Pedro!!!

As a New York Mets fan, I was conflicted beyond belief last night. Even when sucking monkey butt, to cheer against the Mets would be a sin punishable by being forced to swim in the East River, I think. Last night not only did I cheer against the Mets, I cheered for the Philadelphia Phillies. Mets fans are supposed to HATE the Phillies. I do hate them... generally... except when Pedro Martinez is pitching. And last night against the Mets he pitched a doozy! (Hmm, I don't think I've ever typed that word before. Cool.)

ANYWAY... at this point in September, just three weeks before the end of the season, it's a game that should have had importance or ideally no importance as hopefully the Mets would have been so far ahead in the division by now that they'd have 1st Place locked up. Not quite in '09... again. So an unimportant game it was, for the most part, but as a Mets fan not living in the NY-NJ area, I've got to watch when they're on national TV.

Dilemma, though, as my favorite football team -- Da Bearz -- was also on. Season opener and not only were they on Sunday Night Football, they were playin' the Packers. No Favre for the Pack anymore but still an important game. Too bad there was barely any offense and the game sucked. No worries 'cause Da Bearz'll get 'em at Soldier Field later in da season. And if they had Ditka, the score, easily, would be like 190 to negative 10.

Anyway... after baseball I got to see the end of that disappointment but for awhile there it was all Pedro dominating the Mets. He kicked the Mets' collective asses and how sweet it was -- seven strong innings, 6 strike outs, 0 runs. He was in command. That's pitchin', man! No one expected him to come out to pitch the 8th, especially after going beyond 100 pitches for his second outing in a row. Looked like he put in a great 7 and that was that. But since the Phils' bullpen can't be trusted with less than a ten run lead, they went with Pedro for another 3 outs. First batter for the Mets: hero David Wright. When he struck out, holy moly, that was the moment when I cheered the loudest. And that was the moment I realized what a traitor-for-a-night I was. Uhhhh... I hate the Phillies, remember?! Yes, I knew that. Total conflict of interest and it'll never happen again.

But when ya love baseball, last night was a dandy!

just a run

In the world of sports -- NY Mets suck. Lost again. Nice. Suck a little more? Worse than the Montreal Expos Washington Nationals yet?

NJ Devils, in Game 7 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, gave up 2 goals in the last 90 seconds of the game to lose to the Carolina Hurricanes. That was downright depressing. Devils are having quite a difficult time getting back to the Stanley Cup Final. Why do they so often bomb it in the first round?! Their freakin' website's already looking forward to next season. Got to wait a whole frickin' year for the playoffs again. Yay. Losers.

Well, it might not be football season but it's football season! UEFA Champions League -- Man U. v. Arsenal today on ESPN! I'm so glad European football is on TV here 'cause MLS is just plain pathetic. Silly Americans.

In political news -- nahh, I'd better no go there.

In health news -- exercise is important... so I went running...

Wednesday late morning Run: 25 min 35 sec

+32 sec

.
2 Days Since My Last Run

11:20 a.m. - 76° - mostly sunny

April's last run. Time and weather were both nearly identical to two days ago. Not nice out there. VERY nice for laying on the beach or in your backyard to soak up some sun and get some nice color goin'... but DISGUSTING for a run. I'm an idiot for not going earlier in the morning. Twas an almost crisp 54° around 8 in the a.m.... with no sun gleaming, very little sweat, and very little energy loss from heat, 'twoulda been so ideal, perfect short-sleeve running. Almost -- dew woulda made grassy/weedy parts of the trail wet and that woulda gotten my shoes plenty wet, but... but why'm I fantasizing about what woulda been?!

Not the best run but not a bad run. I did succeed in adding at least 30 seconds... which I didn't need to do because that was only to get me back up to 25 minutes. Eh, I forgot and added at least a half minute which I accomplished but not without some mildly horrendous internal complaining and that desire to just quit my run and eat donuts, what does it matter, get fat, be typically American. NO! It's good to beat those thoughts back and push forward, keep running, focus on music, just go. When I hit my End Cue, though -- stoppage, bent over, hands on knees, gasping for air. That, thankfully, didn't last long but when I resumed moving towards getting off the trail, I wasn't moving too quickly. Again I just wanted to sleep on the trail. But I made it back and while tired as all heck, I'm looking forward to my next run, my first in May.

April :: +12 sec· X

8 runs in APRIL: 3 hours 29 min 6 runs in March: 2 hours 28 min *** FEBRUARY *** 3 hours 41 min January 2009 2 hours 54 min December 2 hours 42 min November: 2 hours 31 min October 2008: 2 hours 10 min

Wednesday's Running Playlist included most of this album...
	The Doors Strange Days 1967
Strange Days You're Lost Little Girl Love Me Two Times Unhappy Girl Horse Latitudes Moonlight Drive People Are Strange My Eyes Have Seen You I Can't See Your Face In My Mind When The Music's Over

Should I even type anything about this album? It's classic. I might dig their debut a little bit more but the two together make a great hour or so of listening. This is a band that needs more listening to by my ears. Thanks to The Lost Boys soundtrack with a version of People Are Strange by Echo & The Bunnymen, I may have heard the song a thousand or two times too many in this life. Also mega-overplayed are Love Me Two Times and When The Music's Over... but they're still good, especially when put on the shelf for two or three years. Take it out after such an absence and it's good again. Since it didn't have the same radioplay as those three aforementioned hits, the rest will always be welcomed. Twas great to listen to this today a whole bunch of times in the past few days.

Find a download @ Então era Wilson

mp3 download

due to a severe lack of live Doors videos from '67 on Youtube,
no video today.

Rehearsal Run ... sort of

Dear New York Mets, You're pathetic. Second year in a row?! Hooray. Thanks... jerks. P.S. are you aware you suck? P.P.S. you suck.

Monday Afternoon Run: 22 minutes 34 seconds

+ :16

6:35 p.m. - 80°, too warm but with the sun going down: not terrible
XXXXXXXXXXXX ·Sept :: -05 sec· XXXXXXXXXXX

September: 3 hours 3 min August: 2 hours 39 min July: 2 hours 11 min June: 1 hour 47 min May: 4 hours 46 min

Okay. First run in WAY TOO LONG (since Wednesday) ... but I got it done. Cracked the 3-hour mark for the first time since May. Nice. I am happy about that.

Despite the warmth it was an okay run. Mayhaps I shouldn't a-tried for 22½ minutes 'cause that was a little much. Well, I mean, I got it done but it wasn't so easy. The 5 days without running and the heat took a small toll on me. A minor form of hell is what the final ten or so minutes was; all I wanted to do was quit. Fortunately I was able to push it, push it, push it and make it all the way through the last two songs of My Running Playlist.

Twas cool running to the Dead. The studio rehearsal from 9/29/71 has no jamming, no wild space, just straightforwardly played tuned, for the most part, and I was was able to use that no problemo for my run today.

Running Tunes on Monday included...

37 Years Ago Today...

Grateful Dead ~ September 29, 1971
Santa Venetia, California

quite possibly the very first studio rehearsal with Keith Godchaux
Veteran's Memorial Building (?) (according to Taping Compendium)

China Cat Sunflower-> I Know You Rider, Bertha,
Brokedown Palace, Bird Song, Jack Straw, Tennessee Jed, Mama Tried,
Uncle John's Band Jam, Me And My Uncle, Truckin', Mexicali Blues

There's nothing tremendously incredible or fun here. There's no jamming. It's pretty straightforward. That doesn't mean it's bad or nothin'. I love Bob's rhythm guitar in China Cat. Brokedown is really nice, Bird Song, too. Jack Straw features a bunch of organ from Keith and not electric piano plus there are different lyrics in parts of the song. The following I found on the ol' intertubes... transcribed from probably the same source, it's practically the same as what's in this recording:

We can jump the tollgate, save us fifty cents
I'd lend you my last dollar but it's already spent
We can jump the watchman right outside the fence
Leave his rings but take his change, now ain't that heaven sent

Ben Blue(?) from Tulsa, two men by his side
Come to even one old score, one small point of pride
Ain't no place a man can hide to keep him from the sun
Ain't no place Ben's gonna rest while Shannon's on the run

Pre-dating its official debut later in October, this is the very first recorded performance of the brand new tune -- definitely a curiosity (and the same is true for Tennessee Jed and Mexicali Blues.) There's some more organ from Keith in TN Jed and Mama Tried; not exactly what we're all used to hearing. The UJB Jam is neat, albeit short with some fun and a little bit of banter included. Overall, even in the track titled Banter & Tuning, there isn't that much discussion or, well, banter between band members. Oh well. Truckin', while much like a studio album version, is nicely done.

Unfortunately the quality isn't so hot but eh, what are ya gonna do? It's still a cool little slice o' the history of this band.

Source: SBD>MR>Cass>DAT>CDR>WAV>SHN Audio Quality:

9/29/71 [Keith rehearsal] at Archive.org: Soundboard - Listening Only

-or-
9-29-71 aka 09-29-71 aka 9/29/71 aka 09/29/71 aka 71-09-29 setlist 320 kbps mp3 SBD download

Download it Right Here 9/29/71 rehearsal, Santa Venetia FIXED FILES for Tracks 2 &3 (delete the original Tracks 2 & 3 and substitute these ... sorry) 222 kbps (average)

9-29-71 aka 09-29-71 aka 9/29/71 aka 09/29/71 aka 71-09-29 setlist 320 kbps mp3 SBD download

Dem Bums ain't Da Dodgers anymore

Such a sweet Grand Slam by Carlos Delgado to put the Mets up 5-1 and then it just all went to hell. They tied it in the 8th... okay... then it all really went to hell. With relief pitching that's not even good enough for Little League, what do you expect. I can fill a better bullpen with 5 year olds.

Wild Turkeys? More like "Dem Bums" which used to (and still does) refer to the old Brooklyn Dodgers. Dem Bums is da Mets. Actually calling da Mets Dem Bums really isn't right. More like Dem Dooshbags.

They suck. There's no reason for Mets fans to expect to play in the playoffs in October. None. Mets just suck ass the sweat off a dead donkey's balls.

Maybe next year? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Yeah... whatever.

tired so tired up all night mutterings

Well, I had meant to post this up this morning... but hmmm, I got a little occupied. Hopefully I'll still be able to post up a Dead show tonight but I doubt it. Maybe tomorrow. Yeah, hopefully tomorrow... that is if I'm not staying up until like 3 or 4... or 5 in the morning... again! Not that I'm complaining, I'm not! What's most important is what's most important(!!!) ... and so other things can happily take a backseat and not matter as much right now.

Still I'll keep on trying to bring this blog back up to the level of "normality" that it once had -- so hopefully that'll mean more than 1 show posted a week!

For now...

Unconscious Mutterings

a free association game -- I say :: and you think ... ?

1. Memory :: bank

2. Original ::	Sin -- song by INXS.
	Have a listen, if you please

3. Exclusively :: Available ... at Williams-Sonoma, for example.

4. Listings :: new home ... or job

5. Bucket ::	The Bucket List -- recent movie with Jack and Morgan
	... then I was [DUH!] reminded of the Grateful Dead song
	"Hell In A Bucket" ... have a listen!

6. Knight ::	Ray -- 3rd Baseman for the
	1986 World Series Champion
	New York Mets

7. Dusty ::	"the bottle was dusty but the liquor was clean"
	... from the Grateful Dead song
	"Brown-Eyed Women" ... have a listen!

8. Choice :: Fielder's Choice -- defensive play in baseball

9. Sunglight :: misspelling -- 2nd in 3 weeks

10. Change of plans :: Life!

Yeah, it was like a million years ago
but still a GREAT moment for us Mets fans!!!
Thanks, Bill Buckner!

The Zoooma needa sleep! (But feels Great!)

Well, in less than 24 hours since my last post, the Mets won 2 games -- a night game last night and a day game today -- against the despised Phillies.

The whole first half of the season was just a pathetic drag... but now it's getting exciting. Finally. Baseball's hardly important to me but ya know, some people dig their American Idol, some people dig their Grey's Anatomy or Lost or what-have-you... maybe a little Jerry Springer?! Aside from great music and some good books, I dig a little baseball. And when your team's in 1st Place, hey, that's pretty sweet!!

National League
East	W	L	Pct	GB
New York Mets	55	47	.539	--
Philadelphia Phillies	54	48	.529	1.0
Florida Marlins	53	48	.525	1.5

Speaking of good music...
I've still got a couple Grateful Dead shows uploaded and ready for people to download so perhaps another show oughta go up here on Friday! Yeah... that sounds like a great idea... but no promises 'cause I've been up so late for a whole lotta days now and add in a run today and I'm soooo tired! But to anyone looking for a new show 'round here and reading this -- Stay Tuned!!!

92°, sunny, Heat Index: 96° @ just about 3:45 p.m.

Thursday Afternoon Run: 12 minutes 27 sec

+ 2:11

XXXXXXXXXXXX ·June +38sec· XXXXXXXXXX

6 runs in July: total time about: 1 hour 43m June: 1 hour 47 minutes May: 4 hours 46 minutes

Warm. Been worse but still way warm. Okay -- hot. I was probably too tired for a run under the bright sun but I felt determined. Even if I couldn't finish the whole Pre-planned Run Time without stopping, I was determined to get it done with a walking break in the middle, if needed. If needed I was determined to get it done with a walking break and sitting down for 5 or 10 minutes with some ice-cold Gatorade -- and that's what I needed. Not easy because of the heat but at the same time, I finished up pretty much just fine. My right calf feels a little strained but eh, not too bad. With a day off, or two, I'll be good to go again.

Like a week or so ago, I had sort of set a goal for the next 30 days, I think. Now, whatever that goal was, I'm not so sure about it. This summertime heat of South Carolina is really kickin' my butt. But I'll keep tryin' to run every few days, keep tryin' to improve and get used to 90+ degrees. It's important to me that I not give up and keep pushing on with running. I wanna get to a place of even better health, to burn away excess fat, have better fitting clothes... and build better stamina!!!

Onward!

Running tunes...
	Third Day Come Together 2001

Come Together
40 Days
Show Me Your Glory
Get On
My Heart
It's Alright
Still Listening
I Got You
I Don't Know
When The Rain Comes
Sing Praises
Nothing Compares

The more music I listen to, the more music I realize I've never ever Pressed Play on before! The same is true (yet again) here with Third Day. Once upon a time I spent some time listening to a Christian music radio station and I have heard a few songs from this band, but never a whole album before now.

Coming from Marietta, Georgia (outside of Atlanta,) this band has some great songs here. The southern influence seems to run through it but not overly so. Also not overly present is the calling on God or Jesus directly. I didn't read along with the lyrics (I almost never do with any music) but I know God is here all over the place. In this way of writing, though, the person who has nothing to do with Christianity in any form whatsoever could listen to this music and never once think this is Christian music. That seems to appeal more and more to me and part o' the reason why is it has more room to rock and to be different... not that praising God in every song is a bad thing... that just gets a little old after awhile so it's nice to have something in my ears that goes against the grain!

Check out a great review at Jesus freak Hideout

find a dload @ Música Cristã MP3

320 kbps mp3 download

Flushing Away First

What's that huge sucking sound
in Queens?

Same old crap it seems
as 1st Place was flushed away
in Flushing last night.

National League
East	W	L	Pct	GB
Philadelphia Phillies	54	46	.540	--
New York Mets	53	47	.530	1.0

I guess it could be worse -- I could be a Washington Nationals fan... or a Seattle Mariners fan. 23 games out of 1st place? Whew. Thankfully, even when they look just downright pathetic like blowing the lead (and a sure win) by giving up 6 runs in the Top of the 9th Inning, the Mets usually have the ability to hang in there. They did win 10 in a row recently. Not sure if they can pull that off again but their nickname ain't The Amazin's for nothin'!

Tonight's game (in about an hour from now) against the hated Phillies will be on ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball - Nationally Televised. That's just sweet! It's practically playoff baseball in July!

While I dig the game, I don't normally sit and actually watch... but the Mets on TV when I'm no longer livin' in the NY-NJ area, oh yeah, I'll be watchin'! And again, it's a great thing I'm a Mets fan 'cause I mean how many times a year do the Texas Rangers or the Colorado Rockies get Nationally Televised? Suckers!!

Mutter, Mutter, Mutter I Guess I Shall

I didn't post yesterday, did I? At one point I wanted to, was working on something but... just never got it done and wasn't in a posting mood, I guess. Twas mostly just another day and I'm so tired of everything.

A bright spot, if I can recognize some brightness -- the Mets won their 8th in a row. Suddenly they're a 1/2 a-freakin' game outta 1st place?! But... they suck. Maybe I should never have doubted them 'cause afterall, with the New York Mets -- Ya Gotta Believe!!

I also realized that I've got a backlog of Dead shows ready to post up here... well, the download links are ready. A backlog is just unheard of for me. Still using ice-age era internet, often an hours-long upload is still going pretty much right up until when I post the show. Now I've got uploads that are ready to be downloads for people, they've been done for days and days and days now... maybe a couple a-weeks! So they're waiting... and I think they're sad because they need to get into peoples' ears! I can hear them crying, calling out and crying, "Chris? Chris? YO ZOOOMA!!! We're here. Help us. Release us. Post us. You bastard, what are you waiting for!?!?!" Hush, little ones... in time.

Right now This Darkness Got To Give... but somehow, in the meantime, I've got to try to get back to posting shows 'round here. And in the meantime meantime, how about...

Unconscious Mutterings

a free association game -- I say... and you think ... ?

1. Intimidated :: Never a good way to be. An intimidated person should always stand up for his or herself and say, "No more!" I never want to condone violence in this world but if need be:

2. Brush :: hair

3. Masquerade :: movie with Rob Lowe. Only reason it came to mind is I saw it in the TV's program guide dealie thing when looking for a movie to watch the other day.

4. Procedure :: surgical.

5. Tattoos :: ink... pain. Some people like the pain, it's a thrill for them... seriously, I can think of a lot of other thrilling things to do that don't involve pain!!!!

6. Square :: It's hip to be...

7. Tuck :: my immediate answer was a word that rhymed but I'll go with Friar from Robin Hood.

8. Boyfriend :: mine is away in Paris right now, working on Fashion Design at Assassin School. I miss him so.

9. Badass :: me... well, maybe not. Could be if I needed to be. But why be a badass? Bikers are badasses. I'm not a biker... a mountain biker but that's not quite the same. Should I get a Harley and some leathers and become a badass? Hmmm....... I'm not sure. Just doesn't seem like me.

10. Thousand :: Island Dressing... yuck. Have some clogged arteries with your healthy salad?

"Hip To Be Square"
Huey Lewis & The News - 1986

Another Angelic Run

More snow? Yup, more snow. 15° (-9 C) this morning and it's been snowing either steadily or off and on for about two and a half straight days now... or something close to that. Not a whole lot of accumulation, it's never been heavier than just a nice, light snowfall, but everything keeps getting this pure new covering of white. Ain't no daisies pushin' up or trees turning green yet. Ha!

Working the Monday overnight shift -- 9 p.m. till 9 a.m. Tuesday morning -- basically consists of more time spent napping, reading, sitting around watching TV while waiting for a call than actually interacting and working on patients who need medical care. Unbelievable that I get paid for that... not that I'm complaining! Working this shift is something I should do more often!

Mets 2008 home opener started at 9:10 this morning (1:10 p.m. Eastern time,) right after my shift was through; last Opening Day at Shea Stadium. The free preview of MLB Extra Innings is done... dang it... so no way I could watch the game on TV. Desperately needing a run, I had my change of clothes so that I could hit the Rec Center again this morning. After getting that exercise in, I'm back in my house, cleaned up and ready to watch the Mets lose on Yahoo!'s GameChannel dealie. No audio, no video, but you can follow pitch by pitch while listening to some music or something... pretty cool device for those who can't afford to shell out $160 for the Extra Innings package on TV.

Kinda wish I was there for the last Opening Day in Flushing. Thinkin' about it really brings to the surface a lot of memories and emotions from my years going there for Mets games. Great times... and a lot of crappy times, too. Mets have been great, Mets have sucked. It's a vicious cycle. Mostly they give people heart attacks but what are ya gonna do?!

Tuesday Morning Run: 18 minutes 58 seconds

+6 sec · indoors ·

XXXXXXXX+++++++ 00 sec +++++++XXXXXXXX

Run Time March: 3 hours 57 minutes February: 3 hours 11 minutes January: 2 hours 56 minutes

Running once every 3 days is bad. Definitely NOT good enough.

Twas a fine run and I feel great a little more than an hour afterwards... but I'm just currently quite unhappy with my April frequency thus far. I am adamant about not becoming yet another fat and lazy American so I've gotta increase my number of runs. The times are fine for me -- better than nothing... and I'm always increasing, yeah, slowly increasing, in small increments, but again -- better than nothing!



Running tunes from
the album of the day...

The Angels

Two Minute Warning

1984

320 kbps mp3 download





Small Price
Look The Other Way
Underground
Front Page News
Gonna Leave You
Between The Eyes
Babylon
Sticky Little Bitch
Razor's Edge
Run For The Shelter

There's great music. There's okay music. There's tolerable music. There's horrible music. There's "I'd rather commit suicide by stepping in front of a train than listen to that" music. And there's music that's, well, it's interesting. My first experience with The Angels kinda falls into the "Interesting" category. It's also not bad.

Originally from Adelaide, South Australia (before relocating to Sydney,) these guys are called classic Aussie "pub" rock. Okay. Apparently, over much of the past 20+ years, The Angels have been one of Australia's most popular and successful bands... well, no #1 singles but they've had a good following down there. The postal service Down Under even honored them with a stamp within a series related to rock and roll. Hmmm. (The Grateful Dead never got that!)

Two Minute Warning is their 7th overall studio album and actually recorded in Los Angeles. To my ears they sound like a poor man's AC/DC. But what do I know?! One thing's for sure -- almost no one in the United States has any idea whatsoever who this band is!

Reportedly, back in the mid-70's it was at the insistence of AC/DC's Bon Scott that The Angels get a recording contract... or something like that. What American bands to they sound like? I'm not so sure because this type of music isn't what I dig the most... maybe a combination of Ratt and Winger with a smidgen of Aerosmith thrown in. Using those first two, in my opinion, is a total insult but I don't really know what else to say. Putting down The Angels isn't my intention at all... I guess the best way I'd describe this is -- kind of like a less grittier AC/DC.

I'm not so sure I'll ever hunt down anything else from them but ya never know.

Find a dload @ Ausrock