Monday, April 7, 2008

Born To Run or Born To Play Dead?

West Coast bias be gone! There sure has been quite a lot of it in the Grateful Dead and related shows that I've posted here. Truly what I've chosen has mostly been at random... and so it's not really a bias at all, just coincidence that many of the dates I've put up have been from Cali. With the Hartford show a few days ago, and today's show, perhaps I'll be expanding more outside of The Golden State? We shall see, we shall see.

Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia Brent Mydland Bob Weir Ratdog Phil Lesh and Friends mp3 download setlist 320 kbps
Tie-dye Separator Bar dealie thinga-ma-bob

Grateful Dead Steal Your Face kinda blotchy or I can't think of the right word to describe this one
Robert Hunter


February 7, 1980

Fast Lane

Asbury Park, New Jersey




1st Set: William Tell Bridge-> The Eleven-> St. Stephen-> Truckin', Independence Day-> Sugaree, Heart Of Glass-> Cruel White Water, Brown-Eyed Women, Alabama Getaway-> Althea-> Alabama Getaway-> Althea-> Deal, One Thing To Try, (harshly cuts in...) Alligator->
Mr. Charlie-> Easy Wind-> Grinnin' In Your Face


2nd Set: Cumberland Blues, Till The Morning Comes,
Keys To The Rain, Standing At Your Door, Casey Jones,
Tales Of The Great Rum Runners, Tiger Rose-> Reuben & Cherise,
Book Of Daniel, Crooked Judge, Doin' That Rag,
Sunshine Daydream-> Scarlet Begonias-> Sunshine Daydream->
Stella Blue-> Sunshine Daydream-> Scarlet Begonias,
Boys In The Barroom-> Friend of the Devil, Eagle Mall Suite, Ripple


I'm always fascinated by Robert Hunter shows. Just beautiful simplicity, stories, laughs, surprises, alternate lyrics, all of the above, etc, misc, and perhaps a little of this and that as well.

About a week and a half after this show, Robert would be joining up with the Jerry Garcia Band traveling circus, opening shows for Jer around the northeast in such places as Rutgers, Stony Brook, Upper Darby and Providence. Prior to that run he had some shows of his own goin' on including this stop on the Jersey Shore.

William Tell Bridge into The Eleven then to the top of St. Stephen is an interesting way to get this started. Some different lyrics are then heard in Truckin', stuff that Deadheads aren't used to at all:

Once in a while when the music gets into the street
Fifty old ladies buck every cop on the beat
They're putting the lock on Lindley Meadow and Kezar
Beginning to look like we can't play in the park

S.F. - that's an open town
Sometimes, it even makes a sound
Caution, spread the word around
Before them mother-truckers close it down

More fun stuff in the middle of Sugaree when he starts talkin' about sending women to war against the women of the Soviet Union... or something like that. He's not really getting political, just havin' fun and the crowd is soakin' it all in.

A kinda weird little surprise follows that
-- one of the only times Bob's done a little version of the Blondie song Heart Of Glass. But isn't that like disco-ish? Not here with only an acoustic guitar. A few words from Hunter can be heard after Cruel White Water, something about Born To Run (the ultimate Springsteen song of the 1970's... and one seemingly born right there in Asbury Park) ... Bob said he replaced Born To Run with Heart of Glass. I wonder if he was really gonna play a little Springsteen? Oh well.

Out with the harmonica for Brown-Eyed Women. Mmmm! I just love Robert's rendition.

Another story, this time about Frank Wakefield, comes in the middle of One Thing To Try -- he just stops playing to tell the story!

Set 1 is wrapped up with a quick a cappella version of Grinnin' In Your Face by an old Mississippi bluesman, Son House. Nice little tribute there to some music that Bob must enjoy listening to.

In the second set, things roll along just fine until we get to another one of those moments when Hunter likes to take this crazy wandering course from one song to another, back again and through 'em all again while mixing in something else in there... or something like that. SSDD-> Scarlet-> Stella Blue etc, that little passage of music is just eight minutes but... well, it's just neat the way he does that. Stella is a crowd pleaser, for sure, just like Reuben a little earlier and FOTD near the end.

The show really could've ended with Friend Of The Devil but instead Robert treats the crowd to something relatively brand new --the Eagle Mall suite. At around 17 minutes, this is quite a piece and is comprised of six parts: John Silver, Invocation, Copper, Lay Of The Ring, At The Pass and Eagle Mall.

Here's what Hunter says in his book Box Of Rain:

This saga was written in 1968-1969, a pet project of mine intended for setting and performance by the Grateful Dead. In retrospect, it was too ambitious a lyric project for practical consideration. The direction we took with Workingman's Dead was more to the point. However, the warm reception given by audiences to Terrapin station, a similarly outré oeuvre concerning some of the same characters, shows that the boundaries of rock can be successfully stretched more than is commonly conceded - unless, of course, one is seeking a "hit," in which case more normative rules probably apply. Eagle Mall recounts the trials of a nomadic people and embraces the notion of eternal recurrence. The concluding parts of the reprise are intended to be sung simultaneously as a kind of "round."


This is one of the only times this was ever performed. Very different in that, well, it's a sprawling story and not just a quick Dead song! Maybe woulda been better in the first set... but then again, it might really have been something Robert just threw in there, which is what it sounds like. New material testing. Not something that stuck around, though, so this is rare!

Ripple wraps it all up properly, a nice way it always is to end a show.
I can't help but wonder what everyone was thinking after the show closed as it did. With an unknown 17 minute suite of music and then Ripple is not exactly the way many Hunter sets come to a finish. So definitely a little different here, special in a way, but still fun to listen to.

Source
Master Soundboard Cassette> Cassette> DAT> CD> EAC>.WAV>.FLAC

Sound Quality: A to A+


MUSIC NOTE Download The Show Right Here MUSIC NOTE

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Snowy Mutterings For Chuck

Holy snowfall, Frosty! It snowed almost all day yesterday... must've snowed all night long. Just woke up and this morning it's 19° (-7° C) outside and totally beautifully overcast; a light but steady snowfall still coming down. Is it April or is it December?
2 or 3 inches out there. Such a quiet and peaceful Spring morning. Spring?

Well, that excitement is short-lived...

Charlton Heston - National Rifle Association


I just heard about
Charlton Heston passing away.







It was inevitable, of course, but now a true legend is gone.

Charlton Heston as Ben Hur
Turner Classic Movies, I'm sure, will run a marathon in a week or so and I wouldn't be surprised in the least if they gave it royal attention as Heston was truly one of the greatest actors to ever appear on the silver screen. No one today has the presence that he did -- not Clooney, not Harrison Ford, no one. There are great actors in the 21st Century but Heston was different. There were a handful or two from the 30s through the 50s and 60s who I am absolutely mesmerized by. Certain stars -- Heston, Lancaster, Henry Fonda, Gable, Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper and some others -- I can't take my eyes off them when watching a film they starred in. Obviously, since I'm a man, I'd rather have my eyes on a beautiful woman... but these actors, they just have an amazing presence that can totally draw a person in... and sometimes I've got to remind myself to pay attention to the rest of the movie!

Some films of today can be great works of cinematic art, but I think to truly see acting in some of it's most genuine form, watch almost anything with this great man.

He already had been missed but now He's Gone. As the music of Jerry Garcia will timelessly live on, so will the magnificent films of Charlton Heston!

FILM CLAPBOARDFILM CLAPBOARDFILM CLAPBOARDFILM CLAPBOARDFILM CLAPBOARDFILM CLAPBOARDFILM CLAPBOARDFILM CLAPBOARDFILM CLAPBOARDFILM CLAPBOARD


from LunaNina.com... this meme is called: Unconscious MutteringsUnconscious Mutterings

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

1. Nutritious :: healthy ... but isn't unhealthy food so much better to eat? Who wants to take the time to prepare nutritious, healthy meals from fresh foods that won't harm you?!? Not many people, sadly. But I do. Nope, I ain't gonna be a burden to America's healthcare system. Then again... if we elect a Democrat president who will raise our taxes to put into place a stoopid socialized healthcare system where we all pay for everyone else's medical bills, then I'm gonna figure out a way to quit work, become a lazy slob who eats junk food all day, every day, I'll get diabetes... and I'll have everyone else pay for my medical bills... and I'll write a book about how I'm making money from my book while everyone paid for my diabetes. Yay.

2. Graduate :: movie with Dustin Hoffman

3. Tonight! :: Tonight! Tonight! ... song by Genesis from their ultra-successful album Invisible Touch in the mid 80's. I'd put up an mp3 to listen to or find a link from Rhapsody but I'm uploading some other music at the moment. So sorry.

4. Located :: area ... central Alaska, Long Beach Island (New Jersey,) White Mountains (New Hampshire,) Bergen County (New Jersey,) Bitterroot Valley (Montana) ... I'm in the first one, wouldn't mind being in any of the rest.

5. Weapon :: "stop using sex as a..." -- from an 80's song by Pat Benatar.

6. Jumper :: wasn't that the name of recent movie with... Christian Bale? I'm not sure but I'm guessing that it pretty much flopped at the box office. (I could look up a link but I'm not gonna for this one and you can't make me.)

7. Collectibles :: I wonder why people collect collectibles... I just don't get it. Is it a need to have something? Why not put your money towards helping children who will die of starvation while you read this? Or maybe towards cancer research? Or to help clean up pollution in a river or other natural place you enjoy? Question: wouldn't one of those things (or all 3) make more sense than having a roomfull of collectible dolls or cookie jars or something?!? Well, maybe I'm just a dumbass for thinking such a foolish thing -- help people?!? What am I thinking?!?!?!

click to go to the Network for Good website, find a charity, give!

8. Dennis :: The Menace ... movie with Walter Matthau.
Dennis The Menace (1993, with Walter Matthau) movie poster

9. Hostile :: situation ... how come so many liberals are so hostile towards a conservative viewpoint? (Rhetorical question.)

10. Vivid :: dreams ... i almost never have vivid remembrances of dreams, they generally vanish from my consciousness the moment I'm awake. Some people can remember many of their dreams vividly and even write then down in detail? Hmmm, they're either lying or their mind just works in a way mine doesn't, that's for sure.

Charlton Heston & President George W. Bush - Medal of Freedom honor

Charlton Heston & President George W. Bush - Medal of Freedom honor

Saturday, April 5, 2008

There actually are mountains in Texas... just not here!

PhotoHunt is a good excuse for me to post something other than music/running. Photography's not a passion of mine but taking pictures is something that I used to casually enjoy. Kind of amazingly, these days I don't have a digital camera (yes, I'm behind the times ... sue me) and not having that many photographs from through the years, pickins are slim. Mayhaps one of these days I'll git me one of dem fancy electronic picture takin' machines and I'll be able to post some better shots. But it looks like I came up with something...
PhotoHuntthe theme for this week:
glass

The stated rule for Photo Hunt is:
"Post a photo, on your site, that best represents the theme."

Well, as someone who doesn't always care for rules,
I've decided to take some liberty with this week's theme.

(click images to see 'em bigger, if you'd like.)

Texas Panhandle... (or close to it) in early 1995 on a cross-
country
roadtrip of mine.
A smooth ride through the Texas Panhandle

Photo taken with a camera and the lens is made of glass...
and the view is through the [glass] windshield.

Texas flatness in the PanhandleMore flatness,
same road: U.S. Highway 84, between either Abilene & Lubbock or Lubbock & Clovis, New Mexico.


Oil wells this time, on the same road, possibly south of the other pictures, more towards Abilene?
A smooth ride through the Texas Panhandle

When taking these I must've been riding shotgun
while my friend Summer drove.

Great journey that was. A few more pics from that trip which I've posted
that you can see if you want --
Earth and Billy The Kid's gravesite...
also
my VW bus that I was traveling in.

Rush Run

Night shifts, they be takin' a toll on me, it seems. Just finished another, my last for this week.

When not at work, it feels like half the time I don't know if I should be awake or sleeping in order to be fully rested. Been awhile since I've worked night shifts ... not sure why I volunteered for them. Seein' as how I have a choice at work, I don't gotta work them at all! A small bonus to the paycheck is nice, though. Plus it frees up my days for -- for what?! During the daylight hours when I'm not working, I've got to make sure I get enough sleep in 'cause I'm gonna be awake all night, on the clock from 9 p.m. until 9 in the morning.


Back in my comfortable abode now, I see on the FOX NEWS CHANNEL that an Armory, excuse me, an Armoury in Quebec City burned down... I guess now everybody needs to do their dancin' elsewhere, huh.

But wait a minute... according to many people, Fox is the "Faux" News Channel, so isn't the story somehow false then? The video of the fire, was that like, what? Hollywood produced and directed by the White House? I'm confused.... silly people who hate Fox News Channel because they tell both sides of a story (liberal AND conservative) ... unlike people like, oh, that dillhole Olbermann and the New York Times. Sheesh, you'd think honest, fair & balanced journalism was a good thing... but nope, some people want conservatism never to be spoken by anyone, especially on TV where many people can see/hear it... after all, that ugliness needs to be banished from America, right?

Anyway... I guess a whole lotta people who don't have it in them to care about freedom for the Iraqi people and getting rid of evil in the world (war protesters) are happy that the Manège militaire (the armory) is now a pile of rubble ... well, that may be a stretch but it was a symbol of war, a museum to Canadian military history... eh.

Enough of that. Time to finish this post and get on with my day...

The North Face trail running shoe -- good for use in the Appalachian Mountains ... but seriously, they are rather small compared to the Rocky Mountains ... Sierra Nevada are sweet, too.  Would definitely use 'em in the Alps, that's for sure.  One thing's for sure -- Jerry Garcia or Bob Weir or Phil Lesh or Blaise Compaoré probably never went running in Colombia, Paraguay, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, Pyongyang, 평양 직할시 조선민주주의인민공화국 平壤直轄市 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國, Türkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Кыргызстан, Киргизия, Uzbekistan, O'zbekiston, Ўзбекистон Республикаси, Tajikistan, Тоҷикистон.  Probably the same with Brent Mydland.  At least that's my gut feeling.  I could be wrong.  I mean, there were a lot of drugs at Grateful Dead shows and the good Lord above, He knows I did my share!

Saturday Morning Run: 18 minutes 52 seconds+5 sec
· indoors ·
XXXXXXXX+++++++ 00 sec +++++++XXXXXXXX
Run Time March:3 hours 57 minutes
February:3 hours11 minutes
January:2 hours56 minutes

Right after my shift was over, a little more than an hour ago, I changed clothes and headed over to the University Rec Center to get a run in today.

Temps here are right around freezing this morning -- for an outdoors run that's doable ... but it's either slushy or too icy now [on the trail that I run on.] Swell.

Running on snow is GREAT but it appears that is really only done around here early in the snow season: October & November before the temps get too wicked cold. It's not wicked cold now but the conditions, they just ain't copacetic for an outdoor trail run so still I've got to hit the indoor track.

Pretty good run, methinks. Slowly building to 19 minutes, almost there. Then another slow climb to 20. Yay. But better than nothing!



Running tunes from
the album of the day...


Rush - Counterparts (1993) -- Neil Peart on drums, Alex Leifson on guitar, Geddy Lee on bass, keyboards, and vocals.Rush

Counterparts

1993

320 kbps mp3 download





Animate
Stick It Out
Cut To The Chase
Nobody's Hero
Between Sun And Moon
Alien Shore
The Speed Of Love
Double Agent
Leave That Thing Alone
Cold Fire
Everyday Glory

This is the Rush album that I left off with way back when. Prior to this, getting the newest release from them was something I always did goin' way back to Grace Under Fire in the 80's sometime. But this one (and later albums) I just didn't bother with. The other stuff that I've had tapes and CDs of, man, GREAT music. Rush was my favorite band for awhile, again -- way back when. Saw 'em twice, I did, once in the Meadowlands (Brendan Byrne Arena) and also in the Garden (Madison Square Garden) -- Hold Your Fire and Presto tours, I believe. I can picture each concert so vividly in my mind. Great shows! Neil Peart -- Jesus, man, best drummer ever? Holy crap! And hey, Geddy Lee and Alex Leifson, they ain't bad either.

Anyway -- I thought I'd check out Counterparts and, whew -- great collection of songs ... except for one which I'm never gonna listen to again. Just a shame it was recorded and included here. The exclusion of that one song makes this album perfectly listenable without wanting to skip anything here. In a way I'm amazed that this spent time at #2 on the Billboard charts. Rush? Wow. Very cool. In a way I'm not surprised because this album is so good. I had no clue this would match how much I dig Hold Your Fire and Presto and Roll The Bones and Power Windows and others from that general era but yeah, this sure can be played right along with those -- just so long as that one song is left off the Playlist and the rest is played LOUD!

MUSIC NOTE 128 kbps dload @ Waldill MUSIC NOTE

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Mets Mash Marlins! + 22 Yrs Ago: These Hartford Fillies Start Lookin' Good!!

David Wright, New York Mets 3rd Baseman, 1st HR of 2008 Season, New York Daily News, 4-3-08Nice game from the Mets last night ... fun to watch but looking back I'm not entirely impressed with the performance. The sole reason being -- they played the Florida Marlins. I think there are probably some 10 year olds in America whose comic book collection is worth more than the Marlins' entire team payroll. The NY Yankees organization wouldn't keep half these players on their A ball teams.

But there was still some good run production including homers from David Wright and Ryan Church and 3 doubles from Carlos Beltran. Starting pitcher Oliver Pérez gave 6 great innings and 3 relievers only gave up 1 hit over 3 innings to keep Florida scoreless. It might've been the Marlins but a Shut Out is ALWAYS a good thing!!!

Hopefully while Pedro's out the Mets can hang onto first place. If that can happen and he can come back and pitch okay, we'll be lookin' good. Still gonna be a bumpy, edge-of-the-seat ride for awhile. After all, it's the New York Mets we're talkin' about.

long line of tiny Dancing Bears

Grateful Dead backstage pass - 4/3/86 Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut
Steal Your Face

Grateful Dead

April 3, 1986

Hartford Civic Center
Hartford,
Connecticut

1st Set: Iko Iko, New Minglewood Blues, Peggy-O,
Me & My Uncle-> Mexicali Blues, Bird Song,
Supplication Jam-> Let It Grow-> Don't East Me In

2nd Set
: Uncle John's Band-> Playing In The Band->
Don't Need Love, Drums-> Space->
The Other One-> Wharf Rat-> Around And Around, Not Fade Away

Encore
: It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

Second to last show on the Dead's 1986 Spring Tour. Any gas left in the tank? From being able to faintly hear the crowd on this beautiful soundboard, I've got a feeling the crowd was absolutely loving the opening Iko. I'm quite sure if I was there I wouldn't have been criticizing the tunes while I was happily dancing my ass off! The negative side of beautiful soundboard recordings -- you can hear how the band's just not all together there at times just like with this Iko; you can easily hear how bland it really is... at least for the most part -- just before the 7 minute mark, we get a pretty heavy dose of enthusiasm from Jerry. I went from mildly groovin' to thoroughly satisfied in about 1.75 minutes. Iko was completely redeemed!

Minglewood, Peggy-O, Uncle-> Mexicali all go by in fine fashion, keeping the crowd entertained and happy. But it's the Bird Song that absolutely shines brightest here. Gorgeous. Back when we were getting a nice, fairly steady stream of Dick's Picks releases and the Download Series, '86 was completely passed over -- the only year without a single note of live music released commercially. I am no Dick Latvala and I haven't listened to everything from '86, but through Bird Song, this show makes me think it coulda been on the short list for release from this year. After a little Supplication Jam, unfortunately it's the Bob Star who goes and blows what woulda been a perfect Let It Grow. Some flubbed lines momentarily make me cringe but other than that, it's pure beauty to match the Bird Song from a little while before. Jerry & Bobby have completely got it goin' working in perfect tandem on lead and rhythm guitar. Mmm! But it seems they ran out of steam with a kinda lackluster Dough Knees set closer. Not bad but it can nowhere match the greatness of the nearly 25 preceding minutes.

Set 2 starts out with more lyrical ugliness. Within 3 minutes of UJB, it's Jerry who just goes blank while falsetto Bobby tries to keep him on course. Piss poor from the soundboard and earphones point of view but at the same time I'm fascinated that you can tell so many of the 10,000 plus in the Civic Center that night really didn't care too much about what we can completely pick on now 22 years later with a high quality digital recording. It was a rare thing when I'd be at a show and would just stop dancing and go: "Oh, this is awful." A few people did that but not me and not most. Yet today it's so easy to criticize. I wonder if it has anything to do with all the dang effort (money and time) put in to see a show -- all I wanted to was have fun, not play critic.

In any case, kinda like the 1st Set opener, UJB seems to pick up some steam in the last segment as they slide into a fun and definitely crowd-lifting Playin'. Again here, Jer and Bob are together painting as a beautiful a picture with this as you could ask for. I guess it's those two who I mostly focus on but it's the whole band here, four Other Ones all helping to round out all the corners, smooth all the edges and fill in every nook and cranny in between, as well. Just gorgeous. Yeah, same word as earlier but how sweet this is!

I really like the mostly low-key Don't Need Love that Brent turns in. It's weird to hear Jerry & Bobby hangin' really far back through most of it, just letting Brent & Phil and Mickey & Billy carry it along. Unfortunately with that tune, they don't let 'er jam along into Drums; all you get is a pause, for the most part ... quite the opposite of a transition. Oh well.

Maybe the extra time for Jerry to rest was a good thing. Comin' out of a nice Space, The Other One is so brief (normal for the time) but on fire!! Whew. I tell ya, if the Dead did their shows lyric-less sometimes -- wow. The blown lines can bring a song down but sometimes even with them, the music is often so great as it is on this night in The Constitution State. A lyric-less Wharf Rat would have been a perfect one. One minor flub (God, I hate mentioning these!) is all there is, not a horrible moment by any means and even with it, what an excellent Wharf Rat that Jerry gives us here. Can I once again go -- Mmm!! Soon enough Not Fade Away helps add to the fine end of the 2nd Set. Some fun echoing and very cool rhythm from Bobby really make this a bit different than a run-of-the-mill romp that's turned in time and time again. Nope, not tonight.

Finally, a very nice and essentially flawless Baby Blue wraps it all up in a nice tie-dyed bow for everyone. Quite a satisfying show without a doubt and terrific sound, too. '86 might be one of the least listened to years but this show might very well stand out near the top.

Steal Your Face

Source: Vault Soundboard PCM Master>DAT>.wav>SHN
with some digital mastering mambo jambo thrown in
that doesn't mean squat to the average listener

Sound Quality: straight ahead A+ all the way

LITTLE BLACK DANCING DUDE
4/3/86 at Archive.org:
three different Audience sources
for your downloading pleasure

and the soundboard for listening only.
-or-
MUSIC NOTE Download The SBD Right Here MUSIC NOTE

GD 4/3/86 Hartford Civic Center - 1st Set
Set 2, Part One - 4/3/86 Hartford
4/3/86 Hartford Civic Center - 2nd Set, Part 2
Grateful Dead ticket - 4/3/86 Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut -- borrowed from www.psilo.com
4-3-86 aka 04-03-86 aka 4/3/86 aka 04/03/86 aka 86-04-03 320 kbps mp3 download and setlist
Grateful Dead Dancing Bear (green, super tiny)

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

AK Melting? Say It Ain't So, Pedro!

For the first day in April in Alaska, nowhere in the whole territory is known to have had a high temperature below 0° F (about -18 C.)
Looks like Spring has sprung.


Here the snow and ice is melting away. SHORTS weather, baby! I did a lot of sleeping yesterday (to be well-rested to work the night shift) but when I was awake -- SHORTS, baby! So sweet. Temps were well into the 40's and as high as 50 (about 10 Celsius) for a little while.

The bad news is everything's melting ... and then freezing into a fun layer of ice at night when the temp drops below freezing again. When this happens it makes for an extra Motor Vehicle Accident or two everyday. This morning I worked two crashes involving people rushing on their way to work, people who didn't see the ice when they were driving too fast. To be fair, when ice is involved, sometimes it doesn't take going over the speed limit for an accident to happen ... they just happen and are often quite unavoidable unless you just stay home and don't drive anywhere... but in general every dillhole speeds and interestingly, that's when most crashes occur. Hmmm..... less speeding = less accidents and less deaths in motor vehicle collisions?!? Really?!? (Yet people keep speeding... oh, and then there's the cell phone factor... joyyy.)

Anyway... I had my first overnight shift in quite awhile. Not starting work until 9 p.m. (or 1 o'clock in the morning Eastern Time) gave me the perfect opportunity last night before work to watch the Mets game with the Free Preview of MLB Extra Innings ... but whoop-di-freakin'-do...

Mets suck.

They went
from this...


Johan Santana (New York Mets 2-time Cy Young Award winning pitcher) wins Opening Day 2008 - New York Daily News, 4-1-08


to
this...



Pedro Martinez, New York Mets -- hurt.  from New York Daily News, 4-2-08

Not good. Pretty darn nice outing for Johan Santana on Opening Day. But then the day after Pedro was (very) shaky to start, had a nice 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd, retired the 1st batter in the 4th on a groundout but left the game after only 3 and a third innings pitched -- injured.

Mets bats had a nice 4th inning but they blew it in the end. The worst part is they blew it to the crappiest team there is.


2 games done and in the books ... 160 to go. How long will Martinez be out? Couple months? Perhaps Grandpa Pedro should just retire? Not looking good for the Mets. Very difficult to not worry. Every single freakin' game this season has been like a battle to make it to the Playoffs -- and there've only been two games so far!!! UGH!!!! I can't take this.

But I did get a run in this morning. About an hour ago, right after my shift was over at 9, I changed and headed straight to the Rec Center at the University and hit the track for the 1st time in April... I got 'er done (it must be said with a Larry The Cable Guy kinda sound or else it just doesn't have the right effect.)

Now I've got the whole day free! Unfortunately that means a whole bunch of sleep -- going to night shifts for a couple weeks, I don't know why I agreed to that. Won't mess with my runs but it's gonna mess with my sleep schedule, that's for sure. Ahh well, just so long as I'm awake this afternoon to watch the Mets lose again. (Just have no faith in them. Gonna take a LOT to have it restored.)

And double unfortunately...

Liverpool F.C. logo ...at... Arsenal F.C. logo

UEFA Champions League logo


Champions League Quarterfinal
Liverpool at Arsenal

This is gonna be a good game,
excuse me, a good match.
I don't really care who wins, just a great game to watch, football is. American football ain't bad but here in America, soccer blows. Well, our national team's okay to watch but Major League Soccer? Eh. But European soccer, excuse me, football, now that's some good sport. Is that okay to say? Some good sport? Man Utd. whooped AS Roma yesterday... not as fun to watch because Man Utd. is so dominating... but today's match should be a good one!

Plus, thanks to the free preview on MLB Extra Innings, the Cubs are on... plus Tigers and the Red Sox in a little while.

Man, I hate to spend so much time planted inside watching television but lotsa good stuff to watch!


The North Face trail running shoe -- good for use in the Appalachian Mountains ... but seriously, they are rather small compared to the Rocky Mountains ... Sierra Nevada are sweet, too.  Would definitely use 'em in the Alps, that's for sure.  One thing's for sure -- Jerry Garcia or Bob Weir or Phil Lesh or Blaise Compaoré probably never went running in Colombia, Paraguay, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, Pyongyang, 평양 직할시 조선민주주의인민공화국 平壤直轄市 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國, Türkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Кыргызстан, Киргизия, Uzbekistan, O'zbekiston, Ўзбекистон Республикаси, Tajikistan, Тоҷикистон.  Probably the same with Brent Mydland.  At least that's my gut feeling.  I could be wrong.  I mean, there were a lot of drugs at Grateful Dead shows and the good Lord above, He knows I did my share!
Wednesday Morning Run: 18 minutes 47 seconds+4 sec
· indoors ·
XXXXXXXX+++++++ 00 sec +++++++XXXXXXXX
Run Time March:3 hours 57 minutes
February:3 hours11 minutes
January:2 hours56 minutes

Running in April is underway!

Goal: MUST surpass March's total running time!!!
(Hopefully by at least a half hour.)

Nothing much to say. Just 'cause it's a new month, not much is really that different. Picked up right where I left off a few days ago.

I've got a feeling that so many of these runs at roughly the very same time, they're allowing myself to build better stamina? Ummm... well, what's happening is for many runs now it's been fairly easy for me. Unfortunately it's not easy like walking to the garage ... but no major difficulty lately. I'll take that as a good thing!



Running tunes from
the album of the day...


Rolling Stones - Black And Blue (1976)The Rolling Stones

Black And Blue

recorded mostly throughout 1975;
released in April 1976

320 kbps mp3 download




Hot Stuff
Hand of Fate
Cherry Oh Baby
Memory Motel
Hey Negrita
Melody
Fool To Cry
Crazy Mama

I don't often listen to the Stones but maybe I oughta little more often. This album's got some pretty cool material on it.

My guess was Hot Stuff would have been the first single that would have gone up the charts at the time but nope. Fool To Cry made it to #10 in America. The album itself hit #1 and stayed there for a bunch of weeks. Now, charts and awards, they mean basically jack-diddly-squat to me, but they can help tell the story of commercial success and so sometimes I mention that crap. My favorite tune on here is an example of why this album was apparently criticized because there seems to be an emphasis on jamming.

Why in the hell is that a bad thing?!?! Above all the other songs, even Memory Motel which clocks in at 7 plus minutes, Hey Negrita has a really cool jamming feel to it. The Grateful Dead could've definitely done this as a 12 minute 1st Set closer. So sweet that woulda been!! The way two guitars work in tandem with each other -- so perfectly Jerry and Bobby!!! I wonder if this woulda been cool for Vince to sing... or at least awesome for him or Brent to wail away a time or two on keys. Maybe better for Bobby on vocals with spots for him to do his classic screamage. And Mickey & Billy just doin' whatever they'd like on drums to fill in such a great sound. Ahhhh....

Anyway, Billy Preston adds piano here (as well as on Hand of Fate and Melody) and Ronnie Wood is on lead guitar ... which is funny 'cause I always thought Keith Richards was a lead guitarist. The song gets goin' so nicely and all I want is for it to keep jamming longer than 5 measly minutes but it quickly comes to an end. Too bad.

There's a true Grateful Dead connection with this album, sort of -- musician Nicky Hopkins, who played with the Jerry Garcia Band over the last 5 months of 1975, he lays down piano and organ on two tracks.

A couple other tunes worth mentioning -- Cherry Oh Baby... reggae... eh, I'm not too big on that sound for the Stones. Hot Stuff on the other hand -- pretty cool stuff. This one features Harvey Mandel on guitar. There's a rhythm to it that's almost insanely repetitive but the guitar layering is sweet and gives it a mildly jammy feel here. And Crazy Mama to finish the album, along with Hand Of Fate, both perhaps two of the better songs here, well, that's what methinks.

Some minor gems but overall not a classic album in the sense that, you know, Michael Jackson's Thriller is, or anything by Hall & Oates ... but a groovy mid-70's Stones listen, that's for sure.

(And I think I'm gonna be givin' me Hey Negrita another listen!)

MUSIC NOTE 128 kbps dload @ Waldill MUSIC NOTE

one says one number and the other another
but they were set at the same time. Hmmm...

i love you amy uzarski.  always!
 
Calvin and Hobbes in the snow -- animated