule was completely thrown off, but it may have been for the better. Where Endeverafter was supposed to play the side stage at 11:30AM, things were actually kicked off by Lorenzo on the side stage. Lorenzo came out to play a 30 minutes set and then were going to meet at the merch table. As soon as they got to the merch table, they were told to hit the stage for another 30 minute set. The second 30 minute set got cut short as Cold Filtered was hitting the main stage. They got out about a third of Little Thing For Your Little Sister so it was great that they got to get back up for a short time after Cold Filtered was finished. Lorenzo looked and sounded great. The first set contained a couple of clever cover tunes that helped this new band relate to people who had never heard of them before. The second set stepped up on the rock side of the band. Lorenzo is a 5 piece from Cincinnati, OH, with some great songs. A strong stage presence helped pull people up to the stage to see what they were all about. Lorenzo returned to the stage after Cold Filtered's main stage set for a repeat of what I would consider their 4 strongest tunes, which also happened to be in the second set. Keep an eye out for these guys as their CD Love Shape Bruise is available on Tuesday. Also, check their site out at www.lorenzolounge.com. The guys were very cool and hung around til the end of the day. I ran into the singer, Mark Lorenzo, after Poison was done playing. They were great about taking pictures, autographs, their merch was reasonably priced, and it was the songs that really drew people to them.

Lorenzo Set List
Drowned
Fallen
Always Something There To Remind Me
Hateful
Breakdown
Squeeze Box
2 A.M.

Walk
I Think About Sex
The Breaking
Scars
Naked And Wasted
Nothin' Left To Talk About
Little Thing For Your Little Sister

Walk
I Think About Sex
Nothin' Left To Talk About
Little Thing For Your Little Sister

I was very surprised that Cold Filtered played their first set on the main stage, but they seemed to have the audience to pull it off. As turned off by this band as I was after seeing them at Keyster's and opening for Ted Nugent, I must say that they have greatly improved. The addition of the second guitarist seems to be what put them over the top in my book. Their new drummer also made a sizeable difference with the much needed intensity that he plays with. Cold Filtered started out with a Tesla cover, but worked in some original stuff during their set. The singer seems to have more confidence and worked with the audience better. He also didn't sing like he was doubled over for the first few rows, either. His voice sounded good on the first set and the band seemed cohesive. The second guitar player, while filling out the sound, could use some stage time with the band as he was the only one not interacting much on stage. I'm sure that will come with more shows. As Cold Filtered played other sets throughout the day, there was only one issue that I and others began to notice. The singer, while having a good voice during their main stage set, could use some sort of vocal effect to fatten up his voice. Many of the covers they do are just out of his comfortable range where he tries to use a screaming voice with some falsetto. Have you heard Chris Cornell do Black Hole Sun? He sounds great during the entire song until he starts yelping the title in the end of the song. That just ruined my whole Black Hole Sun experience. Well, the Cold Filtered singer sounded like that on tunes that were in his upper register at times. It caused a lot of moments where he went a tad sharp. Overall, Cold Filtered entertained their fans and is certainly a band who has come a long way in a year and still has some room to grow. Check out their site for some original music, as well.

Night Train is just simply something I can't get into. A couple of guys from Cold Filtered put on wigs and leather pants to join others in a tribute to GNR. While there were many entertained, it's just not my thing. I know there is a huge debate on what makes a tribute band and how far bands can go in replacing members to keep using that name, but it's a different argument to make. Putting on wigs and trying to cop someone else's moves and play their music when you are in no way related to the band is acting. It might be good for VH1 movies, but certainly isn't my particular taste. I'm stating my own opinion here and like mouths, everyone has one. I didn't watch for long and I found this a good opportunity to hang out with other bands and their members.

Endeverafter blew away most everyone who caught them. I had people thanking me for encouraging them to come out early to support them. These guys look, act, and play the part of 80's rockers, but seem to have more going for them in the musical composition of their songs. Rhythmic breakdowns, extended guitar parts, and more intricate arrangements keep them from sounding too much like anyone in particular, but make for better music. They mostly played new songs from their CD which will be released August 8th, but played two from their website, Next Best Thing and Baby Baby Baby. Baby x3 is my favorite from the site and they encouraged the crowd to sing along as they closed with it. The guys even got some choreographed windmill guitar action going at the end of the song. I'm hoping they stick around for quite some time and that they are a part of bringing great rock tunes back in style as other bands have been on the verge of doing the last couple of years. These guys hung around most of the day with no rock star attitude and just made themselves available to everyone. They flirted with the girls, of course, but seemed to really be about seeing what people thought of their songs and doing the requisite PR for a young band. These guys seem level headed enough to really go a long way with their music. Just so you can imagine, I did read about one guy hearing someone near him say "you suck" when the band first took the stage, but quickly shut up as they rocked their collective ass off.

Endeverafter Setlist

Wanna Be Your Man
Bright Lights, Big City
All Night
Next Best Thing
Poison
Baby Baby Baby

In a surprise to me, Quiet Riot hit the stage before Dokken. In my humble opinion, that should have been reversed, but I'm not in charge of these things. Quiet Riot really knows how to work a crowd. CC DeVille and Rikki Rocket were seen enjoying the show from the side of the stage, too. They were getting a kick out of how good it sounded and some of the funny lines Kevin used in his lyrics. "So you say I got a funny face, well, F#CK YOU!" I've heard Kevin use it several times before, but it's just funny every time. That man still has the voice and energy that he has always had. Frankie was wearing a green outfit and playing drums as strong as ever. The nice thing about Frankie and Kevin is that they both use their instruments the same way and with the same intensity. Frankie is all over the kit and Kevin easily adds some vocal gymnastics to the melody lines. I love watching these guys perform and this year they have Alex Grossi back in the band as well as Sean McNabb, who played with Quiet Riot before and with Great White and House Of Lords. These two guys interact very well with Kevin and Frankie and really put on quite the show as well. I was fortunate enough to visit with Quiet Riot after the show and asked Kevin about the new CD. He said that it is completely finished and that they are targeting the end of August to try to get it out. I can't wait to hear it. Kevin said that the 70's influences are very strong on the CD with one song sounding like the Small Faces and bits of Humble Pie and Led Zeppelin really influencing their music. I overheard him talking to someone about how it was great to do 80's music in the 80's, but that's not really where they are at musically now. I'm very encouraged by this as I've always loved their music, but hearing Kevin's solo CD last year just really opened my eyes as to how much more they could be capable of. When I visited with Sean, just to see if I had things right, I asked if he had played in QR before and he mentioned doing so in the late 80's. This was the time period that Paul Shortino was singing for the band. I also mentioned to Sean that the last time I had seen him was when Great White was on the Poison tour a few years back and that I thought I had recognized him. I think he was glad someone actually knew part of his musical background. He and Alex were also kind enough to take pictures as were Kevin and Frankie. One of the guys I have met at concerts in Iowa and originally in Omaha, NE, brought a vest originally worn by Chris Holmes from WASP. Since Frankie played in that band for a while, this friend brought it to get signed by Frankie. Banali is great with fans of this caliber and asked to get back in touch via e-mail.

Quiet Riot Setlist

Put Up Or Shut Up
Slick Black Cadillac
Love's A Bitch
Mama Weer All Crazee Now
Red Hot Mama Red Hot (From Kevin's solo CD.)
Thunderbird
The Wild And The Young
Let's Get Crazy
Cum On Feel The Noize
Metal Health

Dokken had started playing while I was still chatting with the guys from Quiet Riot. I hadn't realized it until I started walking away from the merch tent, so I went back over to the VIP section to get a look. Dokken looked and sounded good, but I had been standing much of the day so I took a little time to grab a bite to eat. I listened and got most of their set list, but also spent some time visiting so I missed a few things. The set list, as much as I got while missing a few titles is as follows:

Dokken Setlist

Unchain The Night
Into The Fire
Dream Warriors
Kiss Of Death
(Another song here...)
Alone Again
Paris Is Burning
It's Not Love (included a bass solo)
(Another song here?)
Tooth And Nail
In My Dreams

(Somewhere in here was Breaking The Chains.)

I did get the opportunity to meet Jon Levin briefly before the show and was able to have him sign Hell To Pay and take a picture. After the set, I met Don Dokken and he did the same. I also had to tell Don thank you for continuing to put out music. I've heard all the Don rumors about his attitude, hair, and whatever anyone else wants to say about him, but he was genuinely nice and grateful to those of us that asked for time. Many bands are content to rest on their laurels with past accomplishments, but I appreciate those that keep moving forward. I love new music. My friends tell me that I'm stuck in the 80's, but I don't really listen to a lot of old tunes. While I love the classics, I like to see what the bands are still up to and I am always trying to get ahold of the new stuff they put out. Dokken and many others have still been recording over the years so I keep supporting them.

Cinderella is one of the best live bands ever. Great songs. Superb showmanship. Excellent musicality. They play the hits, but it seems fresh every time just because they are timeless songs. The show started out with some sound difficulties on stage, but out front, they still sounded great. The sound problems were an irritant to Tom and Jeff was doing his best to help. Cinderella used a few lights and a little pyro during their show. They did some of their famous moves such as the swinging guitars. Tom played the sax for Shelter. Fred came out front to help on the harmonies for Last Train. They employed a keyboard player to the far left of the stage who has toured with them before. These guys really need to record a new CD. I know they have had their legal tangles, but Cinderella is too good a band to keep playing a greatest hits set and I hope they start moving forward soon. There is obviously so much creativity among these four that they really need to have the outlet as Cinderella.

Cinderella Setlist

Fallin' Apart At The Seams
Last Mile
Somebody Save Me
Night Songs
Hot And Bothered
Last Train (Fred stepped out for the harmonies.)
Coming Home
Gypsy Road
Nobody's Fool
Shelter

Encore:
Don't Know What You Got Til It's Gone
Shake Me

Poison just blows me away every time. They get away with playing familiar hits and cover tunes, but they do it with such energy that they will always have my support. Their classic opener Look What The Cat Dragged In immediately had everyone singing along and they rolled right into I Want Action and their cover of We're An American Band. Poison had to stop American Band after a fight broke out in the cheap seats. They started it from the beginning, though, once security had the troublemakers cleared out. Poison had the crowd singing along at every turn. They were energetic. The pyro was in place several times throughout. CC's solo was actually better played than at any time I've ever heard him. He truly seemed more humble with how well he was received and he looked like he was having a blast all night, including singing I Hate Every Bone In Your Body But Mine. It was the newest original song of the night. Rikki's drum solo was once again what every fan wants to see. They want rhythms they can get into, some cool effects, and above all a rising drum kit. Rikki is one of the best showman in the business. (I know. Nobody has touched Tommy Lee's showmanship, yet, but Rikki is still near the top in showmanship.) Bobby was smiling all night and had some great interaction with CC. CC was showing Bobby how he was almost out of picks on his mic stand, while Bobby seemingly wasn't going through enough. Bret and Bobby had some cool interaction, too, as they raced across the stage at one point. Bret and CC were totally in a groove together all night and seemed to really enjoy being on the same stage. Bret was the ultimate frontman (I'll say this until David Lee Roth reunites with Van Halen.) and was genuinely happy to be back at Waterstock and it must have felt great to bring the whole Poison show with him this year. Bret's voice was spot on all night and he had fun playing a little harmonica and some guitar. The guys just tore up the stage with familiar tunes. I'm hopeful that since CC has some problems worked out that he and Bret can get back to writing some great songs and getting them on CD in the near future.

Poison Setlist

Look What The Cat Dragged In
I Want Action
We're An American Band
I Won't Forget You
Ride The Wind
CC's Solo
I Hate Every Bone In Your Body But Mine
Something To Believe In
Your Mama Don't Dance
Let It Play
Fallen Angel
Rikki's Solo
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Unskinny Bop
Nothin' But A Good Time

Encore:
Talk Dirty To Me

There is a subject that does need some addressing about Waterstock. I paid $125 for a VIP ticket. This was to include the possibility (they make it sound very likely) of meeting all the bands, free food, and four beer tickets. It also was to include better seating/standing and outhouses that were only to be used by VIP's. Well, I met and got pictures with two members of Cinderella and two members of Dokken. If I'd really kept my eyes peeled, I would have done the same with Fred Coury, but I missed that opportunity. CC and Rikki could be seen easily from where we were, but they didn't come to the fence to meet us. Lorenzo and Endeverafter spent a great deal of time with people in this area, but they and Quiet Riot were out for everyone to meet and greet, not just VIP's. After spending $125, I wasn't any better off than I was the last two years in this area. When KGGO ran Waterstock the first year, they had a tent that each band went to in order to meet the fans. This was something we all expected last year, but were let down when Lazer took over. Last year I was able to meet most of the bands on the left side of the stage as they came to the fence to sign for us. It wasn't an organized thing, but the bands took this opportunity on themselves to be available. I'd heard that last year the VIP's were able to roam around the entire backstage area even while the bands were eating and hanging out and this made for quite the VIP experience. This year a buffer (read fence) was put in place so that the bands could eat and have air conditioned tents in privacy and they could opt to engage the fans. While a few took this opportunity, no member of Poison came out to the VIP area and other band members did so at their own risk, but there was no encouragement from the promoters for the bands to interact since VIP's paid so much money. While we did get some free food, it was about two small meals worth. A burger, brat, or hot dog, a bag of chips, and a drink for $7 in meal tickets. That's two McDonald's meals worth where as VIP's got the shaft like everyone else at Waterstock. As for the beer tickets, I don't drink so my roommate got those. With as much food and drink as was left over, it would have been nice to have just opened this up to an all you can eat type of thing. Most people aren't going to gorge themselves at an outdoor event like this, but could use a little extra since the body uses up a lot of energy.

Here are my suggestions for the VIP's for Waterstock next year and even a some for general admission at Waterstock. Starting with the VIP area, keep the area the same size, but open it back up with the bands for interaction. Let the bands know this is happening and that you are only selling 50 or 60 VIP tickets. That's all. Do not have any more VIP's than 50-60. Let the bands know they are encouraged to take time for each VIP. Yes, you'll get the occasional crazy person with a VIP ticket, but for the most part people that pay that much are well behaved. We had no trouble on our side of the stage as opposed to the fighting that broke out in the General Admission side. Keep the food portion to an all you can eat type of thing without really saying that. Just let VIP's know that water and food are free to them and that they can't take it out of the VIP area. This will keep them from sharing it with friends outside of the VIP area. As for the beer, the thing they have in place is fine as 4 free beers are probably enough. The VIP experience needs to be worth the money shelled out and something hard to come by so that it will be highly valued. One last thing for VIP's, throw in a Lazer 103.3 or Waterstock T-shirt to commemorate the experience. Shirts are cheap and free advertising. When you have people paying $125 to purchase your concert package, throw in a freebie like this. (Yes, I know it's about that much to see Bon Jovi, Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and others, but this is an audience that you are poised to advertise to in a much bigger way, so add value at all opportunities.) As for the rest of Waterstock, lower the food and drink prices. Water that runs $2 a bottle for an 80 cent bottle is outrageous. Sure, charge a dollar, but water is something everyone must have readily and cheaply available at an outdoor show that lasts all day. Lower food prices. A burger you can get at BeBop's for $1.50 shouldn't cost $4 and not taste as good. Sure, charge $2 for it and still make a nice profit. The same goes with the hotdogs and pizza. It's a matter of economics and also treating your audience well. If you lower prices, more people can buy what you are selling. This will keep profits up and people happy. It also allows them to buy more of what you are selling. There were T-shirts, banners, tattoos, radio and Waterstock merch, as well as band merchandise that people would love to have purchased if it weren't for paying out more in food and water. I know I would have been able to do more than the Poison bandana and Cinderella key chain I purchased. My total cost was $190 for this event which included buying my roommate's ticket. That's about $90 more than last year for about the same experience. Make this more of a bang for my buck next year.

Overall, Waterstock truly rocks and I'm anxious to see what is in store for next year!

Woman, Party, Tattoo, Steak, Waterstock...

2006-06-12T19:36:00.000-05:00

What an awesome weekend. We had a small party Friday night, I got a new tattoo on Saturday, and got to take someone out to the Lone Star for steak on Saturday, too.

A couple months ago a friend from about 17 years ago got in touch through namesdatabase.com and classmates.com. I got the message the morning it was sent and responded in about 10-15 minutes. Soon we were e-mailing and catching up on the lost years. She was a friend that I worked with and there were a few occasions that it could have become more, but it didn't and we lost touch. It was interesting timing for her to contact me. Long story short, she came up for a visit and it was just great. We listened to music, watched some TV and a couple movies, went for a walk at 2AM one night, and just generally hung out and had a great time. She returned home yesterday and we are already trying to plan another visit.

The party only consisted of about 20 people total. We are trying to find ways to get it back to what it was before we moved. We are going to try to hype one for July.

The new tattoo is something that my oldest designed. I will have a picture online before long. I had originally thought about getting a cross with a cloth draped over it with each of my daughters' names on it. The only hard part would be the balance as Brittany is a longer name than Paige. When I presented this dilemma to the girls, Brittany sat down and designed a heart with a banner across the thick part with her name and a banner across the smaller part with Paige's name. It was sheer brilliance. I got it done Saturday on my right shoulder. Great artwork, shading, and an additional design of making the T's in Brittany crosses by Ink Tattoo in Chariton, IA. I will have some web information for them up soon, too. Two guys named Robert run the place and I'm impressed.

I've been to several steak places in Des Moines and still keep going back to Lone Star. I've been to Jesse's Embers, Cummin's Steakhouse, and Colton's. Jesse's Embers has a bit more formal atmosphere, the cut I had was the New York Strip, and the cost for the same meal at the Lone Star, including drink, dessert, salad and baked potato was about $10 more. Cummin's has a wonderful atmosphere with tall booths, lower lighting, and a salad bar. The food was delicious. It's also a bit pricey, though, for the same meal as Lone Star. Colton's reminded me of the Lone Star when they had the bucket of peanuts. The menu wasn't as filled out as the Lone Star, but the food is similar. The atmosphere was noisy and I didn't see any booths in the room I was seated in. The cost was about the same as Lone Star, but the steak just wasn't as good. Colton's is no longer in Des Moines, I believe. The Lone Star just has them all beat so far, but there are more steak places to try.

There is a huge concert coming up Saturday in Waterstock. I have the link to the Unofficial Waterstock site to the left. There is a message board there and they answer some questions you may have about the event. Lazer 103.3 has a site that also includes some similar information. Poison, Cinderella, Dokken, and Quiet Riot are the 4 headlining acts with Endeverafter and Lorenzo a couple of regional acts that are on major labels. Night Train, a Guns N Roses tribute band, will be there as well as local band Cold Filtered. I will be there for the entire event and I have a VIP ticket that allows backstage access all day long. It's going to be huge. I have several friends going and I recommend everyone attend for a great time.

I'm hoping, but doubting, that I will get to see the Cinderella show at Clear Lake with Endeverafter. I haven't found anyone else from the area going, so I'm posting this on here in case anyone wants to carpool. Should be an awesome show like Cinderella is famous for.

I'm still reliving last weekend in my mind and looking forward to next weekend for more memories in a different vein.

June Update

2006-06-06T19:54:00.000-05:00

Lots of stuff going on...

The softball team returns to action this Thursday. After two weeks of no games, still no practices scheduled.

TV excitement going on... The Apprentice season finale was obvious. Sean was an easy winner and a good choice. Last Comic Standing has returned to NBC. Hopefully, it will do the ratings to keep it on NBC instead of moving the rest of the season to the Comedy Channel. Simple Life has returned. I still have to watch the Sunday episode. Supergroup has been fun to watch on VH1. Sebastian Bach and Ted Nugent are just great TV. The new Brady show on VH1 has picked up where the last one left off and it's the same old conflict, which is still entertaining. The Ultimate Fighter is winding down and I'm anxious to see who wins. The UFC 60 didn't surprise me so much. Matt Hughes is a great fighter and Royce Gracey is a legend, but I fully expected Matt to win. Since the shows I'm interested in are winding down, I've been watching WWE RAW the last couple of weeks again. I'm anxious to start watching the ECW on Sci-Fi soon. I'm watching the burn off episodes of Freddie, Joey, Rodney, and Blue Collar Comedy as long as they are running them. They will be missed as they were opportunities for some great TV if given room to grow.

Lots of political things going on. Immigration laws are already on the books. Quit grandstanding and just enforce the law. It's so much simpler and it's what an overwhelming majority of Americans want. It's not a racial issue. It's a matter of upholding the law. Primaries are taking place for the races in the fall. I'm rooting for the farthest left candidates possible so the Republicans can just walk right back to work. Less government and lower taxes. Vote for those two agendas and enjoy your freedom. Iran better do what we ask. It's that simple. Iraq has come a long way, baby! They are so far ahead of how we got our own country rolling. Congratulations to our troops for the great job they are doing and to the Iraqi people for sticking to their desire for freedom and working toward it. Gas prices are still going at the market rate. I'm just hoping that the market allows prices to drop ASAP. It's not that bad for a guy like me, but imagine if you do a lot of traveling. It's gotta hurt. Thankfully, the economy is rolling right along and unemployment is minimal. It's great to see what can happen when you allow people to keep more of their own money. This economy would not be rolling as it is without that.

Musical things are going on, too. So many great groups and I'm still discovering more. I've had the time of my life this last several months discovering so many new bands. It makes me feel young knowing this stuff before most people and introducing such great bands to my friends. I have a list at the bottom of this post of bands you should be checking out. Let me know what you think.

Well, time for the list as I think I covered just about everything! Click on the band name and check them out. Most of them have some great tunes on their site and some videos for your entertainment pleasure.

Babylon Bombs
Bang Circus
Bastardz
Bombay Black
Bullets And Octane
Crash Midnight
Dr. Sin
Endeverafter
Evick
Gemini Five
Hardcore Superstar
Juliette And The Licks
Lorenzo
Miss Crazy
Naked Beggars
Prima Donna
Radiovipers
Rocktopuss
Sister Sin
Soulphood
Toxic Twist
TSAR
Vains Of Jenna

Memorial Day Recap

2006-05-31T23:34:00.000-05:00

It was great to have a 3 day weekend with my daughters. I didn't have to take them back to their mom's until Monday morning, so we made the most of our time together. Saturday was the day to celebrate Brittany's birthday. She turned 11 the weekend before. Her little sister made the chocolate fudge cake that Brittany had picked out the night before. The cake was great and after we served that, Brittany got the one gift she truly wanted this year...a KC Chiefs jersey. Yes, I'm raising her right as a Chiefs fan. She wore the jersey Saturday, Sunday after church, and since I washed it that night she wore it again Monday. I'm glad she likes it. She also got a gift card from her grandparents for a bookstore in the area. We went shopping at the store that afternoon and she was able to get three books that she was anxious to read. She was on page 30 at one point in the car on the way home Monday. Brittany made dinner on Sunday. I had purchased some chicken breast and she was anxious to see if she could cook it. I laid out some seasonings and she made the best chicken breast I've probably ever had. She used some cinnamon, honey, and a touch of basil. It was first fried in butter to brown it a on both sides. It was then baked in butter for about 20 minutes as the corn on the cob and mashed potatoes were being made. I hope she does that again soon. We played outdoor as much as we could. It kept taking breaks to rain on us all weekend so during the sunshine we made up a volleyball/ping pong style game in the driveway. It was great to at least have some time outside in spite of the weather. Every extra minute with the girls this weekend was just great. We watched movies, made popcorn, and did about every other kind of goofing off we could think of indoor. I'm anxious to see them again this weekend and hope to take them to see X-Men!

Spoke Too Soon

2006-05-24T17:09:00.000-05:00

Well, it's official. The team I play with in church softball doesn't care if we win or lose. There isn't but one player who showed up for practice on Sunday. During the two Monday night games, the first we expected to lose to an upper level team, they showed that a little practice could do some good. We only lost 15-8, but could have done better. We could have even planned out ahead of time to field the best team possible for all upper level games. During the second game, our coach even gave the team a runner that was obviously out. He didn't step on second when he was going to go for a double play. I caught this and got the ball, stood on second, and then tagged the runner. That should have been an out, but he said the runner could stand since he missed second base on the play. I caught that he missed second and did what I was supposed to do for the out. Even the umpire called her out after seeing the play I made. Instead, our coach said it was all in fun and let her stay on second. It didn't affect the inning, thankfully. At that point, I realized that even the people leading the team don't care if we win or lose. We were the home team and after that inning, the game was over and we had won it 8-7. We had played 60 full minutes and by the time we would have batted since we were up, it would have been 65 minutes. Instead, they opted to play yet another inning which brought the outcome of losing 11-8. My first pitch, I made it obvious that I didn't care in that last inning. I threw it about 15 feet high and about 6 feet short of the base. If you ask our catcher, the assistant coach's wife, she will tell you that I didn't even try in pitching. They were behind by one and scored 4 runs. I gave them two of the runs by walking a batter. I figured if my team really cared, they would come back in the bottom of the inning and show me they wanted to win. Instead, we didn't score any runs and the game was over with two losses for the evening. I handed the other team that game on purpose by serving up wild and flat pitches. If anyone on my team asks, they will get this same explanation. I don't walk batters and it was obvious that I gave them their inning. I was so disgusted that the team didn't want to walk away with a win, gave a call to the other team, and throughout the evening showed a lack of any practice or desire to practice.

I've never played anything to lose, unless that was the object, of course. I wasn't taught to play to lose, I was taught to play to win. Life is about winning, not just getting along. I wish that others who paid to play this season wanted to get their money's worth as I do. I wish other's realized that life is about winning in all areas, not just some. I'm tempted to call it a season and ask for my money back for the other half of the season. I'm tempted.

Live In KC

2006-05-22T23:18:00.000-05:00

Derek and I left for KC about 3pm. We got away a tad late, but it was all good since we had tickets for seats. Apparently, it's unusual for Live to have seats instead of general admission. I would have been fine either way, but was glad for a place to sit. Overall, it was a very professional show. This is Derek's favorite band and I like a few of their songs, but it was cool to see a bit of what Derek sees in this band. I'm glad I went.

I wasn't my typical concert self at this show since it's really not my style of music, but Live certainly pleased their fans. They did all the songs I knew, several new ones, and apparently a lot of fan favorites. They didn't talk between songs except to mention the new CD or to say thanks, but they certainly looked like they were enjoying what they do. I think we got a few extra songs out of the band since the crowd was good. The Uptown Theater seems to be built in such a way that they could hear their fans quite well as they were very appreciative.

The best part of the night for me was the opening act. Michael Shapiro and his backing band rocked. They have some great songs in more of a heartfelt, heartland rock vein. My favorite song, I'm Not Alone, even had some rhythm guitar in the vein of .38 Special. We hung out after the show to see if Derek could meet Live. Since we figured it would be a while, we were fortunate enough to meet Michael and his band. They are great guys from the Portland, Oregon, area. Michael is from Las Vegas originally, I believe. We got the 5 song EP that was available and they autographed it for us. I've had it in the CD player since and it's a CD I highly recommend. I hope the next CD that should be out soon is as good as this and that Shapiro's career only grows. We need more artists like this with such great songs. Catch his band opening for Live for the next few shows or catch them if they are in your area. You will be glad you did.

Finally - Softball Practice

2006-05-22T23:16:00.000-05:00

We played again last Thursday night. We won the first game 7-6 and got beat badly in the second 28-11. I played Left Centerfield the first game for a few innings and pitched the second game. The second game was played against a team in the Upper division so we were outmatched badly. They scored 10 runs each of the first two innings and had two guys that could slam it out of the park. It's not fun to be matched up that way, but I guess we play each Upper team once this season. We will play one team in the Lower and one in the Upper tomorrow night as well.

I did get a certain bit of satisfaction in the second game. There was a girl who came to the plate and had half of her front foot over the batter's box line when I pitched the ball. The rules state that both feet must start completely inside the batter's box. During the swing, you can stride as big as you want as long as your foot is at least touching the line. If your foot comes completely out of the box, then you are automatically out. If your foot is half out when the ball is pitched, though, it's either a strike or a no pitch. I made the umpire aware of this so he'd call a strike on the girl, but he didn't know the rules enough to enforce something like that. The guy who pitched for the other team claimed to be an ASA certified umpire and wanted to argue about what I said the rules stated. I'm not sure if he thought I was talking about the swing or before, but the foot print I pointed out made it obvious that I was talking about her beginning stance and I was not asking for an out, although the strike would have made her out. The call stood as the umpire didn't know the rules and the girl was on first. Later in the game, a league rep heard about the dispute and brought out a rules book. He came over to me to explain that a swing could take you to the line, over the line, but you can't step out of the batter's box. I had to reiterate that this was not the rule I was talking about but the initial stance when the ball was pitched. He turned a few pages back and said that I was absolutely right about the rule, but that he had never seen it enforced for the men's league. I told him that it's not only an issue of following the rules for fair play, but it's also a safety issue. Pitchers tend to pitch away from the batter if they are crowding the plate in a recreational league so as not to hit the batter or risk that. We had a girl who crowded the plate during a practice last year and when I pitched the ball where it should be, she hit it on her hands and it bounced back and broke her nose. I certainly don't want to see that happen in a game, either. He went to the other dugout and as far as I know explained the rules over there. The guy who wanted to argue with me didn't even look me in the face when the teams walked by each other to say "good game". I'm not sure if it was embarrassment for being wrong as an "ASA Certified Umpire" or what, but I was satisfied that I do know the rules and was right about the rules and the guy that wanted to argue was corrected.

Now, during that particular night, our assistant coach made everyone aware that we will start having regular practices on Sundays. Our coaches won't make it and a few others work weekends, but I hope that those that want to will take advantage of this. We are paying to play and many of us would love to get our money's worth from the season. By this time in the season last year, we had all taken so many more swings, made so many more plays, and I believe it helped us to have a decent season. This year we have many new players and it would be good for everyone to step up their game so we can quit splitting the night with one win and one loss. A winning season is always a fun season. After being 10 games into the season, it's about time we started practicing.

Mother's Day Weekend

2006-05-17T00:03:00.000-05:00

Although it was short, Mother's Day weekend was very good. The girls had fun mostly indoor due to the weather, but they did get outside a bit. We played games, watched movies, and grilled out again. To top off the day we called my mom and wished her a happy Mother's Day. I hope that made her day.

One of the hard parts of being a single dad so far away from family is the holidays. It could be Mother's Day, Easter, Christmas, Father's Day, Thanksgiving, or even a Memorial Day or Independence Day when you have certain plans you'd love to share with family. I always miss my girls when they aren't here for one holiday or another, but I also think about my parents. I grew up in a great family and didn't realize it until several years of being out on my own. I treasure each moment with them and miss them dearly.

My Sunday with the girls was cut short since I needed to have them back to their mom's at noon. I hope to make up for it Memorial Day weekend, but we shall see. It was a nice quiet day when I returned and I got a lot of TV watched.

Last night was a good night. I had downed two hamburgers that I fixed with barbecue. Not ten minutes later, my roommate calls asking if I've eaten supper. Of course not, I said. He was out getting things to clean his grill with and wanted to see if I was interested in a steak. Oh, yea, was I interested in a steak! He brought home rib eyes about an hour later that were in a Jack Daniels marinating bag. They marinated for quite some time while he cleaned the grill and got it going. We didn't eat until several hours after I'd had those burgers so it worked out fine. It was fantastic food. I even made some potatoes to go with it. I had to stay up a bit later, but it was quite worth it.

Today was an interesting day. I love my job and do a great job at it. After two years there, I may be ready for some more challenges there and hope to see what is around the corner.

Tomorrow is the Live concert. I'm off work at 2pm and Derek and I hope to hit the road by 2:30pm. Should be a good show. This is his favorite band so I'm anxious to see what it's all about. They have a few good songs and I will have a full report up later this week with pictures, too.

Softball Week 4

2006-05-15T12:20:00.000-05:00

We finally had an evening that we won both of our games. I just acted as a base coach in the first game which we won 12-2 and pitched the second as we won that one 11-5. It was a very cold and windy night. The first game saw the other team going 3 up and 3 down for the first two innings and one of their runs was by a very nice home run by a guy who also struck out once. Our hitters were doing well with line drives and hard grounders while the other team kept popping it up in the wind. The second game wasn't much closer as their first pitcher had control problems in the wind. The wind seemed to die down when I was pitching. It was a weird feeling. We held them the first few innings to no runs and they scored their runs over two innings in the middle of the game. We had a lot of walks as I was walked twice. My first at bat was a double that was called an out by mistake. The call stood. The girl playing second took a throw from left field, reached across the base and tagged my hip. We froze in position and it was obvious my leg was curled up on the base as I had slid in. Her arm wasn't long enough to have tagged my hip in an outstretched position as she had to reach across the bag to do it. The call was missed by an inexperienced umpire. My last at bat was a line drive that was caught on the run. We had two guys on our team hit homers in this game, too. It's always fun to win, that's for sure. The season at a glance...

4/20/06 - Fort Des Moines 16 - Fellowship Community I 9
4/20/06 - Destiny 9 - Fort Des Moines 1
4/24/06 - Fairview Christian Union 8 - Fort Des Moines 6
4/24/06 - Fort Des Moines 10 - Martensdale Community 6
5/4/06 - Fort Des Moines 16 - Hartford 12
5/4/06 - Indianola Christian Union 6 - Fort Des Moines 5
5/11/06 - Fort Des Moines 12 - Indianola Community I 2
5/11/06 - Fort Des Moines 11 - Center Chapel 5

That puts us at 5 wins and 3 losses and in 3rd place of 9 teams in our division. It's a three way tie for third right now. Not a bad start for a team that has had only one practice and is as disorganized as we are. Two of those losses should have been won, too, to we are better than the record shows. Hopefully, we start winning more as we are probably the best team in the division.

Softball Disfunctionality

2006-05-07T20:41:00.000-05:00

The other night we won our first game 16-12 and lost the second 6-5. We were ahead in the second game 5-3 until the bottom of the last inning. We beat ourselves. We made errors after having 2 outs that cost us the game. We had several missed opportunities to get that last out and we made a few infield mistakes. I couldn't believe it and was so ticked that we let that one get away that I threw my glove from the pitcher's mound to the top of our dugout. I wasn't furious at anyone in particular but to lose like that is a travesty.

We had one throwing practice before our season started and one practice where we hit some. We have played 6 games so far and they finally scheduled a practice for today. Out of over 20 people that could possibly have shown up, we had 4. Four people showed up for practice. One of those four left early and the rest of us stayed to try to get some hitting and fielding done. That is pathetic that 3 people on our team actually took time out of the day to practice out of everyone that was called and even said they'd show up.

These things speak to the poor leadership and the poor participation of all those who said they wanted to be part of a church softball team this year. I'm truly disappointed that I paid to play on what I thought might be a team that cared about playing and this is what I get. I may call and ask for my money back. I'm truly that disappointed. I hope the fall season goes much better.

Immigration

2006-05-05T00:50:00.000-05:00

The biggest issue the last couple of weeks on the political spectrum is the fact that we have millions of people in our country illegally. Here are the stats:

1. 40% of all workers in LA County (LA County has 10 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This was because they are predominantly illegal immigrants, working without a green card.
2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
4. Over 2/3's of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal aliens, Mexican's on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by tax payers.
5. Nearly 25% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.
7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
9. 21 radio stations in LA are Spanish speaking.
10. In LA County 5.1 million people speak English. 3.9 million speak Spanish (10.2 million people in LA County).

(All 10 statistics are from the Los Angeles Times according to an e-mail chain letter. Snopes says this isn't so, but says it could be attributed to others. Check out their site and decide for yourself as they show many of the numbers to be accurate, but call others into question.)

Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29% are on welfare. (http://www.cis.org)
Over 70% of the US annual population growth (and over 90% of California, Florida, and New York) results from immigration.
The cost of illegal immigration to the American taxpayer in 1997 was a NET (after subtracting taxes immigrants pay) $70 billion a year. (Professor Donald Huddle, Rice University - Snopes states two sides to this number, but it's obvious that Huddle is the more accurate as Snopes represents Social Security as a Pay As You Go program. We all know that's not true at all because so many receive benefits who have never paid in and so many receive above or below what they have contributed. Social Security doesn't even add a percentage of interest as a bank account would so it's a flawed program for anyone to contribute to, but that's another subject.)
29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.

There was also an article attributed to Charlie Daniels that seems to express things quite well.

"God Bless America And The United States Marine Corps"
by Charlie Daniels

I don't know how everybody else feels about it, but to me I think Hispanic people in this country legally or illegally made a huge public relations mistake with their recent demonstrations. I don't blame anybody in the world for wanting to come to the United States of America, as it is a truly wonderful place. But when the first thing you do when you set foot on American soil is illegal, it is flat out wrong and I don't care how many lala-land left heads come out of the woodwork and start trying to give me sensitivity lessons. I don't need sensitivity lessons. In fact I don't have anything against Mexicans, I just have something against criminals and anybody who comes into this country illegally is a criminal and if you don't believe it, try coming into America from a foreign country without a passport and see how far you get! What disturbs me about the demonstrations is that it's tantamount to saying, "I am going to come into your country even if it means breaking your laws and there's nothing you can do about it." It's an in your face action and speaking just for me, I don't like it one little bit and if there were a half a dozen pairs of gonads in Washington bigger than English peas it wouldn't be happening!
Where are you, you bunch of lilly livered, pantywaist, forked tongue, sorry excuses for defenders of The Constitution? Have you been drinking the water out of the Potomac again? And even if you pass a bill on immigration it will probably be so port laden and watered down that it won't mean anything anyway. Besides, what good is another law going to do when you won't enforce the ones on the books now? And whatever happened to the polls, guys? I thought you folks were the quintessential finger wetters. Well you sure ain't paying any attention to the polls this time because somewhere around 80% of Americans want something done about this mess, and mess it is and getting bigger every day.
This is no longer a problem, it is a dilemma and headed for being a tragedy! Do you honestly think that what happened in France with the Muslims can't happen here when the businesses who hire these people finally fun out of jobs and a few million disillusioned Hispanics take to the streets? If you, Mr. President, Congressmen and Senators, Knuckle under on this and refuse to do something meaningful it means that you care nothing for the kind of country your children and grandchildren will inherit. But I guess it doesn't matter as long as you get re-elected. Shame on you.
One of the big problems in America today is that if you have the nerve to say anything derogatory about any group of people (except Christians) you are going to be screamed at by the media and called a racist, a bigot, and anything else they can think of to call you. Well, I've been pounded by the media before and I'm still rockin' and rollin' and when it comes to speaking the truth, I fear not. And the truth is that the gutless, milksop politicians are just about to sell out the United States of America because they don't have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to face reality. And reality is that we would never allow any other group of people to have 12 million illegals in this country and turn around and say, "Oh, it's ok. Ya'll can stay here if you'll just allow us to slap your wrist."
And I know that some of you who read this column are saying, "Well, what's wrong with that?" I'll tell you what's wrong with it. These people could be from Mars as far as we know. We don't know who they are, where they are, or what they're up to and the way the Congress is going we're not going to.
Does this make sense? Labor force you say? We already subsidize corporate agriculture as it is. Must we subsidize their labor as well?
If these people were from Haiti would we be so fast to turn a blink eye to them or if they were from Somalia or Afghanistan? I think not!
All the media shows us are pictures of hard working Hispanics who have crossed the border just to try to better their life. They don't show you pictures of the Feds rounding up members of MS 13, the violent gang who came across the same way the other folks did. They don't tell you about the living conditions of the Mexican illegals some fat cat hired to pick his crop.
I want to make two predictions:
No. 1: This situation is going to grow and fester until it erupts in violence on our streets while the wimps in Washington drag their toes in the dirt and try to figure how many tons of political hay they can make to the acre.
No. 2: Somebody is going to cross the border with some kind of weapon of mass destruction and set it off in a major American city - after which there will be a backlash such as this country has never experienced! And, the Capitol building in Washington will probably tilt as Congressmen and Senators rush to the other side of the issue.
I don't know about you, but I would love to see just one major politician stand up and say, "I don't care who I make mad and I don't care how many votes I lose, this is a desperate situation and I'm going to lead the fight to get it straightened out."
I don't blame anybody for wanting to come to America, but if you don't respect our immigration laws why should you respect others?
And by the way, this is America and our flag has stars and stripes. Please get that other one out of my face!
Pray for our troops!
What do you think?

God Bless America
Charlie Daniels
April 19, 2006

Pretty strong words, eh? I tend to agree. If the first thing you do is step in our country illegally, you've started on the wrong foot. How much respect does that show? With the statistics above, it's no wonder we have some of the national financial problems we do. These illegals cost our country $70 billion in 1997 and think what it costs us 9 years later as the problem has just gotten worse.

I've heard a lot of ideas and that's all well and good, but nobody is solving the problem today. We had a chance to but our politicians would rather have an issue for this year's midterm election. It's nice that people want to offer solutions, but the fact is that we don't have any solution currently but one. That solution is to enforce our laws. It does seem that it is starting to be done in some areas, but we need a united national effort to enforce the law. Yes, it's great to talk about changing the law, but we are wasting our breath at the time and the energy would be better spent enforcing what laws we have on the books.

I've also heard people come up with some various ideas to defend the illegal aliens that are here. I find it a slippery slope to defend criminals and criminal behavior no matter what you think of current laws. You can't defend criminal behavior successfully.

Here are the only two things we can do currently:
1. Enforce our existing laws vigorously.
2. Persuade our politicians to change the laws as we think they ought to be. If you don't like the law, don't break it or encourage or support those that do. Persuade others who feel the same way as you to vote for the politicians that will do what you would like them to.

That's all we can do. There is nothing else that can be done at this time. No need to waste time and energy on anything else, but those two options.

I vote conservative as I believe in the values and dreams of the founders of this country. If you agree, vote the same way.

Two Weekends In A Row

2006-05-01T20:22:00.000-05:00

It was so cool having my daughters up two weekends in a row. I was supposed to have them for Easter weekend, but since they were in Florida I just got to see them Easter day. The weekend after Easter was the best. We spent most of Saturday outside. We rode bikes, grilled out, played dodgeball, Paige got a motorcycle ride, and we even raked leaves. Derek joined us for most of that day and ran the grill. It was a blast all weekend. I made taco salad on Sunday and we had homemade chocolate shakes each day. This last weekend it rained outside, but we still were able to grill out on Saturday. We ate indoor and played games and watched movies. It was still great fun.

It looks like the oldest has a band concert next Monday so I hope to attend that. It will be her second this school year and I'm anxious to hear how her sax playing has progressed.

In other news, it looks like Def Leppard and Journey are adding Ames to their concert schedule in September. Looks like I'm seeing that tour twice this year. It looks like I may see more shows this year than last by far! Keep checking back for reviews!

Softball Season Off To A Decent Start

2006-04-25T19:48:00.000-05:00

Well, as disorganized as our softball team seems to be, we are off to a decent start. Thankfully, this year the church league was divided into lower and upper leagues. Since our summer season put us in the lower half of the standings, we will be a winning team simply due to the competition we face. Hopefully, things will be better organized soon and we will actually have some practices and set lineups. We've had one actual hitting practice and certainly need more. I'm hoping we can get two practices in before we play next week on Thursday. I'm not the coach this year, but pitching the second game of each double header.

Some of the problems this year stem from Spring starting late. We haven't had the best weather to get out and have practices. We should have started practicing a month ago on any good day we could. The season also crept up on the coaches. It has been on the website for quite some time as to how things will go this season, but I'm not sure they visit the site. We have enough players that we should have also had two complete teams entered this year. This would have allowed the players who want to compete to gather on one team and the ones that want to play for fun on the other. Last year the church paid for the season so nobody had an investment into the outcome of the games during the summer season. This year they are asking that we pay for it ourselves in addition to only playing half the games. That's a nutty idea, but most people went along with it. It's my hope that the church does kick in the money and reimburses us for this. For the fall season, that should be for the competitive players and we will be glad to pay for it since we are going to play for a trophy.

At least we are winning. I umpired the first game last Thursday as we won 16-9. I pitched the second game and recorded several strikeouts, which was great, but surprising. I went 0-4 at bat hitting only one where I wanted to, but it was caught by a very fast shortstop. All four were caught in the air. I'm sure batting practice will put me back into form as I had the highest batting average in the fall season last year. We lost that game 9-1 against a team that isn't really that good. We just weren't hitting. We won both games last night. I umpired the first game and we lost by two, 8-6. Again I pitched the second game which we won 10-6. I was 2-3 at bat since they batted me 10th. I'm not sure why you put your most consistent person who gets on base at the bottom of the lineup. Maybe it was due to the performance last week, but it still stung. Hopefully, these things will be straightened out soon and some consistency will creep in. At least we are in the easy win division and should finish in first.

Freakin' Cars

2006-04-20T00:21:00.000-05:00

More car woes. Is this a pattern, or what? I left work Monday evening and headed south to softball practice. I'm in the right hand lane of a four lane road with plenty of room in front of me and plenty of room behind me. To my left, there were several cars stopping for someone to make a left hand turn. I'm not sure if someone stopped too soon or what but this young girl felt the need to swerve into my lane to avoid rear ending someone. I was just almost right next to her as she did this and I had to dive for the curb to avoid her. I hit that curb hard, swerved back into my lane and a bit in front of the person turning, straightened out the car and pulled into the nearest gas station. I jumped out of the car furious and looked back up the street. The girl who forced me off the road saw me look her direction and then pulled into the right lane and came down to where I had stopped. She got out and apologized right away. I was so ticked that I didn't even acknowledge her except to ask her if she had an insurance card. From what I gathered over the next half hour she was driving a car for her dad that he had just worked on back to him. Her dad pulled into the lot just minutes behind us. I used his cell to call in the claim and got all of their information. Fortunately, the car runs fine. It looks like it just needs passenger side wheels, tires, and hubcaps. It also feels like it needs an alignment. They better have it done tomorrow as I need it after work. I'm still ticked that this sort of thing keeps happening to me no matter what car I own. It's happened to every single vehicle that I've ever owned.

I got into a conversation through e-mail about my misfortune owning a car. I surprised myself with my thinking, but I'm not sure what it means. Here are some quotes. Mine are in red and my friend's comments are in blue.

"This unexpected type of stuff just grates on my nerves as I'm sure it does yours. Wouldn't it be nice if that stuff just didn't happen to us? You'd think that life could roll right along just fine without these minor inconveniences. It's not like we learn any great lesson that will change our lives from it. All it does is cost us the time and money. Those types of things do make me frustrated with whatever God has in store for me. All the time and money I would have saved at this point in my life sure would be nice to have. All these things do is try my patience a bit and make me realize that being very wealthy would take care of any of those costs. It's still a waste of time and money, but if the money was provided in abundance I think it wouldn't tick me off so much."

"As for these things we should be learning from all the inconveniences of life...I think you answered that one yourself" She highlighted my words "frustrated", "try my patience", and "it wouldn't tick me off so much". "Just in case you didn't get the point...God just MIGHT be saying...TRUST ME...take a breath...calm down...and TRUST ME!"

"And what does patience bring? We have no choice but to be patient. There isn't any other choise we have in the matter so patience isn't learned; it's demanded. Is it wrong to be frustrated that it seems like God picks on me occasionally when it comes to having a perfectly running vehicle for any length of time? Is God really trying to tell me that I shouldn't have a car or something? That would be ridiculous. Is He trying to tell me anything at all relaing to me constantly having these stupid inconveniences that ONLY waste my time and money? There isn't anything to learn. There is no great lesson. There is simply no reason behind this stuff whatsoever. That's the stupid part I wish God would just leave me alone about. These stupid little minor things are things that I don't need, want, or require in my life and I wish He'd just cut it out. Yes, that's how frustrated I get. I know He's involved in my life so why would He allow such stupid things to happen when I have other things, more important things, to do? We get along great when He stays out of my transportation issues. Just let the freakin' car run, keep people and animals away from me, and I will take care of the maintenance. Sheesh. It's like it's too much to ask or something. Shouldn't prayer be used for more important things than struggling with God to just let me have a car that works every day, all the time, without inconvenience? It's not like I'm asking for billions of dollars, even though I do ask for that, too. I'm a simple guy who just needs a car to run since this world requires it."

"Maybe the lesson is to be THANKFUL for the blessings you DO have rather than gripe about the inconveniences...who knows...maybe in the midst of all this, you just might meet the "Ms. Right" that you have been looking for...she might be the secretary at a garage that you have not used before or maybe even the mechanic...(now THAT would be a blessing!!)

Now...as for "the stupid part that I wish God would just leave me alone about" I think you might be a bit misguided...GOD is not bugging you...GOD is getting you through it...SATAN on the other hand is the master at being a pain in the butt...make sure you focus your frustration at the right entity! You can curse Satan - even aloud - and he has no choice but to back off - especially if you mean it...God wants you to stand WITH Him, not against Him!

You asked a question in your ranting but unfortunately you asked the wrong one...You asked, "why would He allow such stupid things to happen when I have other things, more important things, to do?" The problem is this...WHERE IS YOUR FOCUS?? I know I'm preaching, but let me tell you something from experience...what you deem as important may not be what GOD is considering important. Now, don't go ruffling your feathers, because I AM NOT saying that your girls are not important. They SHOULD be the most important thing in your life after God...but as for all the other "more important things" you might want to evaluate if they are really as important as you make them out to be. Maybe God wants you to carpool for a bit...could be that there is someone He wants you to talk to...maybe someone needs you to help THEM to see HIM...have you recently asked God what important things He wants you to do for HIM??? Get out of your self centered "ME" mode and go at this with a different point of view...I bet you find something much better than "woe is me...I have car problems again" to look at!

"Funny thing is that I'd have more to be thankful for if these things didn't waste my time and money. And I won't be remarrying...not even a girl in a garage.

Satan doesn't move cars ni front of me and neither does God. When these things happen, God does allow it. Satan plays mind games and he's a loser that can't control physical things like that. I know who makes the world spin. Shoot, God didn't need to enter into this gamve of the Human Race with Satan. He could have just spoke it and Satan would have been gone. God created the angels so He can take that away, too. It's not like He had to create this place to put Satan in his place.

As for what is important, yes, I get to determine that. It's called free will and God gave that to us. Yes, my focus was getting to sofball practice quickly and safely. That didn't happen and it wasn't due to my focus on anything. Transportation is ONLY important for my girls and my job. That's it. I don't need it for anything else and I don't even need it for most concerts I go to. I get to pick the imporant things and I've deemed that it is VERY important that my car run any time I use it. There isn't any carpool for me to join; it's the inconvenience of getting rides from roommates. I can talk to them any time without having to have car trouble to do it. The last mechanic I got in touch with ripped me off and cost me the last car I had so there wasn't anything to learn there.

I am allowed to be and don't mind being self centered. It's a good life. Seriously. Also, I have asked God what the deal is with all this and it keeps piling on at the most inconvenient times. He doesn't have any great plan for me. Just the usual be a good person, do your job, stay out of trouble, bla, bla, bla... I'm not going to be a preacher or some great singer. I'm not going overseas to do mission work. The best I can do is set an example at work, which I do try, help others, which is my job that I enjoy, and be a good dad. That's pretty much all I'm cracked up to do in this life and it's fine. Allowing me to have constant car problems isn't going to push me in any direction for ministry of any sort. I'm not bummed about not having a "greater calling". I honestly don't care and am very content in many ways.

I'm not angry about this stuff, but I can't see the sense in it and wish it would stop. I'm not doing anything wrong with the car and I'm not doing anything wrong with my money. I just could use a lot more of it. My focus is fine. My life is fine. Just leave my freakin' transportation alone already is what I'm sayin'!

Does that make sense? I'm not bitter about anything except that I wish I could have a set of wheels that runs all the time for more than just a few months. It's been this way my entire adult life since my first car. This Toyota is my baby when I bought it because I knew it would last forever for me and get great mileage. Twelve days after I buy it a deer runs out in the road. Now a car swerves in front of me. I have done anything to deserve these stupid, stupid things."

"That was a PASSIONATE if not extremely LOGICAL view of life...You have such apathy...you really are bigger and better than you give yourself credit for...and I still say there IS a reason for your troubles...

I must say, I have never met anyone who was quite so content in their discontentment as you seem to be. By that I mean you are very happy to "verbalize" your frustrations...however directed I may think they are."

"Actually, I'm past middle age and don't expect to make it much past 50. That's just how Sites men are. My dad's generation is the first to make it past 60. My body is breaking down in a similar fashion to dad's. Unless I have a good woman keeping me healthy by encouraging me to get to a doctor (that means scheduling the appointment and making sure I get there) then I will be as lazy as I already am. Is it weird that the only thing I feel like I'm alive to do is see my girls every other weekend?

No, it's not a pity party. It's just a statement of fact that this is how my life is and as long as I have my (TV) shows and the occasional concerts that get me from week to week to see my girls, I'm content. It's weird how I went from wanting to save the world as a baseball player to trying to save the world as a rock singer to not caring if the world is saved or not as long as my girls are ok. Low expectations? Maybe. If so, then why the stupid disappointments of the automobile? HAHA!! When someone can answer that to my satisfaction, then I'm good."

It's an interesting view I found myself typing out yesterday. I'm not sure how much is bulls*** and how much is BS (me). It's still something I'm sorting through. The mind is a terrible thing...

Disneyland Trip

2006-04-16T22:35:00.000-05:00

My daughters arrived back last night from their first visit to Disneyland. They actually spent a whole week in Florida at Daytona Beach and one of those days was Disneyland. I was able to see them today for a few hours. They showed me a few small entries they made in their journals about their trip. They also showed me some new outfits they bought. We cleaned off their sea shells. We played catch and they each took a turn hitting a softball in the yard. They had apparently had time this morning to make cinnamon rolls so I got to have one of them.

Apparently they spent most of their vacation swimming. They did do some sight seeing. It sounds like they had a lot of fun. I hope they get their pictures developed this week so I can see them this coming weekend.

I was really kind of hesitant about the whole trip even though I was very excited for them. The trip wasn't made with a parent, but two aunts. That never happened in my family growing up. It's one thing to visit family for a few days or grandparents for a week, but to let aunts take your kids to another state via airplane is a bit unsettling. It's not that they aren't responsible. It just seems weird to me since it never would have happened in my family. My family is very close, but a trip like that is something parents take their kids on. That's my opinion, but it may have changed a bit since this trip went so well.

The girls missed me, which felt good. I will be glad to have them visit the next two weekends in a row.

Firehouse In Cedar Rapids, IA

2006-04-09T11:24:00.000-05:00

Last night was the first time I've seen Firehouse as a headliner. I know they have been in the area before with their own club show, but this is the first I've seen of it. I've always seen Firehouse as an opening band, whether it be on the Rock Never Stops tour with Quiet Riot, Slaughter, and Warrant or twice last year with Quiet Riot, Ratt, and Cinderella or at Waterstock 2004. The closest I'd seen them do a full set was Waterstock.

I went with a friend named Bonnie. She is the one that took those great Rock Never Stops pics in Cedar Rapids last year. When we arrived before 7:30, I expected us to pay $20 to get in per ticket. There was a married couple behind us with a tall friend. The tall friend had won two free tickets in a radio giveaway and didn't have anyone using them. She heard that Bonnie and I didn't have tickets and was nice enough to give them to us. I offered cash for them, but she just said to buy them each a beer. That was VERY cool, and they are getting these pictures today via e-mail.

Last night did not disappoint at all and they even through in a drum solo. Firehouse has always been the most professional band I've ever seen. They have the tightest sound and make sure they have a blend as close to the CD as possible. They kicked the show off with Helpless from their first CD and rocked right into Love Is A Dangerous Thing. They seemed a little surprised at how packed this tiny club was, but very appreciative to everyone. They did the harmony for All She Wrote and the crowd really got into singing along on this one. I was anxious to hear some of the new tunes and they kicked right into my favorite, Crash, followed by Holdin' On, which has such an eerie, yet catchy chorus. CJ Snare didn't miss a note and sang his backside off. Bill was just Mr. Cool on the guitar, shredding when he needed to and holding the rhythm and melody when the song called for it.

CJ moved behind the keyboard for When I Look Into Your Eyes. Yes, this song is on Monster Ballads, which he pointed out to us. Trying To Make A Living was a welcome addition to this night since I haven't heard them do this one before. I always like to hear something that I didn't expect. Door To Door from the new CD was another new song and I hadn't heard them do this live, either. Great song!

It was about this time in the set that we had a little trouble nearby up by the stage. There were a couple of great looking girls that were elbowing their way to the left and trying to move the ladies next to them. It turns out that one of them was nursing a broken collarbone, so this was not acceptible behavior at all. Security thankfully moved them out. Yes, they were eye candy, but must have thought they were high and mighty because of it.

The band kicked back into rockin' mode wtih Shake And Tumble and followed that up with Allen on bass and lead vocal for Highway To Hell. I hope they do another live CD sometime with this on it. The crowd went nuts and sang every word along with him. They rocked into Overnight Sensation with CJ coming out from behind the keys to get the crowd into this one. It's not like he had to try as everyone was packed tight and jamming right along.

They mellowed out to Love Of A Lifetime briefly before rocking out with Reach For The Sky and Don't Treat Me Bad. There was no way in this club to do the typical encore thing, so they just played right through. Great set, sound, and they pleased everyone who turned out. I think there was a bigger turnout for this than Stephen Pearcy's Metal In America two months ago.

I do have to take a moment to mention Michael's drum solo. He did what the great drummers do during a solo. He got the crowd into the rhythms. He didn't just show off some technical expertise and keep changing beats on us. He made sure we were clapping along at several parts during the solo. He didn't make it so long we got bored, but kept it just the right length to entertain us all. At the end of it, he was standing up and beating on those drums. Great job by a truly great drummer.

We were able to meet the band after the show at their meet and greet table. During the show, I lifted up my signed Prime Time CD cover and CJ grabbed it to show everyone the new CD was available and he commented that since mine was signed, it looked like I'd been to a show before. He said he'd mention more later in the set as to how to get everyone else's signed, too. We joked around at the table with Allen about the socks on the last Cedar Rapids stop, Mike about being a moose fighter (see Steph's blog for that picture), CJ about drinking more than what he had in his Aquafina bottle, and I mentioned that Bill seemed to be the only sober one at the last stop of Rock Never Stops. Bill quickly put that to rest as he admitted he just hid it better. It was great laughing with the guys while they were signing the set lists I got and a few of my CD covers since I took them all.

I know Firehouse gets a rap as an 80's hair band, but their debut came out in 1990. They have been able to make a living as musicians because they are professional, they make sure to meet anyone that wants to meet them, and they keep putting out great quality songs. I've got every CD and will buy every other one they put out, too. Get out and support these guys and keep buying new music from your favorite artists. Don't get stuck on just their old material. Bands like Firehouse really do this because they have an inborn need to do so and they will keep it up as long as we make it viable. I can't stress enough to get out and support these bands.

Concert Season

2006-04-07T07:51:00.000-05:00

So many shows are coming up. It seems like it's going to be a better year than last for shows. There are some big tours happening and I'm hopeful to see more than last year. One addition to the bands I'm a fan of is a band my roommate considers his favorite...Live. I know Live had a few decent songs, but I'm not a post grunge type of guy. My roommate is a dozen years younger than I so it's his era. I'm going to go, though. He just received the tickets yesterday for the show on May 17th in Kansas City. I did sing a couple of their songs when performing with the band Weatherhead from KC. Live isn't bad so it will be interesting to see if this show makes me a bigger fan like Nine Inch Nails did.

I also have one major disappointment this year. The Poison tour is going to be in KC on July 22. It's great that it's on a Saturday night, but I'm spending that weekend with my family over on the St. Louis side of Mizzou and I will be at Journey/Def Leppard with my daughters on the 21st. I can't see having time to slip away on Saturday to go to KC for this show. I wish it was the following weekend or something. So if I'm going to miss that show, which I haven't since the tours started back up several years ago, then I'm going to try to see Poison 3 times the opening week of the tour. They will be at Steamboat Days in Burlington, here in Des Moines on June 17th, and in Sioux Falls on the 18th. Yes, that's one end of the state to the other for Poison. I've seen them twice on a tour the last tour they did before opening for Kiss, but this wll be the first year I've seen them 3 times on one tour. Now if I can just pull that off...

I'm very much looking forward to Waterstock this year and I'm going to get a top tier ticket, if I can, to run around backstage. Lazer didn't provide an autograph tent last year so I'm glad to have gotten the signatures and pictures that I did. This year, I hope to get them all and meet each member of Poison, if possible.

I'm surprised the Journey/Def Leppard tour isn't coming to Iowa, but thankful that I can take my girls to the show in St. Louis. That will be fun even if we are sitting on the lawn.

You'll see the reviews of each show I hit and all the pictures fit to print. Keep checking back as I should have reviews of Jackyl and Firehouse up this weekend.

Bad Timing

2006-04-04T22:00:00.000-05:00

Have you ever run into someone at a certain point in your life that would be perfect for you...if they weren't already involved? It's frustrating when you both want it so bad, but know in your head it's not the right thing to do. I have a friend in that situation. It's certainly bad timing, but I can see where if both parties were single that it could be a wonderful thing.

It makes me wonder...is there only one person that you run into in your life who is what some term a "soul-mate"? I used to think there was that one special person you'd run across in your life and then you were out of luck if that didn't work out. I met the one girl I thought was my "soul-mate" (a term I'm hating more and more since it just logically doesn't make sense) when I was attending OCC. I would not have returned for the second semester if I hadn't met CLM. I was only with her for about a year with some time off a couple times in there. It just seemed like we were destined to be together with certain coincidences and other things that the relationship brought about. I was absolutely crushed and filled with guilt when it ended. There just seemed to be a connection that I can't explain. I wonder if I will ever experience that again in my life. At my age it does seem a bit hopeless, though.

I'm not sad about that, but a little wistful. It's not something I dwell on, but I do question it on occasion. The heart is a crazy thing and it does tend to get in the way of the brain. I would love to experience that specific rush of emotion again sometime in my life. Someday?

Daughter Duet

2006-04-02T23:50:00.000-05:00

I got to see my daughters sing together for the first time at their mom's church tonight. My girls are really learning to sing and I think Brittany is really showing a lot of growth in her sense of pitch. I think it stems from her saxophone playing this year. Paige has always had her own style and a great tone. Both of them sound so good together.

Growing up, my lil brothers and I did a lot of singing. We started piano when I was 5 and really took off from there. We learned harmonies from singing tenor, alto, and bass parts. It was a natural blend and we sang together on up through high school. I'm hopeful that my daughters get to experience that as they grow up, too.

More Friends

2006-04-02T09:31:00.000-05:00

I put up a My Space site (www.myspace.com/bigdaddylonghair) recently which just has some things copied from here. One benefit of it is that I keep in touch with some bands better since they post on there more frequently. I've also made some new aquaintences with that site. I hope to meet some of them at the concerts I hit.

I've also had some luck in the last year running into old friends. Sites like the Name Database and Classmates have been quite handy in that regard. Just met up with a friend from about 17 years ago this morning.

E-mail, blogging, chatting...it's all been great meeting and re-meeting all of these people.

TV

2006-03-26T09:26:00.000-06:00

Here is my current TV schedule and some opinion along with it.

Sunday

This Week (I don't catch this all the time as the host seems very uninformed.)
Meet The Press (Tim is great, but the premise of his Q&A can be way off at times.)
Fox News Sunday (Best of the Sunday morning shows and the Q&A can really point out the refusal to answer by interviewees.)
Surreal Life (This season has CC Deville from Poison. Of course I'm tuning in!)
War At Home (Not sure if this show will make it, but it's a Bundy type of show that I enjoy.)
Cold Case (Done with some great music. It's a ficticious Unsolved Mysteries with great camera work, costumes, flashbacks, and interpersonal stories.)

Monday

How I Met Your Mother (Doogie gets the best lines, but this is a great show and I hope it has many years of success.)
Two And A Half Men (I'm surprised at what they get away with on this show, but it's just very funny!)
New Adventures Of Old Christine (I've always like Julia, and I'm not sure this is the show for her, but it's off to a decent start. I wonder if they will give it time to grow.)
CSI: Miami (I'm a CSI fan and this is getting close to as good as the original.)
The Apprentice (I've caught each season and the appeal for me is realizing that these "highly educacated" people really aren't any smarter than I am in most cases. There are some good ones that win, though.)
WWE Monday Night RAW (I don't catch this all the time, but I'll always be a wresting fan.)
Rollergirls (This show is over, but I enjoyed it as a combination reality series and you got to follow the season a bit with it. The show usually culminated in highlights of a derby.)

Tuesday

The Unit (I watched the first three episodes in a row and this show has a great future. They not only show the missions that these guys go on, but the wives at home and how they cope. Great new show that should get a chance.)
Nashville Star (I'm not a country music fan, but I started watching due to Bret Michaels hosting last season. It's American Idol with more talent since these contestants get to play an instrument and showcase an original tune if they make it far enough. Yes, it's country, so it isn't always the greatest music, but there is still more talent here. This year they are having guest judges instead of Bret since Poison will be touring.)
American Idol (I jumped on the bandwagon last season. I'm not sure why, but I have found myself actually enjoying this show.)
According To Jim (Funny stuff! Yea, it's a no brainer sitcom like many that have preceded it, but that's a good quality.)
Rodney (Another no brainer, but this show has yet to find its footing. I'm not sure it's going to get that chance, but I enjoy it.)
Joey (This one may be over, too, but I'm going to miss all of my Friends.)
Related (I think this show is over, but I sure hope not. Great stories from 4 lovely sisters lives. Yea, I watched because they are hot.)
Commander In Chief (I hope this returns to the air. Geena and Donald are so fantastic in their dynamics. There are so many great stories going on and I'd love to see how these characters change and grow.)

Wednesday

George Lopez (Lopez has a great sense of humor. This show has grown on me over the last year.)
Freddie (I hope this show gets a long run, too. Freddie's best friend gets the best lines.)
Bones (I love the dynamic between the main characters AND the rest of the team. This show started strong and should stay this way.)
Criminal Minds (WOW!! I've never like Mandy since Chicago Hope as my ex had that show on and I couldn't stand it. Especially Lahti. She was a pain. This show does everything right for Mandy and the team. It reminds me of a great show that lasted all of a few episodes called UnSub. It must have been ahead of its time as this one really is doing well in the ratings.)
Out Of Practice (I'll always tune in to the Fonz. I'm also a fan of Chucky's Bride. She's awesome! A fun show that will get stronger the longer it's on.)
CSI: NY (Another great show with more grit than the other two. I'm learning to like these characters a lot.)
Courting Alex (I've always been a Dharma fan, but I hope this show doesn't fall off like that one did. It's a fun show to watch and it just moved to this night.)

Thursday

My Name Is Earl (Is there a funnier show on TV right now? Kharma for dummies.)
The Office (It's all about the awkward moments.)
Smallville (Superman. Need I say anything else? There hasn't been a better show about this character.)
Supernatural (Ghostbusters on a better level than pure comedy. There is a great family story and dynamic here.)
CSI (The original. It's still great.)
The Loop (This is a great new comedy that I hope gets a chance. The balance of work and play can be very funny.)
Without A Trace (Yes, I love these types of dramas, in case you couldn't tell already with Cold Case and the CSI shows. This one has a great team as well and a sense of urgency.)

Friday

Ghost Whisperer (It is usually a story that ends up a tear jerker, but they have a great way of getting there. They couldn't have picked a better lead for this show.)
Modern Men (This show probaby won't get a chance, but it needs one. Dr. Quinn as a personal life coach is a great idea and she's still hot. It especially works when she is doling out advice to the three guys unlucky in real love. She is sassy. Of course, the guys have a funny way of learning what she's teaching, but it's a show with some great possibilities.)
Monk (A detective with so many phobias! A really fun show.)
The Dead Zone (I didn't get into this show until the second or third season. I'm sorry I missed the early shows. Great writing and an interesting overall story arc. The seasons for this and Monk are WAY too short.)
Hope And Faith (Sisterly love. I like the writing and hope this show stays on for a few years, but I'm sure they will yank it.)

Saturday

Has everyone given up on great TV for Saturday nights? Saturdays are my day to play catch up with my DVR.

Other shows I watch!

E-Ring (I hope this one returns in the fall, too. Dennis Hopper is great on this!)
Surface (Please don't let this show be done! Their world just changed with a great flood!)
Beauty And The Geek (Should be back again next year. Fun show that can be a real eye opener for some.)
Simple Life (Paris and Nicole are hot!)
The Real Gilligan's Island (I'm not sure why I like this show since I can't stand Survivor, but it's done with some fun stuff related to a show I grew up on.)
Blue Collar Comedy (This one needs to be back on the air. These comedians are great fun and I would think that it should be doing some great ratings.)
Last Comic Standing (I was disappointed to hear that Jay may not be hosting the upcoming season, but I'm all for great jokes so I want to see who the up and comers are.)

I'm very disappointed in the networks over the last several years. They may put a show on once and then cancel it wtihout giving it a chance. Jake In Progress is a good show that was brought back for one more episode and canned. It looks like they did that with Joey, too. Why not leave a show on for a full season and see how it works the kinks out? Seinfeld turned into a great show and was given a couple years to really achieve greatness. I would think it would be a waste of time and effort and money to cancel a show after one to three airings. Eyes was a phenominal show that should still be on and it got canned before people could tune in. How many of these shows have to fall through the cracks in the pursuit of an immediate dollar? I would implore the networks to quit wasting our time and theirs and give every new show a chance without moving it around constantly and looking for an immediate fix. We need time to get to know the characters before we can truly enjoy a show in most cases. Give us that chance.

Immigration

2006-03-26T08:20:00.000-06:00

I'm surprised at the protests lately over ILLEGAL aliens in this country. I firmly believe this country has been given it's success from LEGAL immigrants. I also firmly believe that this country is facing some financial difficulties due to ILLEGAL immigrants. There is a LEGAL way of becoming a citizen and working in this country and it's a slap in the face to those wonderful people when we allow ILLEGAL aliens to live and work in this country.

Why am I highlighting the words LEGAL and ILLEGAL? There is a right way and a wrong way according to our existing laws as to visiting and working in our great country. We should encourage the LEGAL way and strongly discourage the ILLEGAL way just by enforcing the laws that currently exist. If you believe the law should be changed, then do it by voting for those legislators and those measures that allow the law to change in a LEGAL fashion.

With the security problems, financial problems, and other problems ILLEGAL aliens bring on this great country, enforcing the law is the only thing that makes sense. Thank you to all citizens and future citizens of this country who have come through the LEGAL way and please know that we welcome you and are thankful you want to contribute to such a great country.

Motorcycle Accident

2006-03-20T10:43:00.000-06:00

I had a minor motorcycle accident last night. One roommate has an old 1972 Honda and we were riding it around the neighborhood. I'd been just making single laps around a couple blocks with nothing above 3rd gear since it's an old bike and it's probably been 15 years since I've done any riding. It was pretty fun to do. It's only a 100CC motor so it's not very big, but it's a fun bike to play around on. There are a couple of things about it that help you realize it's old, such as the accelerator sticking a lot and the gears can be a bit sensitive when going into second or better.

I decided to take a second lap as I came back around the driveway and made it to the bottom of the hill two blocks away before having trouble. I thought I was downshifting from 3rd to 2nd to make the turn, but it was apparently downshifting from 4th to 3rd. As I let off the clutch to come out into what I thought was second, I was braking for the turn as I'd done several times already, but the accelerator got stuck and it lurched out from under me. I slid on the left side and the front wheel slid under a parked pickup. Thankfully, it didn't touch the pickup. I skinned up the back of my left hand and felt a tremendous stinging pain on my left knee as I got up. There was a huge hole in my jeans and when I examined closer after limping up the hill to the house, I went a couple layers deep in the skin of the knee. My knee is bruised pretty good and skinned up, but I'm ok. Thankfully, it's a small bike and I was only going about 20 MPH into the slide. It could have been much worse.

The bike suffered a broken left turn signal that may be able to be superglued back on and a screw came out that my roommates found on the road. Both of them said they hadn't ran that fast in quite some time as they came running down the hill after the accident. I was surprised my smoking roommate even made it down the hill without stopping to choke out some air for a while. :) Good guys and they made sure it wasn't a serious accident.

This isn't my first motorcycle accident, but the first while being in control of the bike. When I was a kid and lived in Sedalia, MO, my dad brought our family over to Charlie Brown's house. Yes, the guy's name was Charlie Brown. We were riding blue and red Honda's around his house on slightly wet grass. On one side of the house there was a barbed wire fence laying down, but we had missed it several times going around the house. On one pass we slid on the wet grass and laid the bike down on this fence. I still have the small scars on my right arm from that one, but there were no stitches involved.

It could have been worse, but thankfully it wasn't. I'll be back on there when the knee swelling goes down soon!

Waterstock 2006

2006-03-18T14:31:00.000-06:00

According to the tour dates for Quiet Riot at www.kevindubrow.com Waterstock will feature Poison, Cinderella, Whitesnake, and Quiet Riot. I'm not entirely sure of this, but Kevin Dubrow is cool enough in my book to take his word for it. There is also RUMOR that this will be the Poison tour lineup, but there is also some contradiction on this at www.metalsluge.tv at the Original Gossip Board where there are claims an unknown up and coming band will be the only opener for Cinderella and Poison. Hopefully we will have some answers VERY soon! I will be at Waterstock regardless and I will catch Poison a few times on this tour as well.

Everybody's Working For The Weekend

2006-03-18T09:54:00.000-06:00

I'm thankful for the people that work weekends when I need something, but I do not like working weekends. Thankfully, I have a job that only requires this about once every six months. I firmly believe that weekends are for relaxation, but I'm glad that retail places are open so I can get what little shopping I do done.

I actually remember the days when businesses were closed on Sundays. Restaurants opened so you could take your family out to dinner or people from church would gather for dinner with you. You could go to the grocery store between noon and 5pm, too. Everything else was closed. It was great knowing this because you had a day just to do nothing but spend with friends and family.

Now everyone feels they have to do business every single day of the week and it has helped ruin a lot of families and taken away from the values many of us hold dear. I'm grateful for the Fareway grocery store that closes for Sunday. I'm grateful for the financial institutions that close on Sunday and keep short days if they are open at all on Saturdays. I'm hopeful that it's still possible for our country to get back to that sort of thing. There are more important things than working 7 days a week.

Just a quick story from where I currently work. There was a guy that called the Help Desk for assistance on an early Saturday afternoon. He happend to get someone who was on-call at their home to help him out. While the on-call person was logging on to his laptop, he asked where the caller was from. This caller was from California and started describing what a beautiful day it was. Our on-call person asked him what he was doing indoors on such a beautiful day when he could be enjoying a day like that with his family. Before our on-call person could finish logging in, the caller said the on call person was right and he said to forget the assistance because he was going to go enjoy the day as suggested. At least he was able to realize that his priorities were out of whack and he straightened them out.

Will the rest of the country ever realize this? Is there a petition we can sign to bring back the blue law?

The Cult In Minneapolis, MN

2006-03-17T00:00:00.000-06:00

I was in pure Les Paul guitar bliss at the Cult show at First Avenue last night. Billy Duffy gets the most perfect sound out of that guitar of his. It's my favorite sound in the world.

Three of us left for Minneapolis from work at noon yesterday. We got out of town before 2pm and made great time getting to our hotel and in the room before 6pm. We had heard there was a Hard Rock Cafe across the street from First Avenue so we decided to make it our dining stop. We headed out, figured out where both places were and paid for our parking. As we got a block away from the parking lot, the guy with the tickets realized that HE LEFT THE TICKETS AT THE HOTEL!! What a friend! We hopped back in the car, drove the 6 blocks to the hotel and made him run up to the 4th floor to retrieve the tickets. He put us about 30 minutes behind. Fortunately, the lady at the parking lot remembered us and let us in without paying again.

The Hard Rock is a pretty cool place. I've never been to one before so I was checking out the walls to see what souvenirs they had. There were guitars from Bon Jovi, Steven Tyler, and Bono on the wall as well as drum heads, gold and silver records, and even a shirt and vest from Bob Dylan. The food was expensive, but good. I had the pulled pork (I've been in the mood for barbecue a lot lately! Maybe it's my anxiousness for summer.) and even had the Chocolate Peanut Butter Sundae for dessert. I'm kind of wishing I had some extra cash for a souvenir, but I think I'll probably see some more shows there since it is closer than Kansas City. Oh, and Minneapolis really looks like a city, as opposed to Des Moines.

We got to the venue in time to chill out, literally, for a while before letting us in at 8pm. It was VERY cold since they had just had a blizzard that shut some things down a few days before. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground. We were early enough to get FRONT AND CENTER for this Cult show. They were also recording it live as part of the Instant Live CD's that you can purchase after the show. I had to have this since it was only $25.

The show itself was great. There was no opening band so The Cult went on at 9:15pm to a packed house. This is the venue that Prince filmed Purple Rain in so it is a decent sized club with a nice stage and some great history. We heard the strains of A Clockwork Orange and then the band came out to L'il Devil. The rocked right through Sweet Soul Sister, the Witch, and Peace Dog before Ian had much to say in between songs. He chastised some of the guys for not rocking out as hard as the two girls next to us in front of the stage. It didn't take long for the band to really look like they were having fun and really feeding off the energy of the crowd and it only picked up steam as the show went on. The set consisted of the following:

L'il Devil
Sweet Soul Sister
The Witch
Peace Dog
Revolution
Spiritwalker
In The Clouds
Wonderland
Brother Wolf
Gone
Rise
Rain
Fire Woman
Wildflower
War

The first encore was:

Edie (acoustic)
Electric Ocean
Sanctuary

The second encore:

Love Removal Machine

The intensity of the show spilled over into a stage diver late in the set, but seemed to be at its height during Fire Woman. There were several highlights such as their bass player Chris playing an electric upright bass, the acoustic beginning to their encore with Edie, and the sense of humor both Billy and Ian displayed when talking to us between songs. They were grateful for the large turnout and really seemed to be running on all 8 cylinders during this show. The band was tight with rhythms grooving by John Tempesta and Chris and the awesome crunch and color of Billy's playing.

After the show, we hung out a bit to get our Instant Live CD's and see if we might get some autographs. As I was heading for the restroom, I happened to see Ian signing some things by the stage. I ran back to get one of the friends and we all 3 got autographs from Ian and Billy and got a few words to them of gratitude for putting on such a great show and looking toward the future with new music. I told one of the friends that I had to get the drumstick that John tossed me signed before we left. As we headed outside to see if Johnny T. was on the bus, this particular friend though we had no chance of meeting Tempesta, but then got shocked when we met the tour manager and he led us back into the venue through the back to find JT. We couldn't find him inside so the manager tried calling JT's cell phone. After not getting an answer, he told us that eventually JT had to come out to the bus so we were welcome to hang around until then. My negative friend still hung outside waiting, but was about to give up as I headed back to the front of the venue. As I was walking to the building John Tempesta happened to be walking toward me. He saw that I had his drumstick and I struck up conversation with him about the show. He stopped and my friends came running up to get their CD's signed. Once we finished visiting with John, it was time to head back to the hotel. Rock N Roll Mission Accomplished!

We were rocked by a band I have always liked, but have never been a huge fan of. Now I'm a much bigger fan and will see them any time they are in the area. They are great guys with good humor and really enjoy what they are doing. It's infectious in a good way. Check them out on tour when you have the opportunity and get the Instant Live CD so you can relive your memory any time. We checked mine out in the car on the way back from Minnesota today and it was a great quality recording of last night's show. Hopefully these guys will get some new music out soon and keep making things fresh and new with new tours as well.

March 11 Update

2006-03-11T07:52:00.000-06:00

I have the girls here a second weekend in a row. I had to trade due to working on a Saturday next week, which doesn't happen often. It looks like it's going to be a great weekend and the girls are anxious to do something outdoors. I've been sick with a sinus infection or something the last couple weeks, but I'm up for anything when they are here.

I purchased Petra's Farewell DVD, which just came out this week. It's only $10!! I'm watching it now and I can't wait to get to the medley's when former Petra members join them on stage. Now if only they'd put all the other Petra videos on DVD...

There are some CD's I just can't get out of my system lately. I've recommended Crashdiet and Hardcore Superstar before and still highly recommend them. I'm adding a few to the mix, though. Billy Idol's Devil's Playground is a great CD that doesn't get old. It's fresh and a little edgier than some of his older stuff. Superchick's Beauty From Pain is a fun CD. I have it in when the girls are in the car. They also enjoy, as I do, Bon Jovi's Have A Nice Day. I created a 16 track version of that CD with the 3 bonus tracks from the Japanese release. One I started listening to this week is The69Eyes. I'm still not sure about that singer since he sings in a low voice like old Bowie or Type O Negative, but it fits the sound and the style is good. It's kind of a got/sleaze if there is such a thing. Warrant has a new one called Born Again coming out. I will be purchasing it when it comes out, but I have the leaked version currently. It has some great songs on it. Angels, Hell CA, and Good Times are some of my favorites and I can't wait to see them performed live.

I finally got my new phone in on Wednesday. It's one of those that works over cable internet. I can't tell any difference in the few calls I've made. It actually seems to be a little louder and clearer. Mediacom made a deal with Sprint to offer this service. I called my dad with the first call from it and then my daughters got the next call. I'm not a big phone talker, but with free long distance that could change at least a little.

I'm looking forward to The Cult concert next Wednesday. My friend Richard is a HUGE Cult fan and he is pretty pumped for it, too. It's good to attend shows with people as excited as you are. We plan on having a great time and coming back the next day. I told him I'm hoping my recent luck at shows helps him meet his idols, but we shall see. We should be down front, though!

One last thing... Check out www.godsfort.org/godtalk for some great conversations. There have been more people getting involved and you don't have to be from the church to get involved. It's free to register and maybe some of your questions can be answered or you'll make some great friends online.

The Move Is Over

2006-03-04T22:38:00.000-06:00

These last two weeks were a pretty decent move for a change. The new landlord gave us the 20th-28th at no charge to get things moved. It's so nice being able to move slowly without having to cram everything into one or two days and have boxes all over the place. Most eveything is unpacked, but there are some small things left to do. All of the big things are in place except for the basement. Everything that belongs down there is there, but needs to be arranged. I'm letting the roommates take care of that at their leisure.

The girls are here this weekend and they really like the new house. They were pretty excited about this being their first weekend at the new house. Because there is only one bathroom, there are a few habits to get used to. Thankfully, the new one has a fan! :) I still have to finish the kitchen, but I'm using the dishwasher to get everything clean before putting it away. Oh, the new place has a dishwasher, too. :)

It's interesting living next door to a nursing home and at the end of a dead end street. Parking is something to get used to. We have one long driveway that has enough room for all 4 vehicles. On weekends we are able to use the nursing home parking lot if needed. Due to differing work schedules, we have to work out this parking arrangement. The street is narrower and the neighbors across the street park in front of our house. Just a new arrangement to get used to.

Thankfully there isn't much left to do to unpack, but THE MOVE IS OVER! Now if we can only stay here longer than 18 months...

Naked Beggars in Clear Lake, IA

2006-03-02T20:22:00.000-06:00

Way more than I expected! This was an $8 show and worth so much more. There is not reason this band shouldn't be headlining much bigger venues.

J-Dub and I hit the road and got to the venue at 8pm. We were told the show started at 8:30pm, but it turns out that Naked Beggars didn't go on until about 10pm. Thankfully, there was a nearby sports bar to grab some barbecue. The opening band sounded like some 70's band with older guys and they weren't very good. Some songs too fast, others too slow, bad vocals, and no stage presence at all. Fortunately, some of the members of Naked Beggars were wandering around before the show so I got both CD's signed and had time to slip on a Get Naked shirt.

I was able to meet Kris, Kristine, Inga, Eric, and Shawn. Kris was soft spoken, but kind and told me he played a Les Paul mostly, which is my favorite. Since all I had previously heard was the three song sampler from Spit It Out, I wasn't sure what to expect for a stage show and how the musicianship would translate. Kris helped allay my fears when mentioning a Les Paul through a Marshall stack. Inga is just a ball of energy and very excited about the band and the music. She was moving and singing along to the opening band when they started doing Buckcherry's Lit Up. She mentioned doing an acoustic tour this summer while Cinderella are on the road, so I'm hoping they hit Des Moines. Shawn played drums for Bret Michael's single Driven. After the show he signed a broken drumstick for me. Eric was soft spoken and polite. He didn't stick around very long, but was gracious and signed the CD's for me.

Kristine was my favorite! It turns out she used to live in Ft. Scott, KS, and my lil bro married a girl from there. My lil bro has a brother-in-law I'll call PW and Kristine and I both know him. That was kind of a "small world" experience as we were both shocked that we had a common friend. She actually remembered mine and J-Dub's names after the show, too. She has such a great personality and I hope she goes very far with this band. Oh, and she's also a nurse! So awesome and I hope I see her again this summer with the band in Des Moines. (She's hot, too!)

The show was great. So much stage presence, great songs, total confidence in what they are doing, and Inga can really work a stage with the best of them. I'm sure I have a set list around here somewhere, but have misplaced it in the move temporarily. They did 10 cuts from the new CD and paced them perfectly throughout the show. There were some cuts from the original and even a few Cinderella tunes! Jeff puts on quite the show as he always does, but his personality seems to come out more here. Eric held down the bottom end with a quiet confidence and truly looked like the music moves him. He and Inga had some fun playfulness on stage, too. Kris also had a quiet confidence on stage and just ripped those rhythms and riffs as tight as could be. Shawn played a left handed setup and was phenominal. He has such a heavy sound that I could feel in my chest. His drum solo was full of rhythms that kept us all watching, while showing off his skills. Kristine proved her versatility by playing keys, singing some great harmonies, and then came out with the violin! She just really added a great dimension to the music with some honky tonk keys, great synth tones, and the violin worked perfectly in these songs. This band works together well and truly puts on a performance greater than the sum of their parts.

After the show, the band came out to meet everyone there. Unfortunately there wasn't a big crowd, but they certainly had fun with those of us that did show up to support them. They took lots of pictures, signed everything anyone asked them to (including some drunk guy's back side - Kristine had the perfect comment that she was used to seeing old people's butts and it wasn't bad for his age - the things they have to be nice about...), and generally had a good time promoting the band.

I will be e-mailing Inga some information on places to play in Des Moines and doing my best to spread the word about this awesome band. Jeff and Eric will be on tour with Cinderella as they trek with Poison this summer so I will catch them a few times this year. Shawn is taking the summer to work on some other projects he has brewing. Inga, Kris, and Kristine will be doing the acoustic shows. Get Naked...Beggars on CD and go see their shows. They rock and really connect live.

Superchick In Earlham, IA

2006-02-19T01:02:00.000-06:00

Yes, I actually like some of this stuff. Superchick is on their This Is Your Anthem Tour with Eleventy Seven and Seventh Day Slumber. This is an interesting mix of bands and a little something for all ages. I took my daughters and we went with several in our church.

Eleventy Seven went on first and they are a pop punk trio that would be compared to Good Charlotte or any other pop punk band on the radio these days. They were fun, but nothing out of the ordinary. They did get all the teens, tweens, and kids singing along with I Want It That Way, a Backstreet Boys cover.

Superchick actually went on second due to SDS being broken down on the highway and trying to make it to the church on time to get a set in. It wasn't a bad thing having Superchick on next since there were so many young kids dying to see this group. Superchick went on in full pink and black mode and took this small crowd by storm. They did a lot of their popular songs such as One Girl Revolution, Princes And Frogs, and Bowling Ball. My youngest daughter was jumping, clapping, and singing along in front of me just a few feet from the stage. The band was tight and they had such catchy choruses that you couldn't help but cheer them on. I will make sure my daughters have any CD by this group that they want.

Barely making it in time was Seventh Day Slumber. They played only 3-4 songs and then the singer rambled on about himself and Compassion International for quite some time. The songs had a couple of good riffs, but these types of bands that basically play their songs like they would on an acoustic guitar only louder are a dime a dozen. There is no originality in the music under the melody. They don't stand out musically. Once they played the few songs they did it became such a gab fest that the band was tearing down their equipment while the singer kept talking. When he finally wrapped up there were several asking for one more tune and he had to apologize since so much equipment was already put away. This was very stupid on the band's part to allow that to happen. At least they were last and my girls were able to get some rest.

Superchick is fantastic and well worth the time. Check them out if you can.

Nine Inch Nails In Des Moines, IA

2006-02-19T00:36:00.000-06:00

I think I finally got it. I've never been a big fan and really wondered why the band got as big as it did, but I think I finally get the appeal of Nine Inch Nails. Brutal is a word I would use to describe the beginning of this show. They came out ready to destroy the world, it seemed. The lights were spot on. The rhythms as tight as can be. The energy was non-stop. The musicianship first class. Everything about this show was well done, until the lull in the middle. They started the show behind a curtain and the lull started when they brought the curtain back down and ran video on it. It was entertaining still, but not as full of energy as the beginning of the show. Thankfully, as they pulled up the curtain the pace started to pick back up and finally reached the high energy for the last three songs.

The set list was as follows:
Mr. Self Destruct
Sin
Terrible Lie
The Line Begins To Blur
March Of The Pigs
The Frail/The Wretched
Closer
The Big Come Down
Burn
Gave Up
Eraser
Right Where It Belongs
Beside You In Time
With Teeth
Wish
Only
Everyday Is Exactly The Same
Even Deeper
Suck
Hurt
The Hand That Feeds
Starfu(k3rs, Inc.
Head Like A Hole

I didn't know many of these songs to begin with and couldn't wait to hear The Hand That Feeds live, but the others were well worth it. I will be getting more of Trent Reznor's music and have become a bit of a fan now.

Recommended Listening

2006-02-12T22:21:00.000-06:00

Check out these CD's!! I can't get them off the stereo. They are kicking my musical backside!

Crashdiet - Rest In Sleaze
Hardcore Superstar - Hardcore Superstar

Both are 2005 releases and rock from beginning to end.

Also grab some CD's from Bang Tango and Pretty Boy Floyd. Pretty Boy Floyd is working on a reunion and Bang Tango has a new CD called From The Hip that will be released in May.

Metal In America 2006

2006-02-11T21:04:00.000-06:00

I had the time of my life in Cedar Rapids last night for the Metal In America 2006 tour. I returned at 8AM this morning! It was so good!

I picked up J-Dub at 5:30pm to hit the road. We arrived at Muddy Waters about 8PM or so. Muddy Waters is an unusually shaped bar and is above their restaurant. We only went through the restaurant on the way in. The stage didn't have a lot of room in front of it, but there was room for the hardcore. The sound board wasn't far from the stage. We hung out in front of the stage and left about 3 feet of room for the bands to tear down after opener All But Screaming.

ABS has a frontman who plays rhythm guitar without the use of his right hand. He straps on a pick and uses it to play. They are a good band that had one song that really stood out for me called Build It Up. I talked to a guy from Muddy's who really liked this band and he told me that they are a Christian rock band that plays there frequently. Not a bad band, but I was there for the main three bands, Pretty Boy Floyd, Bang Tango, and Stephen Pearcy.

Bang Tango and Pretty Boy Floyd shared the same backing band. Only the singers were different. The band is the current lineup of Bang Tango and two of the guys also are in Beautiful Creatures. Steve Summers was on first as Pretty Boy Floyd and he rocked the house! Everyone was singing along and we were louder than he thought so the parts where he'd get a sing-along going didn't go as long as he'd planned since we were totally into the show. It surprised him and the band as to how many were singing along. He opened with Rock N Roll Outlaws and Leather Boys With Electric Toyz and then proceeded to play Good Girls Gone Bad from their 5 song EP. I'd been singing along with that song earlier in the day while listening to their music. He did the first Motley Crue cover of the night, Toast Of The Town next. On his set list he has Your Momma as the next tune, but skipped that to do I Wanna Be With You. He asked for and received some Jager shots and asked for and received a couple pairs of breasts so this felt like a rock n roll show. He did another Motley cover of Live Wire and then had us singing Shut Up. He closed with 48 Hours and Rock N Roll Is Gonna Set The Night On Fire and then told us he'd be back at the merch table.

This is where the night took an interesting twist. I was one of the first back to the merch table and I'd been anxious to see how much the PBF DVD was going for as I'd love to have it. While chatting with Steve at the table, I volunteered to help him out with things to keep his line moving so he could chat with the fans more. He actually took me up on it!! I was stunned, but went behind the table and learned where everything was and what it was going for. He took in some good cash for the night and sold quite a few shirts, CD's, DVD's, and photos. I helped make sure he knew what needed to be signed and who it was going to. I also had to keep track of my sharpies! He met a lot of the people there and then asked who I had come with to the show. I introduced him to J-Dub and they briefly talked about the last time we saw PBF on the Sludge tour. J-Dub had a picture of him and Steve and got it signed.

When the line had dwindled and it was getting time for Bang Tango to go on, Steve invited me and J-Dub out to the bus. We made sure the merch table was fine and then headed out. The bus was locked! Steve was feeling pretty good and asked what we wanted to do. I told him it would be hilarious to go to the front of the stage during Bang Tango and rock out for a bit. I was sure the guys in the band would get a kick out of seeing Steve down front like a fan. We made our way through the crowd with me leading the way and holding Steve's beer. He jumped up over the front of the stage to the side area and the security guy had me follow. Steve let the crew know I was with him and was ok. We stood back there and rocked out for a few tunes. Steve even jumped up on stage while Joe Leste (Bang Tango/Beautiful Creatures singer) was talking. Joe got a laugh from that and then Steve came back over to the side. Unbeknownst to me, Steve had procured the key to the bus while we were back there. He had me help keep an eye on his jacket since the merch cash had been taped inside it. We hopped the bar, instead of going back through the crowd, and headed out to the bus while BT played the rest of their set. J-Dub joined us and we sat in the back of the bus chatting and J-Dub and Steve had large shots of Jack Daniels. Steve called them Hollywood Shots.

Steve was very gracious to us and shared some stories, some laughs, and made sure we "were all on the same page" for the evening. This meant that we needed to make more cash and pick up girls for after the show. Steve had me take care of the bus key and the change needed for the next round at the merch table. When we got back in the club, BT had finished and was back at the merch table, too. There were jokes about which band was selling which merch and they were teasing about giving away free PBF shirts. I think Steve did very well merch-wise since he had more baby doll shirts and CD's. Bang Tango wasn't selling any BT CD's, but did have the import version of Beautiful Creatures' Deuce. I had to pick one up myself and get them to sign it. I introduced myself to the band and Joe even leaned over later asking who I was since I was asking him to sign some of their stuff. I told him I was just glad to help out both bands with what I could, but of course, I was really trying to help Steve out the most since he seemed to be doing quite well with a couple of ladies as the night wore on.

Stephen Pearcy and the Rat Bastards took the stage while we were at the merch table. I got to see most of their set on the big screens that Muddy's had around the bar. I could only see heads from the back of the bar. I heard some great Ratt tunes, a new song, and Nothing To Lose, an Arcade tune. I could see Chuck Wright having a great time and I think he has become my favorite bass player. That guy has so much class and I got to say hello to him twice. He has played with so many people and when I told him that I'd miss hearing him with Quiet Riot on the new CD as they had planned last summer, he said to "tell them that".

We were behind the merch table throughout the entire Pearcy set and the guys from BT and Steve wandered around at the back of the club meeting people. Pearcy's band had no merch to sell and didn't stick around to meet people. Chuck Wright was the only one I noticed that came back in and visited with people.

After the club started clearing out, I packed up the merch bin for PBF and then carried it out to the bus. The crew guys were great and invited me onto the bus. (HUGE THANK YOU TO MARK ROJAS FOR GRABBING MY DVD'S THAT I'D LEFT BY THE STAGE!! Mark, you are the man!) We hung out for a while and heard that there were a lot of people heading out to The Lumberyard II. I grabbed the car, found J-Dub sleeping in it since the JD had gotten to him early in Pearcy's set, and followed the band out to this club. I fully was prepared to pay to get in and be responsible for myself, but the crew made sure that me and a few other fans were brought in with the band and taken to the VIP section. It was a blast hanging out with the band and crew there. We were telling jokes, talking to and about the girls, and stayed until the place closed. We went back to the bus and Joe disappeared into Steve's back of the bus area with a married couple. We have NO IDEA what they were up to, but had plenty of laughs speculating. I hung out with those guys until 4:45AM and then said my thanks and goodbyes.

I wish I could remember everyone's name, but huge thanks to Mark again for grabbing my things, the other crew guy (geez, I wish I could remember his name because he was a real bro) for including me, Tim and Mark and their bass player (this guy was just cool and had a straight face when trying to get me in trouble by suggesting I go knock on the back door to say bye to Joe...which I did...) for the laughs and stories and for treating me like one of the guys, Joe Leste for being cool and letting me help hawk a few of their things for them, and most of all, the awesome, laid-back, most cool front man I've ever met, Steve Summers! Steve, you are a true brother and I hope you guys have a blast on the rest of the tour. Thanks for trusting and I hope I came through good for you at the merch table. It was an honor, a treat, and a real blast getting to meet a true rock star in the best sense of all that implies. You guys deserve the best!

Please go support these bands. It was only $10 for the concert at this venue and you'll have a great time checking out a very tight band and some great rock n roll! AND BUY THEIR STUFF!!

We Are Moving!

2006-02-08T21:20:00.000-06:00

We got the house!! As I previously posted, we have to move due to our landlord selling the house we are currently renting. We had looked at a few houses and found one we liked last week, but it was rented out the very next day It would have been awesome since it had so much room. The house we found is more expensive, but about the same size as where we are and in a kind of hidden away area. It's closer to downtown, too. I'm pretty excited and the landlord will let us start moving in about a week before the end of the month. Moving is always a hard thing to do, but this should be a good move. I just hope it's a place we can be for a few years.

Struggles

2006-02-06T22:29:00.000-06:00

I have a friend of mine who brought up an interesting dilemma that I'm sure many people face.

She has recently become single again after a few years of marriage. She has been reluctant to get back into the church due to the issue of sex outside of marriage. It's not that she knows she won't be accepted into a church flaws and all, but it's her overriding guilt keeping her from going.

Having been married myself, I know what a struggle this can be, which is probably why we aren't supposed to be getting divorced in the first place. Well, part of the reason... This is a difficult issue. You get married and enjoy the benefits of it and then it's taken from you while at a young age. The Scriptures tell us that we aren't to remarry, either. In today's day and age the marriage partner doesn't have to have a reason for the divorce other than "irreconcilable differences". I know my marriage was taken from me this way and I didn't have one thing I could do about it. The decision was not mine as I don't believe in that option.

How do you go back to being celibate again after enjoying the benefits of marriage? If you aren't allowed to remarry and you're still young, what are you to do? I know God loves us anyway, but He hates the sin and who wants to be in that position to live in sin whether you remarry or not? If you remarry, you are committing adultery and the same for having sex outside of marriage.

What a conundrum, eh?

Now, I wasn't a virgin when I got married and I haven't been exactly faithful to my marriage vows since the divorce. It's hard to put that genie back in the bottle. It's probably the only regret I have in life that I didn't wait until I was married. It has been over a year, though, and it's been a difficult year.

You can't explain things away or justify actions. You have to be honest with yourself and do your best. God loves us in spite of our flaws. Knowing that doesn't make anything easier, but knowing God does make it harder since you are aware of right and wrong. Is this how Adam and Eve felt once they knew the difference?

Mixing Current And Old Friends

2006-01-31T12:35:00.000-06:00

Last weekend was interesting in another way. I had two old friends visit and they met some of my current friends. It seems that I still have the same tendency to either attract the same friends or I'm some how drawn to similar types of people. It puts me in the reflective mood that makes me wonder if I have even changed at all over the years. It also makes me wonder if anyone truly changes over time or if it's just me.

I don't feel like I've changed much since about 8th grade, except for physically and in knowledge. I also know I've become more cynical in many ways and at the same time more positive in my reactions to events. Of course, having kids assists you in gaining patience and a better understanding of priorities. Have there been any major changes, though? Am I a better person overall or the same? I know that I still have the same weaknesses and that I'm really not any better in those areas. I still have the same likes and dislikes, too. Wouldn't true growth and change make me better?

Of course, thinking about this too much can make my head hurt so maybe it's best that I don't. :) I'm just glad to have good friends.

Ever Have One Of Those Days?

2006-01-29T12:33:00.000-06:00

Well, it was supposed to be a great weekend with friends, but...

I thought the original plan was for two friends to come up Friday night and be in Des Moines by about 11pm. That meant we'd have the entire day Saturday to do some fun things and then they could head back after dinner on Sunday. That was the original plan. Oh, how things change...

During the course of the week, one friend was keeping in touch and trying to get that plan to work out while the other has some outrageous work hours and hasn't quite figured out how to have a life outside of work for a full weekend. That friend really needs the work and money so you can't blame her, but I firmly believe that if you have a month or more worth of time to plan things correctly then work shouldn't be an excuse. Just my humble opinion and I don't live in their shoes.

The plan did shift a bit so that they would arrive late Friday, but have to leave late Saturday night. That was better, but still made it feel like it would be a short weekend. At least a full day is better than a half day which is better than nothing. Still not as good as a day and a half, though.

I got a call about 11pm Friday, which was their previously scheduled arrival time, that they were finally leaving home. This would put them here about 3-4AM. When I awoke at 6AM, I saw there was a message on my phone. The message said they had hit a deer around Knoxville, IA. I was a bit panicked, but there was no implication of injury. I called them right away and they were sitting in the Wal-Mart parking lot awaiting a local mechanic to arrive at work. They were safe, but the car had overheated. I received another call about 8:30AM stating that the car could not be repaired sufficiently to make it to Des Moines and asking for a ride. I took off and picked them up and we went and had a pretty good breakfast in that town. We made the decision to head back to Des Moines, make some calls, and see what they could do to get home.

When we arrived back in Des Moines, I offered some suggestions to get the insurance company handled for a rental and learned how one insurance company tries to avoid helping their customer. I don't mind mentioning Shelter Insurance and stating that their customer service and assistance for their customers who are paying for full coverage on their vehicle is abhorrent. I could not believe what poor service and lack of answers they had for my friend and I even talked to them on her behalf. It was disgusting. Imagine paying full coverage for a nice full size sedan, hitting a deer on the weekend, the most traveled time period, and being told that your insurance company can't help you out until business opens on Monday at the earliest. Imagine paying for rental assistance and being told that you can't get a rental car to get back in time for you to work on Monday. This is what Shelter Insurance's customer service employee Jennifer told my friend. The actual statement was that they could not do anything for their customers until an adjustor is able to see the vehicle and confirm the damage, which could be Monday or Tuesday. My friend had a job to return for on Sunday, which helped shorten the weekend even if they didn't have an accident, and had no way of returning in which her insurance would help her out. Many insurance companies have deals with rental agencies to facilitate the service of their customers, but not Shelter Insurance. Shelter Insurance said they would reimburse my friend if she held on to her receipts and provided them after the adjustor had a chance to look at the car. That means my friend would have had to pay for a rental for several days before she could get her money back. That's also assuming my friend had enough cash on her to plan for a rental. Any insurance company that makes that assumption and doesn't go out of their way to take care of their customers ought to be fired since the customer is the boss. My friend will be dealing with her local agent to see if she wants to continue to do business with them or take it elsewhere. We tried contacting her local agent, but he doesn't work on Saturdays probably assuming that the 800 number for Shelter Insurance customer service would be sufficient. I will never do business with that company and don't recommend anyone else doing business with Shelter Insurance. They have no plan in place to help their customers out who have been in accidents on weekends that is sufficient for their customers. My advice is to take your business elsewhere.

Anyway, back to the rest of the story... My friend had to make some business calls, which also seemed a bit nuts when you take time to visit friends. This took up our entire afternoon until we could actually play some darts and have some steaks on the grill. That took us up until 4:30pm. Both friends were able to shower as they had very little sleep, if any, by this time. So far we'd had a nice breakfast with lots of laughs, a shortened dart game with lots of laughs, and dinner, which was quiet, but delicious. We did visit a lot and did laugh a lot because the friend who was driving really needed it and we are just that good of friends that we do a lot of joking and laughing.. It's just our nature. My roommates even got in on some of it since they were around for dinner, too. No, we didn't get to do anything except dinner and darts that was planned, but we were having some fun in spite of it being a short day and the accident.

At 5pm, the three of us went to a local friend's home for SCARY MOVIE NIGHT! My local friend and I had planned this for the last several weeks and we were going to start it off with the movie SAW. There were about 8-10 people that were interested in our SMN and my local friend really went all out to throw a party with snacks and drinks. The nachos were delicious! My friends that had travelled weren't really into scary movies, but did enjoy this one since it had some thought behind it and wasn't as gory as they had thought. SAW is a great movie and so is the sequel. We did have some laughs there, but we had to leave not long after the movie to be able to meet the ride that was coming to Des Moines to get my friends. I was really hoping for a better movie night, but only one friend came over that was on our planned list. We really had 6 of us there, but there should have been twice that since I had brought two guests and the couple that lives there made up 5 of us. Hopefully, it will get bigger. My local friends are just as fun so we did have some laughs and no stories about me came up, so it was all good.

When we arrived back at my home, we watched one of my favorite comedies, The Sweetest Thing. My visiting friends are women so I knew they would enjoy that movie and I highly recommend the unrated version since there are some huge laughs that weren't in the theatrical version. It was a good time to just sit and relax some more without the intensity of a scary movie and we had some more laughs. Their ride arrived just after the movie ended.

Even with the intense fog and late time, they still decided to leave on Saturday night instead of getting up early after some sleep. Thankfuly, they made it back safely, but they did see a lot of deer on the road and dead deer off the road.

I'm thankful for their safety and hopeful that the next time we plan a weekend that it is planned with more time for the fun stuff we did and more and that there are no accidents in the travelling portion. We tried planning this weekend about two months in advance so maybe I should get them started even earlier to plan the next one. Maybe they will use the time WISELY to maximize the full weekend WITHOUT WORK, WITHOUT INTERRUPTING PHONE CALLS, and hopefully during times of safe travel. I have great friends. They are fun, funny, and glad to live life positively as best as they can. In spite of the accident and in spite of the lack of time, we still had some great fun and that is the most important thing with friends.

Oh, and even with our abbreviated Cricket game of darts, I won by a VERY LARGE score.

Weekend Update

2006-01-22T08:10:00.000-06:00

My youngest daughter really liked watching King Kong! I knew the oldest would enjoy it, but so did the youngest! That's great! They are also quite excited about going to see Superchick in a few weeks. I'm taking them to that show and helped them realize who Superchick is. They recognized the songs One Girl Revolution and Perfect Day from movies they've seen. Maybe they'll enjoy being on the front row and rocking out like I do at concerts...when I can.

Has anyone else noticed the trend in the NFL this year to have playoff games at the normal second and third game times? In Central time the norm is noon and 3:30pm during the season with a Sunday and Monday night game. It used to be in the playoffs that they would use those normal Sunday times, which I prefer, to run their games on Saturday and Sunday. Now they are using the second game time with an evening game. It's a dumb idea, in my opinion, and I hope they change it back next year.

Speaking of football, does everyone else see it coming down to Denver and Seattle in the Super Bowl? I'm not a Pittsburgh fan by far since I'm both a Chiefs and Cowboys fan. Denver is the lesser of two evils in that game. I'm not a fan of Seattle, but of Coach Holmgren, so I'm rooting for them over the expansion team, Panthers. I just don't like expansion teams as it keeps watering down the professional level of competition in any major sport. Since there isn't a team really worth rooting for like I normally would, I guess I'm going to put my cheers behind Seattle to win it all, but it will be with a lack of enthusiasm. I'm also not sure how much football I'll actually get to watch, either, since I have my kids this weekend. They are more fun than watching any of these teams! :)

I've been trying to exercise a bit lately. I have a Gazelle and hope to have a Health Rider soon. Low impact on the knees is a good thing. I also think there is something more wrong with my right shin. I'm not sure if my knee area has produced enough water that it has swelled my right shin or if I have shin splints, but it will need to be looked at soon. Is it a bad thing to rest your feet up and then when you put your leg down there is a dent that takes a while to fill out so it won't feel like your leg will buckle under you? It feels weird...

My girls are so awesome!! We had a small snowball fight last night, played at the McDonald's indoor play area, watched movies, and still have most of today to go!

Time To Move Again

2006-01-17T19:24:00.000-06:00

When Derek arrived home last night, he found a note in our door from our landlord. It looks like they are selling the house we rent. We do have an option to buy it, but I'm doubtful of that happening. We are looking around for another house the size of this one now. If we don't have a buyer for them by the 16th, we have to be out at the end of February. This stinks, but we could find something better. We've had enough electrical problems and plumbing problems here that we are anxious for better, but it stinks because we all hate moving. I just hope we find something not far away since we have such a nice location.

It's been a nice year and a half having a house instead of an apartment. I'm looking forward, though, so this will hopefully be a good thing.

TV Season Back In Swing

2006-01-11T21:52:00.000-06:00

It's about time my shows started back up! Some of them have made me wait 4-5 weeks! Gee! :) I'm glad to see Commander In Chief is back and it opened with a two parter. Ah, the balancing act of family and national responsibilities. It truly takes a strong person and strong family support. Jake In Progress returned showing some potential. The show that opened it seemed interesting. It's called Emily's Reasons Why Not. Interesting premise, but we'll see how it plays out. I missed the opener of Four Kings, but have it set to record this week. Supernatural returned last night with some answers, but left me wanting more answers. That's a good thing.

My favorite, Smallville, returns and there is a lot of hype surrounding the 100th episode. Someone or maybe two someones die. My thinking is that it could be the dads or one dad and Chloe. The reason I'm thinking it's the dads is because of the parallels the show has drawn between Lex and Clark. That could really kick off some good stories.

It's good to have my shows this time of year since there isn't much to do outdoor. It also gives me something to do on weekends when my daughters aren't here.

Last weekend was another good weekend with the kids, though. I really enjoyed watching Cheaper By The Dozen 2 with them and we had fun playing Sorry, Battleship, and just goofing off. Paige really enjoyed her Bella Dancerella, too. She and Brittany had the first move down pat! I can't wait to see how they progress. It's always good when a white girl has rhythm, right? :) (Believe me, I've played enough clubs to know that most of us don't have very good rhythm!)

Concert season is going to start next month for me. I'm looking forward to it!

New Church Forum

2006-01-11T21:51:00.000-06:00

Check out the new God Talk forum for Fort Des Moines Church Of Christ. Their link is shown on the left of this page and you go to the Contacts part of their site to access the forum. Or you can use this handy dandy link.

http://godsfort.org/godtalk/

This is a great place for discussion of anything you like.

Book Of Daniel

2006-01-07T02:20:00.000-06:00

I watched the two hour premiere of the much talked about controversial new show Book Of Daniel. The reason for all of the fuss is because this show is said to center on a religious family that seems far from religious. The father is supposed to be addicted to Vicodin, one son is gay, and the daughter is involved with drugs. Does that sound like a typical priest and his family?

As a TV show, it seems pretty intriguing. Every character has a story that will probably be fleshed out over the course of its time on TV. It turns out that the mother likes a stiff drink on occasion. The maid hides her smoking habit. The adopted son is having premarital sex. The priest's father is a bishop and he is having extramarital sex with the woman who oversees Daniel at the church. The adopted son is Chinese and dating a church goer's daughter. The mother of that girl is racist. A Catholic priest has ties to the mob. Daniel's sister-in-law is bi-sexual. His brother died with several things in his backside that seemed to be from a sexual relationship with his wife and secretary. A young couple seeking marriage counseling got the idea from Daniel, although is wasn't his intent, to just keep "living in sin" since the idea of marriage seemed to be causing some stress between them. The girl in that relationship smokes pot. Am I leaving out any characters? See how interesting they all are? There could be some great stories developed about these people.

The overwhelmingly sad thing is that none of them seem to truly be seeking God except for the possibilty of Daniel. Daniel does spend a good deal of time in prayer. That's how I see it. The character of Daniel is seen talking to his idea of Jesus several times during this show. I think it's a clever way of showing prayer and our time spent talking to God. We have in our minds an idea of how Jesus may or may not respond to our prayers and it colors our conversations with Him. Daniel does pray for his family and friends. He is tempted in areas of weakness and he questions his belief system while still secure in the fact that there is a God and He is involved in our lives. Daniel is the only person in this show that seems to be aware of that to the extent that it affects his life and how he lives it. The others surround him with their problems, but not really seeking Truth. That could change as the show goes on. Daniel does seem to have a good relationship with his family, although it seems a bit distant like a visiting relative.

I'm curious to see how Daniel's family has turned out this way since one would assume that a religious man would do a better job at raising his family with strong values. Of course, my parents set a high standard and I'd love to see that reflected in a TV show. I truly believe that a man seeking God and living a righteous lifestyle would raise a family in the way he is taught through the Scriptures. I've seen preachers who have had their share of problems and their kids turn out pretty bad, but I can honestly say it's because they treated the church like a job and didn't take care of what God tells us is important. A Christian man married to a Christian woman striving to be Christlike will raise a family that won't resemble the cast of characters in The Book Of Daniel. The children will turn out more like the parents and hopefully pass that on to their kids.

While I was entertained, I still felt sad that Christians aren't reflected on TV very well at all. Would real Christians make good TV, though?

Happy New Year...A Week Late

2006-01-07T02:19:00.000-06:00

So much has been going on lately that I haven't had any time to tell you all about our New Years Eve party! It was great and I'm glad I had Sunday and Monday off work to recover. No, I didn't have a drop to drink, but it was a late night...and I'm getting old! Shh!! Don't tell anyone I said that!

We had over 105 people at the party. They started probably an hour earlier, but were still gone by 2:30AM. We had our little "contest" with 4 contestants and the person who should have won was robbed. Can't tell ya how! :) We heard comments that it was the best party, yet. That was nice to hear.

We hope to have another one in a few weeks.

There will be more posted soon. Some rants, some raves...