As i mentioned in yesterday’s journal, my hockey team had a practice last night from 9pm to 11pm. I woke up today feeling like I’d been a victim of a hit and run. Either that or Tanya Harding hit me a bunch of times with that iron rod. I’m sore as hell but it was a really good practice. Tonight’s game is VERY late. Later than we normally play but I’m looking forward to the game(as always).

Much of the team is sick with the Flu or Colds…I think i felt it trying to creep up on me the other day but I actually feel pretty good today–other than a few aching muscles i never even knew i had.

Enough about that…I’m looking at the calendar right now…WHERE DID THIS MONTH GO? Well…Need to get back to work and get ready for the game tonight.

Tonight from 9 to 11pm I’ve got Hockey practice and then we have a late game tomorrow night at 9:45pm. Suits me fine since I’m a bit of a night owl. Hell, sometimes my brain doesn’t wake up until 4pm (some days it just takes longer than other to get it in gear).

Today, I’m in slow motion but i hope to be feeling better by tonight. Actually, I’ve been feeling pretty crappy. Hope it isn’t the start of a cold/flu. I think I’d rather have a broken rib than have to deal with a fever. I’ll just pretend I’m DANDY and it’ll go away

Yesterday, I got a nice email from a gal named Crystal who is a round-about friend of my good friends Kevin and Missy. She was saying some nice things about the old Moisture CD. [Kevin Jellison, was the lead guitarist for Moisture and you can see him on the Farmclub.com video of Upside Down]…Basically, it was a nice reminder that i need to give Kev a call and touch base.

If I had to make a list of the top guitar players of ALL TIME, Kevin would be on this list! He is a super talent who deserves much more than the music world has given him. I tend to exaggerate but when it comes to Kevin’s playing, i speak no Tall Tale. The guy SHREDS on guitar and knows his instrument like it it’s an extension of his body. I miss the guy as a band mate as well…Ah hell, i miss the whole Moisture band.

One thing about a band is…It feels like another family. It’s borderline “GANG”…Put in Super Hero terms…We were either the Justice League or the Legion of Doom …I’m not sure those times can ever return to the way it used to be… But if i could go back in time and change some things, you bet i would.

I could easily dwell on this, but i need to save something for the VH1 “Behind the Music” episode you know

In any event, i need to set up another showcase in the next month or so…Perhaps I’ll give Kev a call and see if he wants to do a show.

Yesterday’s post sparked quite a few emails. Looking back on it…It’s really quite humorous. Basically what you had there was two nice people at cranky moments. Francis emailed me back:

Please excuse the last mail - I was confused ‘cos I didn’t get

any sleep last night. I didn’t mean to be rude

We all have our moments of jumping the gun…I’m guilty of doing that all too much, but i suppose those are the things that make us human.

In many ways, I’m very thankful for that email…Mainly because it caused people who’ve been lurking and reading, to come out of the woodwork. Sometimes i forget that i actually have people who read this. It’s not until someone comments on something that I’m reminded. I do check my site stats and i anxiously wait for the day when the site is in the top 100 thousand at Alexa.com. Right now they have me ranked at 133,083. Sometimes I wonder if that’s a mistake but no complaints from me [While we're on the rank subject--a sincere THANKS to the people who continue to read]

Another “thank you” i have to send out is to someone who pointed out that they didn’t like that the site resized their web browser. I’m glad that was pointed out to me. I’m guessing that they are running their resolution at 600 X 800 and that my site was overextending their screen. Regardless, I took out the “resizers” on the audio section, the blog, and the main flash page but i left them in on the actual Videos. I hope that doesn’t cause too much of a problem. I’m here to please

I’ve got a 17 incher ..COMPUTER SCREEN…[minds out of the gutter please ;)] And so, all the resizing of web browsers had no effect on me..It was actually a help..That was the intent

Well…All that aside…All is good… All is well. It’s Saturday…I leave ya’s with a video i taped not too long ago of a song i butchered titled “Little Hercules”. I wasn’t going to post it for public viewing because there’s some VERY rough edges….like, I was actually reading the lyrics off a sheet of paper sitting on the piano. I thought of recording the song in the studio with a band but now I’m not sure. Well…Enough blogging for now… here’s the clip [just keep in mind it will resize your browser LOL ]

Smallville: This week on Smallville, writers for the show decide to rehash the old character of TELEPORTING NYMPHO GIRL who DRUGS Clark with Red Kryptonite and takes him to Vegas for a quickie Marriage! Meanwhile, this show takes on a whole After School Special tone for Teen Pregnancy as Lana struggles on whether or not she wants to quit being a little tease and put out. YES, you ARE expected to believe that she spent a month in Paris with her new boyfriend who’s 4 or 5 years older than her, lived with him for the past 6 months and they have NOT had SEX??? It could happen.
Meanwhile, Clark’s mom breaks down in tears and start yelling at Clark for running off and getting married. MARTHA KENT!! HE WAS DRUGGED!! HE DIDN’T KNOW!! THE MARRIAGE WAS NOT LEGAL!!! RELAX!

I SOOOOO LOVE this show! It’s really the best thing on TV. I’ve never really followed a super soap like this before but now I’m so hooked i go through withdrawals when it’s not on Say, does anyone know what happened to Pete?

Well… I need to get to real work done. Sorry for not blogging yesterday. I do hope today’s entry made up for the lack of yesterdays Happy weekend to you all!

Some days, I just don’t feel like Blogging…This is one of those.

Sorry…I’ll be back tomorrow with incredibly exciting stories for you all

[truth is, I'm just beat]

Smallville’s on tonight?

Today was fun…I sat in on a photo shoot for a singer/drummer Luis Cardenas. Some of you might remember Luis from the 80’s as he had a few hits and videos on MTV then. One was a remake if the song “Runaway”. Here’s a link to the video in case anyone needs to be refreshed. Of course Luis doesn’t look quite the same these days…as styles change. In fact…I’m happy to report he’s kept up with the times rather than being stuck with the same old look.

I think some entertainers get stuck with a look and try to stay looking the same for years. A good example of that is Neil Diamond. I love Neil’s music but i think the guy needs a new hair style. So someone please do me a favor and warn me if something like that happens to me down the road (or even now LOL ). I won’t take it personally.

Back to Luis, he was a very nice and down to Earth fellow…as was his manager Kim.

And so, that was pretty much my day..How was yours?

I was blown away at KD Lang’s song and performance on the Tonight Show last night. The song she sang “Simple” is one of my new favorites. I can’t stop listening to it…It makes me happy and sad all at the same time. But most of all it makes me feel something. There’s not too much new music out there today that makes me feel anything more than a headache. I know…I’m not very “hip” but if “hip” means having to hop onto the flavor of the day, then i am proud to be a square.

As for the Tonight Show last night, i thought Leno did a superb job. Very classy Jay! Watching Ed McMahon was very hard, but I’m sure it was much harder for him to be there. I was pretty sure he was going to break down but maintained his composure as well as he could. I would have liked to have seen a 2 hour show…The hour went by very fast. AND, I only saw one commercial for Nicorette Gum–I suppose that was ok. Sure beats that OXYGEN one i saw the other night–that one really disgusted me! Seriously, has anyone every seen this commercial? It’s quite ridiculous.

I received and email today from a gal i went to school with named Traci and it was one of those “pass along” things. Normally, i just delete those things but this one was worth a read and clever. Thanks Traci….I’ll post it at the end of this entry

Oh before I go, i have to talk about my celebrity sighting. Driving down Sunset Blvd. I was stopped at a red light…And to my left in the left-turning lane wanting to cut me off was none other than Angelina Jolie. She was a polite driver…She looked at me and asked in what i like to call Driver’s Sign Language, if she could get in front of me. I nodded my head with an “of course you can my dear!”–I’m pretty sure she just read it as a “yes” though



She did smile back at me though…Probably because I did one of those obvious triple takes. Anyway…The things one can see on Sunset Blvd. are interesting as hell.

And now i leave you with the email from Traci:

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank

while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn’t get tested

for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright

colored lead-based paints.

We had no child-proof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets

and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention,

the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air

bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a

special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and

NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar

in it, but we weren’t Overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE

PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as

we were back when the street-lights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then

ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After

running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the

problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games

at all, no 99 channels on cable,

no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no

personal computers, no internet or

internet chat rooms……….WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside

and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there

were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and

although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very

many eyes, nor did the worms live in us forever.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the

door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little league had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those

who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine

that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was

unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

We actually got the HELL beat out of us, and there was no

calling DFAC.

Not to mention, the neighbors could beat us, call our

parents, and tell them that they beat us, and then got beat again

when we made it home.

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers,

problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new

ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we

learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! Please pass this on to

others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the

lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors,

doesn’t it?!

Not all of this applies. My mother never smoked(thanks Mom!)…but it’s not meant to be taken literally …Though you will never catch me drinking water from a garden hose again …Those were the days

NBC put together a very nice video eulogy and played some great Carson Classics.

The one thing i thought was in very bad taste, were the advertisements while watching the late night CNBC coverage. I’m sure it was a local cable thing, but in my area the commercials in-between the Carson segments were all for really tacky things…Like the one i saw for “OXYGEN FOR THE ELDERLY”. I mean, they were looking for a target audience but it just seemed crude–I almost called the 800 number just to let them know. In any event, I look forward to Leno tonight to see what they’re going to do. I’m guessing this might Leno’s highest rated show.

More about yesterday…

We won our Hockey game 3 to 2. NICE to win!!

On to today…

Well…Right now, I’m going to take a break and CRANK some Andy Gibb. I can’t seem to get the song “I Just Want to be Your Everything” out of my head.

Ok…So you get 3 posts in one day.

1. Groggy Bob
2. Sad news
3. My own feelings

I really don’t care who knows this, but yes…I’m sitting here feeling sad over the death of Johnny Carson.

Like many artists, actors, musicians, comedians out there, while growing up …We dream of success and our 1st Tonight Show appearance. Nothing wrong with dreams right?

When Carson retired in the early 90’s it was the end of an era. Not just for the folks watching at home snuggled in bed watching a guy swing an imaginary golf club but for people like myself, it was the realization of missing a timeline window of getting our chance to sit in the chair. Leno and Letterman are the next best thing but they but they don’t carry the same magic Johnny had.

When Johnny retired, late night TV also changed…Not just with the talk show hosts, but now there’s a whole generation of (what some call) Old Hollywood that just vanished (and these people are not dead). I miss it and I miss my chance to be a part of that. It was a classy Hollywood…Some of you old enough to remember, know exactly what I’m talking about. Those of you who are clueless…Consider yourself linked!

Thinking back to my own dreams of getting to sit in “the chair”, when Carson retired I realized that I’d just have to pick a different chair and move on… but it’s just not quite the same. So why would the death of Carson hit so hard? It’s not as though I thought Johnny was going to come out of retirement and late night would return to the way it was…The answer? I don’t know. All I do know is that I just feel really sad and someone from my childhood memory is dead.

Living here in Hollywood, we see celebrities all the time…But for me, there’s only a handful of people whos presence enamor me… And Johnny would have been one of them.

Johnny Carson, King of Late Night, Dies

Jan 23, 2:00 PM (ET)

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Johnny Carson, the “Tonight Show” TV host who served America a smooth nightcap of celebrity banter, droll comedy and heartland charm for 30 years, has died. He was 79.

“Mr. Carson passed away peacefully early Sunday morning,” his nephew, Jeff Sotzing, told The Associated Press. “He was surrounded by his family, whose loss will be immeasurable. There will be no memorial service.”

Sotzing would not give further details, including the time of death or the location.

The boyish-looking Nebraska native with the disarming grin, who survived every attempt to topple him from his late-night talk show throne, was a star who managed never to distance himself from his audience.

His wealth, the adoration of his guests - particularly the many young comics whose careers he launched - the wry tales of multiple divorces: Carson’s air of modesty made it all serve to enhance his bedtime intimacy with viewers.

“Heeeeere’s Johnny!” was the booming announcement from sidekick Ed McMahon that ushered Carson out to the stage. Then the formula: the topical monologue, the guests, the broadly played skits such as “Carnac the Magnificent.”

But America never tired of him; Carson went out on top when he retired in May 1992. In his final show, he told his audience: “And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it.”

His personal life could not match the perfection of his career. Carson was married four times, divorced three. In 1991, one of his three sons, 39-year-old Ricky, was killed in a car accident.

Nearly all of Carson’s professional life was spent in television, from his postwar start at Nebraska stations in the late 1940s to his three decades with NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”

Carson choose to let “Tonight” stand as his career zenith and his finale, withdrawing into a quiet retirement that suited his private nature and refusing involvement in other show business projects.

In 1993, he explained his absence from the limelight.

“I have an ego like anybody else,” Carson told The Washington Post, “but I don’t need to be stoked by going before the public all the time.”
——————————————————————–