Now Here's A Guy Who Decided To Retire...

John Madden. A legend. Maybe for only being the guy that was out there to state the obvious.

"If this team wants to win, they're gonna have to outscore their opponent".

"If your arm gets hit, the ball will not go where you want it to."

"“Hey, the offensive linemen are the biggest guys on the field, they're bigger than everybody else, and that's what makes them the biggest guys on the field.”

That is the fun guy that we all know and comedians make fun of.

The real John Madden was a guy that did things his way. Kind of like Steve Cannon in my last post. John hated flying so he got a big motorhome and traveled in style. He was his own man, his own style.

This made me begin to think about the pop culture we have today. Legends keep retiring and / or dying. How will we replace them?

John Madden. Howard Cosell (a while ago but still applies), Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Paul Harvey, The Rat Pack, Garth Brooks (OK, that was only there for Al).

Who is original today? Apparently nobody because we are forced to allow their children to replace them. Paul Harvey's son even tries to put the same inflection on the words as his dad. Kenny Albert is a loser version of his father. Joe Buck is NOTHING compared to his father Jack.

What gives them the right to become the next guy? Talent? No way in hell. It is their name and the fact that there is nobody original left in entertainment, sports or comedy today. Music is diluted crap. Everyone uses the same beat, same lyrics and same voice treatments as the guy before.

Sports announcers are just has beens in the game without any talent for actual announcing.

We are so washed out by the big guns that we don't allow anything unusual or new today. If Madden was just starting today, would he get the gig? Would Paul Harvey get a job doing Newsss if he auditioned today? I bet no to both. We are 233 years old as a country and have run out of ideas for creativity. It was a good run I guess.

NO?

No surgery. How can that be? Is this doc a crackpot? How can the doc in 2002 be so adamant about it and I went AMA only to have it bleed out in September this year but this doc says I do not need surgery? It's not that I want the surgery. Frankly, I am a chicken shit and it really cramps my schedule.



Well, here is the deal. He saw the mastoiditis although he said it is not the whole mastoid. He thinks a little prednisone and more antibiotic (my gut it gonna be eaten away) should take care of it for now. He does want to see me in two weeks to be 100% sure, but at this point, he thinks we stay away from the knife. The best part of the visit was that Jessa got to witness deep ear suctioning for the first time. The look on my face combined with the sound and the fact that I plugged the suction tip 2 times!!! Having it done really sucks, literally, but I am used to it after having it done so many times in my life.

This just in....Rube Nation Tries a Honeycrisp....

This one day, The Rube calls me. He is shocked at how much the Honeycrisps were on his grocery bill. At this point, still no word on whether he likes them or not. The offer still stands to buy them from you at 1/2 price.

Looks like there is hope to go to Saskatoon yet!

I was reading a story on Lorrie Morgan having just filed bankruptcy to "reorganize her company". Turns out she is broke. What part of "do not spend more than you have" don't you understand Lorrie? I guess when she sang "Something in Red", she was talking about her bottom line. She says she needs to reorganize her company after her recent divorce from Sammy Kershaw. Don't Go Near The IRS Man, Sammy....don't worry about the water! The best part is that this is ex-hubby #5 for Morgan. Al is only through 2. That means we can have a wedding for Al in Saskatoon, then #4 in Moose Jaw and #5 in Winnipeg just to be different and experience a different province. Of course, all divorce celebrations to be held in Vegas.

Prior to being sidetracked on Al's future weddings, I thought about this a little deeper. Lorrie's "company" needs to be reorganized. Company? Look, your music stopped selling. The reorganization needs to be an effort to find a new line of work! In the sprirt of this though, I had a band once with some friends. I'd like to reorganize and try again. To offset my wage loss while I work on this little project, I will just file bankruptcy to protect my assets. Great plan!

On The Day You Were Born....Living Live!

I rarely find a website so neat that I have a desire to share it. Today, Karissa sent me one that I really like. This site tells you the #1 song the day you were born, married, etc. It is simple and fun. Then again, I am the type of guy that likes to look through the Billboard Top 100 book as comfort reading. I might be a little different.

I am curious to know what the songs for your birthdays, etc are. My songs of note...

• Birthday: Tears of a Clown by Smokey Robinson - somewhat fitting for me I think.
• 21st Birthday (What we did shots to....): Black or White by Michael Jackson (cool video)
• Wedding Day: Take a Bow by Madonna....I don't even know this song.
• Day I started at LTCG: Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon....again, I don't know this song and LTCG is NOT everything I want....not yet anyway.

Here is Smokey doing the LIVE cut of my song!

Living Live!

Today's Living Live is a twist. Everyone knows my love of Garth Brooks. I have another side that loves a good cover. I would love to see a greatest covers collection come out some day. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are the ultimate cover band. In fact, their fame is predicated solely on covering other guys songs.

This recording is not very good but has them covering the greatest Garth song ever, Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old) (even Al agrees with that).

This one time, at band camp....

Well, we are back from our week at band camp. Technically, not band camp but close enough. Jess, Jake and I played chapparone to the 103 middle schoolers of the New Richmond Middle School Marching Tigers on the 9 day journey. The itinerary looked like this:

Day 1: Depart NR, drive all night to Cleveland.
Day 2: Perform field show and march in 3 mile parade. Visit Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Drive all night to Jacksonville, FL.
Day 3: Perform for Mandarin Middle School (1568 students) in Jacksonville, FL. Bring kids to Blizzard Beach where I am certain we left an oil slick. We all were starting to stink!
Day 4: Drive to St. Petersburg. Do a field show and perform again on the field for the Tampa Bay Rays. Awesome! Head back to Orlando to get to the Magic Kingdom. March in Spectromagic Parade for 55,000.
Day 5: Magic Kingdom all day with another parade, the daytime Share a Dream Come True with roughly 38,000 onlookers.
Day 6: Drive East to Kennedy Space Center. Perform field show and tour center. Go to Cocoa Beach for fun, sun and a BBQ.
Day 7: Load busses at 6:30 AM. Character breakfast at Animal Kingdom. Leave AK for EPCOT at noon. Stay remainder of day at EPCOT with the 1 mile+ parade around Showcase Lagoon. Approximate viewers was 45,000. Load busses at 11 and leave for Memphis.
Day 8: Memphis - with performance for Elvis and tour of Graceland. See Mud Island in the Mississippi River. Head to Interstate BBQ (Best in Memphis and has been on every food TV show) for BBQ and peach cobbler. YUM! Drive all night to Madison.
Day 9: Perform at Wisconny State Capitol in Madison and tour. Head for New Richmond

I have to say, despite the smelly people, 4 nights on busses and very little sleep, it was a fantastic trip. Here are 2 of my favorite photos. The first is a lucky chance that I saw Ashlie on the big screen at Tropicana Field as the jumbo screen was behind us. The other is the band at Kennedy Space Center. This was a once in a lifetime trip for many of the kids. It showed on their faces and I am so proud to have been a part of it. GREAT JOB New Richmond Tigers!!

Living Live! Take 2!

Today's living live is one of my favorite Billy Joel songs. I finally heard it live for the first time in April of 2007. Yes, that means it is not one of his mainstream "must play" songs.

My overall favorite will always be New York State of Mind which will undoubtedly get its day in the Living Live spotlight. As a piano player, NY State of Mind is great but not too hard to play. This piece is a different story and really shows Billy's depth of writing and playing ability. The Saint Paul show's video is also on YouTube but the Dallas bootleg is much clearer.

Presenting....the one and only Billy Joel performing Root Beer Rag!

LIVING LIVE! James Taylor and Joe Walsh - Steamroller

Back on Feburay 18th, I mentioned that I wanted to emulate (a.k.a. "copy") a them used by another blogger. He posts a theme called "Way Back Wednesday" which shows a YouTube video of some older song. I liked the idea but wanted to share live songs. I think I want to call this "Living Live" since no days of the week start with "L". Plus, to even begin to think I could do this with any sense of schedule is simply a joke.

Here is my first one. I know Al would assume Garth might be my first post but it is not. I am hitting 2 great musicians here. Joe Walsh and James Taylor. Steamroller live is a great song. I have one recording where James even scats a "MFer" in the end which is classic. Add in the great blues riffs by Joe and you have a hell of a live performance.

One more note to this song (and any others), I have a sincere love for the sound of a Hammond B-3 organ. When played right, it will instantly pulsate chills up and down my spine. There is a nice B riff at about 2 minutes into this song. I have always wanted to compile a CD with the best B-3 solos.

EDIT: When I added my tags, etc - I lost the inserted YOUTUBE view. Until I figure out how to do that on my own, here is a link to the video.

JAMES TAYLOR and JOE WALSH - STEAMROLLER LIVE!

How PC Can You Get?

To the loyal "Orracle" fans out there, I know what you are thinking.

"The Orracle....PC?"

The answer to that question is YES!

I don't know why but out of the blue today, at a stop for tax software at Best Buy, we bought a new desk PC AND a new laptop.

The desktop was simple. Our old one sucks. We have an old PC with an old CRT monitor and just needed to upgrade.

The laptop? I am having a harder time justifying that one. Work provides one to both Jess and me. So why get another? For starters, we bought a sale Toshiba that was $449. Not a whole lot of power but playing around tonight, it is really nice and has a great screen. You never know....it just might end up going south with Senior Orr and Madame Bradley. Just a thought. I think if shown how to get to the internet and to email, dad might check it. Well....at least in the mornings. Maybe that is just a pipe dream...but we all need to dream.

All said and done, with $70 in software added in (tax and spyware tools), it came to a measly $1251.00. Not bad for 2 units.

This trip started with a visit to the MN Valley Humane Society where all of the labs rescued from the puppy mill in Central Wisconny were. We were VERY close to adopting a small yellow lab named Carter. I just did not want to deal with the potential health issues starting with the extensive worming that will have to be finished by their owner. Even without our help, all 4 of the pups brought up from the infirmary today were adopted. Lots of traffic in the shelter so all in all, the blight brought onto these dogs was a blessing for the shelter having received extensive media coverage. Considering what costs we may have incurred for a new puppy, the $1250 for the computers seems small.

Come back later this week. A fellow blogger does a post every Wednesday called "Wayback Wednesday". I love this idea and he says that if you are inspired by this idea, feel free to copy it. And so I am. My music video posts will be of the LIVE concert theme at least for now. Everytime I listen to Sirius, I wish there were a channel of nothing but live performances. Another great channel would be nothing but covers - but we'll save that for later.

The posts still need to be named, but look back for that feature on this blog!

Have a great week~
The Orracle

I've Been Outdone

Hey everyone~

I asked Ashlie if she had read my blog at all. Mainly I wanted her to see the happy birthday to her on there but it never hurts to go and promote for new readers...

She apparently liked the idea because she created one of her own. The title surprises me since she is more of an instrumentalist than a singer. What instruments you ask? Well, Alto Sax, Soprano Sax, Piano very well. Newly added are Clarinet, Flute (no comments from the American Pie crowd, please) and guitar.

At any rate, take a look over to her blog and leave her a comment if you can. Her first post is great. I should just retire or have her write my posts I guess. On second thought, she gives me the credit in her header, so I'll stick around.

Introducing A Capella Ashlie

Over and out,
The Orracle.

Garth?

I heard mention of the Garth "Ultimate Hits" collection that was coming out. I figured it was just another tool to get him another 20 million units sold. Even I as the complete Garth fanatic, am beginning to think that there is a limit to how many times the same songs can be released. Having said that, I will buy this one too.

Jess saw a commercial for his ONE MAN, ONE SHOW, ONE NIGHT show that was to be on GAC. I set the TiVO to record (even though its description was cleverly disguised as "TBA").

There was the preshow on all week pitching the CDs and DVDs in the Ultimate Hits Collection. That was great. The concert finally recorded and I watched it. New stage. New band members. New World Tour? Please? I am begging!

What I thought was only one night was 9. He did 9 shows in Kansas City...just 7 hours from here and I did not know? How could this have happened to me? Did Al Kunz know and not tell me? No - he would never deprive me out of his general dislike for Garth would he? Somehow, this completely avoided me or I would have been there.

The magic words were spoken after The Dance. "If you wait for me. I promise - I will be back!" That is the greatest news in a long time.

I spent much of this weekend entering CD data into my DJ database. Everytime I have a new artist or new artist combination (as in "Young Dro Feat JC and Lil Dickhead and Scumbag Thug"), I have to stop my entry and enter in the new "artist" into my artist table. Every disc has 19-21 tracks. Every disc I enter 4-5 new "artists". Always rappers. Usually one timers (not even classifiable as One Hit Wonders). I am so sick of these know-nothing-no-talent-thugs cluttering up the airwaves and my CDs that I want to barf! Knowing that Garth will be back...releasing CDs and touring is like finding out the end of a plague is coming.

The concert...yes, it was fantastic. Now I know Al will comment and say what he says about Garth. If Andre reads this, he will probably post something about Garth on his lack of singing qualities (no, he is not Opera Doc).

No matter your take. You must admit. The man is awesome. No matter where he goes. No matter how long he has been away. He can pack 9 shows, probably sell them out in 2 hours, and have every song sang word for word by 90% of the fans at the show. That my friends is the true definition of Superstar.

I am predicting 2014 as the year he officially comes back. That is when his youngest is done with school and daddy Garth has fulfilled his promise to them.

Oh, what a long 7 years it will be. Good thing I have every CD he ever released....