Jumpin' At The Woodside

Reading Mike's post on the Summer Mix blog made me recall creating my own mix tapes, which goes back to sometime in the early 1980s. Music for me then was typical rock radio stuff of the era - Van Halen, Billy Squier, Journey, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pink Floyd, etc. The summer of 1983 I experienced a sort of renaissance. I started working as a lifeguard at Spruce Run State Park in Clinton, N.J. At 17, I was one of the youngest lifeguards on the 12-person staff. Most everyone else was in college. With Round Valley State Park literally down the road, that made for a crew of 24 lifeguards that would get together almost every weekend for a party at someone's house. These were full-blown BYOB or keg parties that sometimes ended up on the beach at Spruce Run. Yes, I can say that I've been "skinny dipping" in Spruce Run Reservoir. I realize this probably isn't a shock after my recent streaking incident :~) Anyway ... Almost every weekend at these parties I'd...

I dropped my CDs in the mail this morning for the Summer Mix Contest, and not only did I get the news that The Monkey was dropping out of the contest, but this evening I’m hit with the news that keyboardist Butch Taylor has decided to leave the Dave Matthews Band. I must say I’m a little stunned. Butch will be missed. I’m sure Dave and the boys will come up with a fine replacement, but it just won’t be the same. I’ve seen Dave live 18 times and the only time he wasn’t joined by Butch, and the rest of the band for that matter, was when I saw Dave & Tim Reynolds on their two-man acoustic tour. Memories of Butch’s work playing on “#41” immediately come to mind along with his reggae-style solos in “Warehouse.” At the Madison Square Garden show in late December 2002, Butch played a solo “Christmas Time Is Here” that brought huge cheers for the Charlie Brown holiday theme. June 26, 2005, one of the best live DMB shows I ever attended. Butch churned out a raucous solo in “Warehouse,” and...

Opened up the new Woodside Lounge yesterday. For those of you who have visited in the past, this room is at the front of the house but many times went unnoticed by visitors as it was closed off and used as storage. The new Woodside Lounge has its own TV, even though it's around the corner from the theater room. It just goes without saying, all lounges must have a TV for sporting events. I believe it's in the building code. Music is served up from the stereo system currently residing in the dining room, but I'm thinking of moving it to the Lounge. Today I went streakin'! Remember, use that sunblock out there. - Salud!

Yo fellow mixers and all the rest! I'm sure Ol' Lazy Acres will accuse me of more intimidation tactics, but I see it as "talkin' summer mixin'." Currently listening to what will most likely be my Summer 2008 Mix that I'll place into competition come Tuesday. Listening on the big stereo system for the full effect. I'm diggin' it, I must say. Must add here that for more me, I scratched my 2007 Mix (as it went unjudged) and may or may not have included one or two tracks from that mix in my 2008 edition. I had some trouble with my opener, as I mentioned in another post , then I replaced it not once but twice, and feel very content with my current selection. I shall offer no further info on my 2008 Mix, other than I feel very good about this mix and think it ranks up there with my 2005 and 2006 mixes. While I can't offer a playlist for the evening, I will say that I had a Victory Prima Pils, but it didn't feel quite like a Friday without a Terra...

Yesterday afternoon I cracked the 200-mile mark with the Nike+iPod! While I received a very cool certificate upon reaching the 100-mile mark, I won't receive another certificate until I reach 500 miles. That's a lot of miles for a single man . - Salud! A newer version of a track from my playlist for all 200 miles...

Just read Ol' Lazy Acres blog and got me thinking with all the goings-on planned for my trip to The Lou, I best get me some new dance moves. So I went over to YouTube and I think I found me some. So look out Ol' Lazy Acres, you just might get served. I don't know these guys, but they have the best new dance moves. Check 'em out. For Ol' Lazy Acres who says he's 37. "I'm 37, I'm not old."

Howdy late evening to y'all! Been working on my Summer Mix tonight and haven't had a chance to post until now. Feels strange on what to post as I'm very much caught up in creating my Summer Mix, but don't want to give anything away to my competitors or skew the judges. I will offer a track that was part of my opening for the Summer Mix, but had to pull it finally. Musically, you couldn't ask for a better track at the opening of a Summer Mix, but the lyrics were very contradictory of the music. While this is not unlike many great tracks -- The Replacements come to mind -- really kind of threw off the balance of the mix. Whether or not one of the judges would take note that the lyrics were very dark didn't matter because I knew they were there and couldn't get beyond it. Now, had I been working on a Halloween mix -- oh brotha, would I have a good track! Check out the "Opening Track That Wasn't" at the bottom of this post. In other news... While I...

Good Saturday evening to one and all! Just cranked up the jukebox and I'd say off to good start when Billy Joel's "Easy Money" is the first tune out of the gate. An excellent track for a Saturday's eve. Unfortunate circumstances for The Monkey last night , although he had discovered a tasty brown ale, I didn't realize XM had a "Crap" channel. :~) Speaking of The Monkey, he may have the Old Brown Dog Ale, but this evening I'm enjoying a very tasty Terrapin Rye Pale Ale from Athens, Ga. Yes sir, a turtle playing the banjo right there on the label! Good stuff, I highly recommend it if you like hoppy pale ales. Dined early today. Ran this morning then had lunch after, but so hungry this afternoon I fired up the grill a little before 5pm. Had BBQ pork chops and some veggies. I nice starter before getting to work on my Summer Mix. Yes the gauntlet has been thrown down once again for the best Summer Mix, a contest between Ol' Lazy Acres, Senor Blan...

You may recall this cement drainage ramp that I uncovered last year during my big archaeology project , that included removing all the ivy from the back yard. Yesterday, I discovered there were a lot of ants moving in and out of the bricks that enclosed what may have been flower beds in the area above the ramp. Today it was time for all of this to go. With the aid of my shovel and new sledgehammer, I removed all of the bricks and the cement ramp. Each piece of cement I removed, I found ant tunnel after ant tunnel. I sprayed the little bastards as I went, happily destroying their ant community. Oh yes, I hate ants! I was able to stand up vertically one big piece of the cement ramp and took great joy in swinging the sledgehammer into the middle of it. Broke perfectly into four manageable pieces. I also removed these old wooden landscaping timbers that were to the side where the roses have been growing wild ( top left in photos ). Looks like there will be a Moving Earth, Part III because ...

One would think that in all my blogging I would have surely titled a post "Friday Night" by now, right? Nope, so there you go. Enjoying a Stella Artois this evening. I did an image search for the same and the photo to the right of Amy Winehouse popped up so I decided to include it. She actually looks quite "girlish" in this photo, as opposed to a lot of the time she comes across looking like "a man, baby!" I had planned to cut the grass yesterday after work, but forgot the gas can was empty. Filled up the gas can today at lunch so I could hit the lawn today upon my return home. I finished the front yard, but the pollen was so bad today I could barely breath at that point. I went in and got some water, took some allergy medication and called it an evening. I'll finish the side and back tomorrow and whack the weeds of course, gotta whack them weeds! Now that I have a back yard there's lots of grass to cut, but believe me I'm not complaining. Lov...