The Mystery Spot

A Better Day

2012-02-01T04:20:00.001-08:00

For the first time in several years, there is a glimmer of optimism at the Everton Football Club. For too long the club has claimed being broke as its main reason for not acquiring players that will improve the team. This was happening while teams with lesser fan bases and scanter coffers were making improvements to the point of passing Everton on the table.

Last month though, team management went all in, or what Chelsea would spend on twenty percent of a useless Spanish striker.

They first sold under achieving winger Diniyar Bilyaletdinov back to Russia, and purchased under achieving and in the doghouse mid-fielder Darren Gibson from Manchester United.

Everton manager David Moyes has been somewhat maligned by the supporters. His loyalty at starting ineffective players is one of his flaws. Recently he has been able to see the error of his ways and has began giving some motivated players such as Royston Drenthe and Denis Stracqualursi starting roles, to modest success.

The team has been lacking in strikers for years and yesterday the team signed FC Rangers leading scorer Nikica Jelavic, giving the team a threat in the front line. Really hoping Jelavic has some success in the EPL, for other Scottish strikers have not been able to score outside the SPL, just ask Kris Boyd.

Everton also loaned out past his prime striker Louis Saha to Tottenham and at the last minute acquired mid-fielder Stephen Pienaar from this same Tottenham side. I liked Pienaar when he played for Everton, he left in a money dispute, and a false promise that he'd get playing time with the Spurs, but he was not able to break into their lineup.

So it was with good feeling that Everton played first place Manchester City yesterday. A point would have been a success but miracles build in Goodison Park as Darron Gibson scored the only goal as the Toffees beat the Blues 1-0.

The game was also marked by a stoppage late in the first half when a clown came out of the crowd and handcuffed himself to Joe Hart's goalpost.

Everton's now ninth in the league. Honestly, I still do not see them getting much higher. Maybe seventh is possible, with luck sixth. After another disastrous start, it will be hard to advance. It was a relief to see Kenwright break out some money for some clear improvements to a stagnating squad.

Kenwright incidentally is in a long term relationship with an actress from one of my favorite films.

Everton's next match is on Saturday against Wigan.

What I'm Drinking 8

2012-01-31T04:21:00.000-08:00

Windfell

2012-01-30T04:26:00.000-08:00

Despite my lack of production in other areas, I got our taxes finished this weekend. For the first time since my divorce I was able to claim my son and therefore received a modest refund. Not a major windfall by any means, but enough to pay for the car insurance and a tea kettle that does not leak.

My wife received some good news, she is now an official permanent resident of the U.S. Her new Green Card came in the mail on Friday and we do not have to worry about anything immigration related for another ten years.

Mere words cannot express my disdain for the above character. I give my son his iPad, he immediately finds videos of her, and watches them over and over. The learned helplessness is overwhelming. The annoying meter, breaks the meter. I know, it's something he gets, but you have not lived until you have heard the words "Bridge, rocks, tall mountain" shouted at 3AM. Try it sometime.

It will arrive

2012-01-28T05:23:00.000-08:00

I write in a comfort zone often. I suspect this problem is not unique. A writer can fall into a lack of confidence, and then write about the familiar to at least keep writing.

My pen's fast food is Mad Magazine snark, a bunch of anger, my son's autism and too much autobiography. I'm more than capable of writing outside of those zones, more often than not I look at it afterwards shake my head and move on. Or move back as it were.

In the middle of a piece not quite outside of the zone. Trying to not write a poem that does not have frequent uses of the word "I" is tough for me to do. In a place I know about but do not reside in and am flailing about for an ending. Tried wedging in a fragment I had lying around and that did not work.

This one's going to get finished. I'm not worried, just kicking my own tires.

Thanks to my mom, I downloaded the Proloquo2go app. Have not had much time to work with it, but it does seem easy to use. The trick is to get my son to actually use it appropriately. He loves the iPad, and is more than capable of navigating it, but spends most of his time watching trailers and videos. Often watches the same video on repeat.

We're also taking him to a new doctor concerning his eating. He's 4'3" and weighs 46 pounds. Very thin. We have some ideas and are working on a new approach. It's hard.

What wad ye wish for mair, man?

2012-01-26T04:16:00.001-08:00

It was a perfect storm of poetry last night. For the past day or two I'd been taunting my wife, trying to get her to read something by Rabbie Burns at Writers' Block. How often does Burns supper fall on a Wednesday.

After I sent her some of Burns' most erotic and filthy poems in email, she found one a bit more sensible and read last night. She had to represent!

After a three virgin open mic, and one of them was thirteen, Scott Woods took twelve minutes to introduce Rick, who did a twelve second poem. No wonder he gets so many time penalties.

There was also the first qualifying slam for Nats. Eight poets entered and J.G. won this night, with Wali taking second and Gina third. Each of them earns points to get into the Grand Slam. Louise came in fourth, myself fifth and Alexis, sixth, with Rose and Izetta in there as well.

I did a new one called 'A Few Words from our Sponsor" and "Slam Poet Junction," which I'd only used in a slam once before, at Rust Belt. I think it's only been read three times, despite it having You Tube presence. I'm glad the No Repeat Rule remains in effect this year. Tired of relying on the same poems to earn high scores and points. Time to challenge myself to do newer work, or at least poems that have not been performed. Same as last year.

Strong to the finish

2012-01-25T09:48:00.000-08:00

Not much to say so I'll keep posting videos until I figure it out. As a kid, I loved the Max Fleischer Popeye cartoons. I think they'd approve of this.

Adult Music for Adults

2012-01-24T11:48:00.000-08:00

This record by Tim Finn came out late last year. I have no idea where it was released, maybe just in New Zealand and Australia, but this is another fine pop record by a very good songwriter. Just found it now.

The record is called The View Is Worth The Climb. Here's another one from it.

That's his daughter in the back seat.

De mortuis nil nisi bonum

2012-01-22T16:26:00.000-08:00

It's easy to pile on a dead guy. No matter what he or she did they're no longer capable of speaking for themselves in an admission of guilt or defense.

Never met Joe Paterno, or had any real stake in Penn State University or its sports programs. He'd been coaching at Penn State for most of my life.

Reading the hate attacks on Joe Paterno over various social media today has been rather dismaying. All I can say is that a distinguished career ended with a horrible series of events and that my respect for him is noticeably diminished but not eliminated.

Can you convict a dead man? Focus on the living, and bring the guilty to justice. Or is it easier to focus on a the dead legacy of Joe Paterno than the living hypocrisy and crimes of Jerry Sandusky and the Penn State Athletic Department?

Do You Haiku?

2012-01-21T07:32:00.001-08:00

Last night was the annual NuKu Haiku Head to Head Match at Writers' Block First Draft. I was asked to be in the event and began preparation weeks ago. Thinking in 5-7-5 and three lines. Writing Haiku on an almost daily basis and right up to minutes before the start.

The emcee was Taz Yamaguchi, a national Haiku Master, who ran the match with dignity and precision.

Open mic was very good last night and John Barnes knocked me out with a couple of short poems that had some thought provoking punch.

Taz also did a feature, with Colin Martin providing some great emphasis on his saxophone.

Now it was time for the match, and for the brackets to be filled. I drew a bout with Rose Smith. Advancing was going to be difficult, if not impossible.

I brought out some wack stuff, and somehow won in three straight. Stunned. Beyond. Belief.

In round two, I faced off against Alexis. She was more than prepared for me and took me out in four.

If you're going to be taken out, it's best to be taken out by the champion, which I was. Alexis took on Vernell in the finals and won. Amazing and well earned!

All the participants did great. Ara, Izetta, Hanif and Andy Anderson; who deserves this award for one of his Haiku.

Here is what I did last night, in order.

Kenny G. divorce
We can only conclude that
Sax is not enough

Your soul is bitter
Like a Gingrich ex-wife or
either of my two

Go down with your ship
Bad Italian sea captain
Chicken of the sea

Ok George Lucas
Do I have to see Red Tails?
Is Jar Jar in this?

Calista Gingrich
Are you completely frozen
below the waist, too?

Ice, rain, water, wind
snow, dust storm, hurricane, sleet
Shit my Haiku says

Ghosts are terrified
when Courtney Love has breakfast
without make up on

And here are three more I did not get to do.

Sad nativity
Balthazar brought the wrong myrrh
Forgot the receipt

Perry Huntsman Paul
Gingrich Santorum Romney
I miss Herman Cain

Failure writes itself
Sad Columbus Blue Jackets
Whoops, another goal

One more since he called me out last night.

Scott Woods is racist
When we ordered chicken wings
He took all the sauce

Oh Hell, a couple more

Scott Woods Guide to Love
Bedsheets, wrap her up tightly
Jar of Mrs. Dash

Fully loaded Glock
and fully loaded strippers
The Chet's Guide to Love

Thanks to Louise for putting this night together. Great evening!

Not treading on new ground

2012-01-19T04:09:00.000-08:00

Got home from the movies last night and the first thing I see on my Facebook feeds is that BJ's caught fire last night. BJ's is the bar I lived in during the eighties. DJed there for a couple of years and chewed a lot of Bazooka gum while staying until closing time. It's one of the oldest bars in Western New York and a Fredonia landmark.

After the initial shock friends of mine were reporting that there is water damage but it's not as severe as it could have been. The apartment directly above the bar caught fire, causing the damage and a few ceiling tiles fell.

Most important. No one was hurt.

There was a bit of internet panic going on, but people were already joining forces and speaking of fund raisers and getting the band back together to reopen the place. That's how special it was. I hate to be hokey, drowning in false nostalgia, but that joint was my Cheers, and I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Earlier we went to see The Artist. I've been jonesing to see this film since it got such amazing buzz at Cannes. If you don't already know, it's a silent film.

Naturally it has a score, one that has Kim Novak screaming rape.. I'll agree that Bernard Hermann's score from Vertigo was used liberally during pivotal scenes, but rape is a rather harsh word to use.

It's a simple plot, big star meets adorable extra girl in a cute way. He refuses to adapt to talkies while her star ascends. He goes from a strutting cad with plenty of arrogance only to fall into a rigid pit of despair. There's also a great dog.

I liked the film, but thought some of the pacing and energy could have been increased. There are a few wonderful images, almost too many homages to silent films of the past. The nostalgia nearly borders on pretentious, the heartless can call it that, if they may. Once scene right at the beginning of the audience watching the film being screened made my jaw drop and I wish the rest of the film had as many surprises.

The acting was excellent. The lead man, Jean Dujardin, is big screen friendly with looks that cross between Gene Kelly and Douglas Fairbanks. The lovely leading lady, Berenice Bejo, had plenty of sass but you only saw the shine and chemistry the pair had together infrequently, but when they burned it was amazing to witness!

The Artist did not blaze any new trails, how could it? The film is well made, well acted and depicts a cinematic past that should be celebrated more, and preserved.

What I'm Drinking 7

2012-01-17T03:57:00.000-08:00

Stepped into an another world

2012-01-16T10:01:00.000-08:00

It took weeks but at about 12:30AM today I finally finished Haruki Murakami's 925 page work 1Q84. It was a lesson in endurance that in the end proved worth the effort.

The prose is dense, Proustian at times and Proust is being read by one of the characters to pass the time.

Aomame (sweet peas) is a thirty year old woman who is a contract killer. On the way to a job she descends a staircase next to a highway and finds herself in an alternate reality. One with two moons.

Tengo is a thirty year old teacher who is an aspiring novelist. His father worked for NHK (Japanese television) as a fee collector. His mother is absent from the scene. Tengo does not think the man who raised him is his father.

Fuka-Eri is a seventeen year old girl who wrote a manuscript that was rewritten by Tengo that becomes a best seller. Fuka-Eri has secrets.

A lot of stuff happens, as you'd hope in a book of its size. The chapters cut back and forth between Aomane and Tengo as their paths begin to cross. Naturally the mystery will be if, how and why? There's a lot of wit, magic and sadness which is typical for Murakami.

The prose can be rather thick to get through at times. The details can be a bit maddening but it's a good book to read through a couple of short chapters at a time, then digest and repeat.

I do not think it's a book for people who have not read Murakami before, nor is it strictly a fans only novel. It's not a bad book to have by your bedside, to absorb a few pages before going to bed.

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I liked reading this with whisky and will real something a much lighter as a follow up.

No such thing as a free App

2012-01-13T18:52:00.000-08:00

Been trying to find apps for my son on the Ipad to use that do not involve him watching the same Dora the Explorer trailer over and over. A fellow poet posted a link on Facebook to an app called Scribblepress that seems to attract him.

Tonight we were working together with it and he was naming all the colors of the pens he was using as he scribbled on the screen. It's very easy to use. I have not made a book with him yet, but we're going to take some more pictures soon enough.

It's tough to find things we can do together. I got him a Hot Wheels set that he does go to once in awhile, and he uses it rather appropriately. That's one of the rare ones. I feel like my life with him leans more toward the miss out of he hit and miss. Winter's here and I'm feeling a bit lost. A picture I do not want to draw.

Pow Pow

2012-01-11T04:39:00.000-08:00

Tonight at Writers' Block Hanif Abdurraqib aka Two Gun McBride will be featuring.

Hanif's been running his own night at Travonna Cafe for some time now and it's a great opportunity to get even more familiar with his work, and his cardigans. Starts at eight at Kafe Kerouac.

Coming up next Friday, Writers' Block First Draft is underway. It's the NuKu Haiku Deathmatch featuring Taz Yamaguchi, national haiku master and filmographer with Colin Martin, saxophonist extraordinaire. Going to be a great night, I have been working on assembling some deadly haiku.

Running, not standing still

2012-01-09T08:10:00.000-08:00

This is a great video put together by a fan. Love the song.

The Explorer's Club's second album, Grand Hotel, will be released on February 14th.

If you want to hold your baby tonight

2012-01-07T07:44:00.000-08:00

Sad news that Tom Ardolino, the drummer of NRBQ, has died at the age of 56 after an undisclosed illness.

A fine rock drummer, very versatile. Saw them once, in Buffalo in the early eighties. The band knocked my socks off. Did not seem to have a set list, but went off Terry Adams cues, or notes he played on the piano, or some mystical magic that existed between the members of the quartet.

Before the show a friend of mine interviewed them for the college station, and I went backstage with him. Got Terry and Joey's autographs, Big Al walked though. That man was huge!

Never had a real chance to see the band again. They played Comfest, but we were out of town. They were going to play in a local bar, but cancelled. One of the most under rated bands of all time. House band of The Simpsons.

Rest in peace Tommy.

The winds begin to howl

2012-01-05T04:02:00.000-08:00

The big news out of soccer yesterday, aside from Newcastle's thumping of Manchester United was that Tim Howard scored a goal for Everton.

No big deal you say?

Tim Howard is the goal keeper.

Here's a link to the goal if you have not seen it already.

There was little skill involved. A lucky bounce and a gusty wind did the trick. Howard himself, played down his goal and felt sorry for the Bolton keeper. Howard becomes the fourth goal keeper to score a goal in an English Premier League match.

Unfortunately for Everton, Howard's goal was not enough as they lost 1-2 to Bolton. This is what bugged me. Everton is a mid-table team, and is struggling to stay there. Bolton is in the bottom three. Everton were at home and should have won this match. They're so weak on offense, they're goal keeper scores and they still cannot win. Manager David Moyes is still relying on Tim Cahill and Louis Saha to provide the offense, but they're well past their expiration date. In fact, Cahill has not scored a single goal since 2010.

Adding to Everton's woes is that three players, Leon Osman, Jack Rodwell and Phil Jagielka went down with injuries. Jagielka's injury concerns me the most as Everton have no depth on defense. It's no coincidence that after he left the pitch, the team gave up the game tying and winning goals for Bolton.

The Toffees play an F.A. Cup match this weekend and a league match against high flying Tottenham next Wednesday. It could be a long second half of the season for Moyes and company if the gaffer does not alter his offensive tactics and get some transfer help from an owner who pleads poverty and every opportunity.

What I'm Drinking, Episode Six

2012-01-03T03:58:00.000-08:00

Bagger Vance, your days are numbered

2012-01-02T10:33:00.000-08:00

Of course the autistic kid in the new Fox series, Touch, is a genius. It is good for ratings. He may not speak, but he's off the charts with numbers, their connection to the universe and is possibly psychic!

Honestly though, they're not Rainman. Not even close. Remember Rainman, despite his incredible ability to count toothpicks, was living in an assisted care community and could not take care of himself. Most autistic people are not savants, not even close.

And Rainman, like Touch, is fiction.

Once in awhile I post about my son and his challenges on Facebook, and get some off the rails responses. "Let him sit at the table, he'll eat when he's hungry" or a link to a behavioral training course that will cure the 'defiant child' for parents that specifically states it's not for children who are severely autistic or non-verbal. Sure, their hearts are in the right place, even if they're not paying attention past clicking "like" on everyone of your status updates.

Even if I know I'm wrong Aspberger's and Autism are two different things. With Aspberger's as a malignant mole on your ass that is easily treatable and the autism my kid has being stage four colon cancer. It's an extreme analogy, but it's all I have today.

It's been a rough couple of weeks with my son. Maybe I'm magnifying it with holiday stress and my own issues but his OT at the feeding clinic has reached the end of her ability to help him. I appreciate her honesty. So we're made another appointment with a behavioral psychologist. I have no idea how much his Grandmother's death has affected him. His mother's world has had some serious upheaval in the last couple of months. They're moving into Grandma's house, which is a good move for them, and out of the sketchy apartment complex.

Meanwhile someone who does pay attention to my Facebook updates hooked me up to another doctor who deals with feeding behaviors. We had a great phone conversation. He was very compassionate and gave me some good advice and confidence. I'll follow up with him in a couple of weeks.

I'm trying to get my son to use language more, to be specific in what he wants. He gets into asking, straining before finally pushing out three words.

I.

Want.

Lolly.

So much is happening in that brain of his and it is so hard for him to filter it properly.

Unfortunately, like the kid on Touch, he's not able to give me the winning lottery numbers. Luckily he's not climbing cell phone towers at 3:18. My wife thinks the Autistic Child with "Abilities" is going to take over what was formerly the place of the Magical Negro in popular culture. We're all going to get lessons in life from the silent autistic child who does not like to be touched. So sad and poignant. A long as the ratings are high we'll see more of this, and will continue to ignore what will happen to these autistic kids as they become adults.

In closing this rant we had this honestly charming piece of real life magic this morning. My wife needed a tissue and asked him to get her one. He picked up his shoes instead.

Change of the wall calendar

2011-12-31T15:12:00.000-08:00

Here's how it ends, with the Marx Brothers on TCM. You might make #54 Monkey Business unless I decide to watch the Blue Jackets.

The death pools have been posted to.

1) Brassed Off
2) Big Fan
3) Exit Through the Gift Shop
4) Triplets of Belleville
5) Five Easy Pieces
6) The Expendables
7) A Town Called Panic
8) House of Flying Daggers
9) Sunrise
10) Who is Harry Nilsson?
11) The Secret of Kells
12) Local Hero
13) Sherlock Holmes (2009)
14) Murder by Death
15) A Mother's Courage
16) Poetry
17) The Kids are Alright (2010)
18) The Town
19) Raging Bull
20) Bottle Rocket
21) Morning Glory
22) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
23) Cave of Forgotten Dreams
24) Winter's Bone
25) Wallace & Gromit - A Matter of Loaf and Death
26) The Fighter
27) Beauty and the Beast (1991)
28) Partir
29) Romance and Cigarettes
30) Tristram Shandy a Cock & Bull Story
31) Airplane
32) Steamboat Bill Jr.
33) The King's Speech
34) Love and Other Drugs
35) Midnight in Paris
36) Blue Valentine
37) Empire Records
38) The Guard
39) Keyhole
40) Killer Elite
41) The Natural
42) Pearl Jam 20
43) Catfish
44) Passport to Pimlico
45) Whisky Galore
46) This is Spinal Tap
47) Mad Max
48) 24 Hour Party People
49) Hugo
50) Office Space
51) George Harrison: Living in the Material World
52) War Horse
53) Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten

Rest up!

Fewer posts this year than last. Readership is up, and I thank all of you for stopping by.

Trying to be brave, hiding on the couch instead

2011-12-28T19:14:00.000-08:00

The day started by messing up my plans for the weekend because my ex did not pay attention to the schedule she agreed to concerning watching our son over winter break. And it was up to me to sort it out, by altering my work schedule. I did not yell, she is not worth it. I am lucky to be in a work situation where there is flexibility, but that capital is not bottomless.

I did calm down after being at work for awhile. Then again, I am getting annoyed at people who who incessantly click 'like' on my Facebook status, no matter what it is. Feel like planting a 'my goldfish died' status update just because I know there are people who will click on like. Pay attention dammit!

Took a half day so I could head to Fado up at Easton to watch the Old Firm match. An impressive crowd of over two dozen showed up at mid-day on a Wednesday to watch the good guys win by a score of one nil. Heard some impressive cursing and serious white on white hatred. No one was stabbed though, and the distributor was giving away free Newcastle Brown Ale, not my brand, but no complaints.

While at Easton I figured I'd take in a movie since I had free time.

Have to say War Horse is one of the most beautifully filmed works of cinema I've seen in some time. The cinematography is breathtaking, the locations picturesque. It's the story of a boy and his horse during World War One. There's a lot of earnestness from the actors, and the script. There's a line from The Last of the Mohicans used which made me nearly groan out loud. Spielberg does not go Saving Private Ryan during the detailed war scenes, he keeps the gore in check while showing us that war is a nasty piece of business. The film is also about the sad advancement of weapons technology. A scene that goes from a cavalry attack to the use of machine guns is horrifying. The horses used are so expressive, they can do comedy next, they can't be worse than Sandler.

It's not Spielberg's greatest work, far from it, but a touching at times story reminiscent of an epic from the 1940's. Again, it's a visual feast.

Glazed with Hot Sauce, Beside the White Refigerator

2011-12-26T16:46:00.000-08:00

I'm a rather plain eater. There are foods I like and foods that I do not. I'm far from a foodie, and am puzzled by free range molecular gastronomy. I like a certain taco truck's chicken and have not stepped foot in McDonald's since reading Fast Food Nation.

Moving from the east coast to Western New York then to the midwest, I've come to tolerate and even appreciate pizza that is different and that mustard comes standard on the burgers at Wendy's.

What I will not deal with is an inferior chicken wing.

Thirty years ago, when I went to college in Fredonia, New York, I had never heard of the chicken wing as being a major food group. Soon, though, I learned about ten cent wing night at B.J.'s, where a cook named Gary Kowalski manned the fryer that made the best chicken wings in existence. In later years I had the wings at Ground Zero, The Anchor Bar, and they were pretty darn good, but over priced. I was also turned on to the wings at Duff's, people think they're the best and I'm not going to argue with them.

Moving to Columbus twenty one years ago, it was hard to find a decent wing. Places that were hyped as being the best in Central Ohio were tried, and frankly they sucked. Greasy, soaking wet in slime - all loud hot sauce with little meat and less balance. Idiots did not realize they had to fry and bake!

Eventually I stopped trying. Why spend my money on food that will make my brain sad and my colon spastic?

A couple of weeks ago my nemesis, Scott Woods, started a blog about food that white and black folk can agree on, and the chicken wing was common ground, as Jesse Jackson used to say. Naturally, I have failed to bookmark that site so I cannot link it to you. Hopefully that will be corrected.

So between the coy racism and outright hatred when he and I converse, Scott recommended I try Wings Over Columbus, a wing joint just west of the Ohio State Campus. I looked over the menu, saw the potential and made a note of it to head over when the opportunity knocked.

My vegetarian Scottish Wife is out of town this week.

LOOK AT THESE MOTHERFUCKING WINGS!

I was stunned when I got home and opened the box. They're beautiful. They were also starting to smell really good just before I got home.

Ok, sure they look good, but how do they taste?

I'm going to start with their one flaw, they ain't crispy enough. Call me a wing snob, but there it is. However, they are the best damn wings I've had in Columbus in twenty one years. The meat is plentiful, the sauce (I got the cruisin' altitude) is not over whelming on the meat and just spicy enough to get that burn on your lips. These wings have balance that no other wing I've had in this city possesses. I have found, after years of searching, then giving up, a go-to chicken wing place.

Wings Over Columbus is located at 1315 W. Lane Avenue, in a strip center next to Buckeye Corner. It's mostly take out, there are only three seats in the place, so keep that in mind. Service was lightning fast.

And hardcore wing snobs. I know. I am not in Western New York. I know the wings will always be better there. But I'm not there anymore. I can't drive up to Duff's.

So Thank you Scott, for proving the chicken wing transcends racial divide, now when's that Little Palace review up?

I See the Lights

2011-12-25T11:39:00.000-08:00

Nothing says Christmas like Indian Buffet. Actually, that was the best Indian food I've had at this point in my life. So thank you Taj Palace, for making me believe, and for being a third as much as the Chinese Buffet we did not go to.

We had my son on Friday night and Saturday morning. We went to look around at some of the lights in the city. We were told there was an "It's a Wonderful Life" decorated house in Bexley. We had to go.

Other than the pictures in the windows, which are kind of cool, it was rather underwhelming. Reminded me of getting a big wrapped box for Christmas when I was eight, but finding out it's filled with underwear.

For the first time we checked out the State Auto display, which has become a large model of the birth of Christ. Not bad, if that's how you roll.

Columbus Commons has a rather cool display this year. Lots of LED lights. For it's first year, they're doing a good job getting people to hang downtown.

My son seemed to be tolerating walking around the park so much to the point that he whined when we went back to the car. It was cold, and I think he wanted to take another lap.

Still, the best holiday display lights up my dining room. It's a couple of houses behind us. Years ago, with my first wife, we found this. I had no idea my second wife and I would be living close.

This guy usually goes all out, and this year was no exception. Check out the American flag and the Block O.

There's music piped in and the deer are moving in front of the pond.

You know it's hardcore when the side of the house is decked out.

Anyone can get a bunch of inflatables and prefabricated junk and slap it down on their lawn, but I appreciate a display that has a balance. And this guy does it, year after year.

2011, a Year in Poetry

2011-12-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's just a calendar and a year ain't nothing but a number yet it's time to reflect on my year in the world of poetry.

I don't post goals, but have them in my head sometimes. Not sure what I achieved this past year. There was some good work done, I got published in the online journal The Legendary. That was a goal. It's not print, but it's closer.

The writing did not go as well this year though. I was distracted too much, not particularly focused and it showed. I can do better. Sure, the highlight was being asked by Will Evans to be on a Rust Belt slam team at the last minute. The Collective of Atticus, Ellie, Paula and myself did great, after that, what?

Finally was asked by Mark Hersman to feature at Sips Coffeehouse and did a good gig with Joe Suarez.

Was a part of the Language of Art exhibit. Again. Read at Arts Fest. Again. Is it me? Or should I be challenging myself more? Not sure if I have anything worthy of submitting for Arts Fest 2012. Am I feeling complacent, not confident or am I looking for something bigger, whatever that is?

Know what's great, going to another country where no one has heard your work so you can do some old shit. That's why reading a few poems with the Bards in the Park at Tolcross Park in Glasgow was so awesome. I could have read anything!

There was plenty of fun too, Jon Sands read my poem, the Race War reached new lows, I pulled out my guitar and played "I Do the Chet" in front of an audience, something I had never done before. Seuss lost to Silverstein and I read "The Smoke Off" as a tribute. Hearing the Humpty Dance in Italian during the Rap Lyrics Slam was one of the hottest poems of the year.

Wanted to put out another chapbook, but released a CD instead. Is this a step forward, or back?

So I'm going into another year with uncertainty about where I want to go, and a lack of confidence with what's in my backpack. I want to write better, perform better and the only way to accomplish these things is to stop farting around and do it.

And there it is. What am I missing, and what did I miss?

Another Year Closes

2011-12-21T03:11:00.000-08:00

I'm just about to start the new Murakami and I doubt it will be finished by the end of the year. So here's this year's list. Tough year for reading. Had a vision problem earlier in the year and no attention span the rest of it.

If I finished the book, it's on this list. Three stars means it's better than average, four better than that.

1) Patton Oswalt - Zombie Spaceship Wasteland. 208 p. (too many footnotes)
2) Ian Rankin - Mortal Causes. 310 p.
3) Robert Kirkman - The Walking Dead v.3 Miles Behind Us.
4) Melissa Muller & Monika Tatzkow - Lost Lives, Lost Art. 248 p. ***
5) Geoffrey Cunningham, Carla Repice & The American Public - Office of Blame Accountability. (unpaged) ***
6) Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - When Mortals Sleep. 253 p. ***
7) Mindy Nettifee - Rise of the Trust Fall. 111 p. **** (best poetry)
8) Stuart Murdoch - The Celestial Cafe. 334 p. ***
9) Catherine Price - 101 Places Not to See Before you Die. 249 p.
10) Carolyn Turgeon - Mermaid. 244 p.
11) Keiji Nakazawa - Barefoot Gen v. 1. 284 p. ***
12) Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead - Safety Behind Bars.
13) Tea Obreht - The Tiger's Wife. 337 p. ***
14) Kristin Downey - The Woman Behind the New Deal. The Life of Frances Perkins. 458 p.
15) Francisco Goldman - Say Her Name. 350 p. ****
16) Alexander McCall Smith - The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party. 213 p. ***
17) Robert Kirkham. The Walking Dead V.4 The Heart's Desire. ***
18) Laura Hillenbrand - Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. 473 p. **** (best non-fiction)
19) Dan Barry. Bottom of the 33rd. 255 p. ***
20) Portia Iverson. Strange Son: Two Mothers, Two Sons, and the Quest to Unlock the Hidden World of Autism. 391 p. ***
21) Keiji Nakazawa - Barefoot Gen v. 2. 234 p.
22) Dorianne Laux. The Book of Men. 91 p.
23) Dorianne Laux. Facts about the Moon. 96 p. ***
24) Jewely Hight. Right by Her Roots: Americana Women and Their Songs. 235 p.
25) Michael Morpurgo. War Horse. 165 p. ***
26) Keiji Nakazawa - Barefoot Gen : life after the bomb. v. 3. 257 p .
27) Alexander Theroux - The Strange Case of Edward Gorey. 68 p.
28) Ian Rankin - Let it Bleed. 287 p. ***
29) Donald Ray Pollock - The Devil All the Time. 261 p. **** (best fiction.)
30) Flint Whitlock - The Rock of Anzio. 479 p. ***
31) Dana Reinhardt - The Summer I Learned to Fly. 216 p. ***
32) Edward Gorey - Amphigorey. (unpaged)
33) Rachel McKibbons - Pink Elephant. 83 p. ****
34) Christine Sismondo - America Walks into a Bar. 314 p.
35) Denise Mina - The End of Wasp Season. 404 p. ***
36) Keiji Nakazawa. Barefoot Gen, Out of the Ashes v. 4. 281 p.
37) Richard Schickel. Harold Lloyd: The Shape of Laughter. 218 p.
38) Charles Lachman. A Secret Life: The Lies and Scandals of President Grover Cleveland. 481 p. *** for historical description. No stars for historical accuracy
39) Bob Mould. See a Little Light. 403 p. ***
40) Brian Selznick. Wonder Struck. 637 p. (mostly drawings) ****
41) Wilfred Santiago. The Story of Roberto Clemente. 200 p.
42) Anne Enright. The Forgotten Waltz. 263 p.
43) Roddy Doyle. Bullfighting. 214 p. ***
44) Ernest Cline. Ready Player One. 374 p. ****
45) Art Spiegelman. Meta Maus. 299 p.
46) Stephen King. 11/22/63. 849 p. ***
47) Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum. I Want My MTV. 607 P. ***
48) Christopher Payne. Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals. 209 p. (mostly pictures) ***
49) Darby Penney and Peter Stastny. The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic. 205 p. ***
50) Charles J. Shields. And So it Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, a Life. 513 p.
51) Nile Rodgers. Le Freak. 318 p. ***
52) Robert Greenfield. The Last Sultan: The Life and Times of Ahmet Ertegun. 408 p. ***
53) Dr. Seuss. The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories. 72 p. ***
54) Jon Sands. The New Clean. 108 p. ****

What I'm Drinking, Episode 5

2011-12-19T16:50:00.000-08:00

Oh I Don't Know These Buildings I Think I am Lost

2011-12-18T05:29:00.000-08:00

Another year of assembling songs, trying to put them into a decent playlist is over. The album is dead dead dead, it's all about the songs now. Looking at other people's year end lists, it is clear I am not listening to what a lot of people are listening to. Am I that out of touch? Or are we that far apart? I admit to gaps in this list, great big colorful ones. Life's too short to hear every little thing though so it's time to get on with the list!

1) The Go Team with Bethany Cosentino from Best Coast - Buy Nothing Day. Rolling Blackouts. I'm not very familiar with the work of the Go Team, and Best Coast bubbled under the year end list a couple of years back. This is an infectious little pop song that has stuck in my head for the whole year. When a song pops up on the iPod over and over for a year and I do not get bored with it, speaks volumes.

2) Grouplove - Don't Say Oh Well. EP. I like this song from these pseudo hippie hipster 420 friendly group of west coasters. It did not even annoy me when I heard it in the background of a Chevy commercial. Someone's got to pay the buds, dude.

3) Blues Brother Castro - Walk in the Park. Out on the Beach. This one I got from the Music Alliance Project. Super high charged indie rockers from Amsterdam. Less that two minutes of full throttle rock with some good shouting. Reminds me of a punky Neil Young.

4) Fitz & the Tantrums - Money Grabber. Pickin' Up the Pieces. I have to admit to hearing this song for the first song on a radio station. A terrestrial one. Local. WWCD-FM. Well done. Sure, the lead singer sounds like Daryl Hall, but Oates is nowhere to be heard.

5) P.J. Harvey - Bitter Branches. Let England Shake. This one's been on a lot of year end best of lists and deservedly so. A Corbjin print of her is now gracing our walls. Good ol' P.J. shape shifts again and devotes a record to the horrors of World War One. Well done!

6) Anne Calvi - Blackout. My favorite app on my iPod is Tune In Radio. It gives you access to thousands of radio stations from around the world. One afternoon I was listening to BBC6 as background and this song came on. I had no idea who it was so I listened to the lyrics and googled them. Through that I found out about Anne, the album it was on and had it on my hard drive within ten minutes of hearing this song. Technology is amazing. In the old days you had to call the radio station and hope you could get through to the DJ so he could give you the information. How does it sound? Brian Eno thinks she's the next Patti Smith. I'm not sure of that, I just hope she's not the next Glasvegas.

7) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues. I love this song. The arrangement that goes from gentle to soaring to massive back to gentle. Great, great stuff. The rest of the record sucks, but this is one of the best songs of the year.

8) K.T. Tunstall - Alchemy. The Scarlet Tulip. I wanted to like Tiger Suit, but nothing really grabbed me. Over the summer, while on tour, she put out The Scarlet Tulip, a mishmash of songs. I really like how she stretched out of her comfort zone and vocal range on this song. It's not perfect, but I heavily applaud this effort from her.

9) Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse - Body & Soul. She's going to be missed. Lioness should not have been released. We'll never know what she could have accomplished.

10) Eleanor Friedelberger - Roosevelt Island. Last Summer. My Scottish Wife questions whether or not the singer of this song is a man or a woman. I haven't the heart to tell her she's my indie-Brooklyn crush object. I'm not a fan of the Fiery Furnaces, but I enjoyed her first solo effort.

11) Mayer Hawthorne - The Walk. How Do You Do. The white kid who sounds like Curtis Mayfield came out with a fun little record this year. I hope he does this frequently and well.

12) King Creosote and Jon Hopkins - Bats in the Attic. Diamond Mine. One of the most unlikely hits over the past year. The record received high acclaim. There's not a real hit on it though. It's all well engineered recordings that demand your attention when you listen.

13) Florence & the Machine - Breaking Down (acoustic) Ceremonials. Have to admit I was scared after Lungs came out. Would she be able to follow it up. She kept releasing different edition after different edition of her first record. Had to wonder if she was capable of following it up. After my first listen of Ceremonials I was not so sure. I thought it was an over produced record of songs that all sounded alike. Then I got to the bonus portion and found this stripped down gem. I'm still worried about her though. Her handlers have her appearing on the X-Factor for crying out loud. At SXSW in 2008 she was splashing around in a kiddie pool in a bar. Now she's on the cover of Vogue. Why should I worry?

14) Nick Lowe - I Read a Lot. The Old Magic. The legend. The master craftsman. One of the greatest songwriters of our time came out with a lovely new record this year. He also got a great amount of exposure opening up for Wilco. Bless him, it's about freaking time.

15) Norma Sass - Robbery. Hunting for Treasures. I'm not sure what music blog pointed me toward this Norwegian quintet. They were performing this song in a corner shop and looking adorable. The record is slick and over produced, the band name is a poor pun, yet they have an appeal

16) Sam Phillips - Broken Circle. Solid State. Sam's been in my radar for years now. Her last few records though, she's painted herself in a corner with the same tone of instrumentals and vocals. This last year she was quite prolific and put out an EP every few months and released them by an innovative subscription on her own over the web. This song has a joyful little shuffle amid the sad lyrics. She's one of my favorite artists.

17) Tom Waits - Hell Broke Luce. Bad as Me. He's back and banging. At 65 he's rocking harder than kids a third his age. An amazing artist who is only improving his skills with age. Left. Right. Left!

18) Wilco - Standing O. The Whole World. What can I say? Tweedy and company bored me less this year than with their recent releases. I almost got cheeky and put the Nick Lowe cover they did on here. But they rip off an Elton John riff on this song, and it's all good. Live, they're still one of the best bands you can see and Nels Cline is a monster on guitar.

19) Imelda May - Mayhem. First saw her on the Grammys a couple of years back. She was playing with Jeff Beck and knocked my socks off. Her own record has been out for a few months, it's a bit too polished but the raw materials are right there.

20) Marianne Faithful - No Reasons. Horses and High Heels. At sixty four, Faithful is still going. I'm really surprised this record got little attention. A lot of special guests, including Lou Reed (better than Metallica) Dr. John and Wayne Kramer. It's a rocking record and she does a fine cover of this Jackie Lomax song.

21) Over the Rhine - Rave On. The Long Surrender. They went all in on this one. Asked their fans to fund their trip to L.A. and to pay for Joe Henry to produce the record. I think it paid off for them, but they have to rock it a bit more to keep me awake.

22) Frightened Rabbit and Traceyanne Campbell - Fuck this Place. A Frightened Rabbit. This is from an EP Frightened Rabbit put out for their fans during their tour of the U.S. earlier this year. Why did they give this song the title they did? It's radio friendly and damn if Scott and Traceyanne's voices do not blend together well.

Enjoy the list.

Merry Christmas!

Train Seals to Balance Big Balls on Their Snoots

2011-12-17T16:00:00.000-08:00

Last night at Writers' Block First Draft was a posthumous battle between two children's authors and their post-death writing. Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein. The host of the night, asked me to take on the Seuss and Scott Woods to assume the role of Silverstein.

This was going to be tough. The tale of the page has the new book by Silverstein, "Everything on It" coming in at 208 pages, with dozens of poems, if not more, to choose to read. The Seuss, The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories is 72 pages, and 17 of them are the forward. The books is seven stories. I chose to read three of them but had to cut two of them in half to meet the constrictions of a five round event.

After an epic day of smacktalking on Facebook between Scott and I, the battle was finally on.

In round one, I read the first half of Gustav the Goldfish, but it was not enough as Scott won the round.

Round two, however, was all mine.

Round three went to Scott as I started the Steak for Supper story, but once again I took the round with the second part of the story.

At this time, Scott went deep into character and brought out a guitar. An impressive act, even if he can only play one chord.

At one point he even suggested that Dr. Seuss was a Nazi. The nerve. Ok, earlier I did compare the reading to Agincourt and called Scott a French mercenary, but a Nazi? Really?

We went into the final round tied at two. Scott read first and I was about halfway through The Great Henry McBride when the thread snapped.

The wonderful audience started heckling, Shel was heckling at my right and the story was turning into foreplay for a certain ex-defensive coordinator of a big ten school. Things got a bit out of hand, pants were almost wet onstage. It's on tape somewhere but I have not seen it yet. It's rather legendary. Thanks to Ara and Steph for the pictures here.

Scott won the round, and the night, but one poet is changing his name to Two Gun Henry McBride. It was so much fun, you should have been there. Thanks to all who turned up and to Louise Robertson for hosting the night.

This is the ordinary

2011-12-13T04:03:00.000-08:00

My son was doing his thing when all of a sudden he put his hand in his mouth, handed my wife his tooth, and went back to what he was doing. There was very little blood, it was one of his baby teeth not the permanent ones I spent money on to fix. Some gift eh?

I do not know what to do with the tooth, it's on a table to my right. The Tooth Fairy is not a concept he understands, let alone money. He barely noticed we decorated the tree last night. How do you fake what is considered to be standard operating procedure?

Coming up this Friday, it's First Draft night at Writers' Block Poetry. This month is an extra special event. A face off pitting Dr. Seuss against Shel Silverstein in combat for the 2011 title for Greatest Posthumous New Work by a Beloved Children's Author! I will be reading from the Doctor's The Bippolo Seed and Other Stories. Taking on Silverstein's Everything On It will be none other than Scott Woods. It promises to be an evening of posturing, cool stories, poetry and coy racism. Starts at 8PM at Kafe Kerouac.

The download link is complete, all I have to do is get the liner notes in order and I will be posting my best songs of 2011. This will happen by the end of the weekend by gum!

When You Get Two Calls

2011-12-11T18:56:00.000-08:00

We were watching the George Harrison documentary when the phone rang. I checked the number, it was a name I definitely recognized, my heart jumped because the name on the caller-ID was one that has never called me, ever. I immediately wondered who died.

Picked up the phone, the person on the line was the name on the caller-ID. It was my stepfather's sister. She was calling me because she was not sending out any Christmas cards this year, and wished me a Merry Christmas. We talked for a few minutes, we asked how everyone was. She said she was old, had good and bad days. Was maintaining. She's an absolute hoot who may out live all of us. I can tell wonderful stories about her offline and was so happy to get a call from her.

Later, while still watching the documentary, my mother called. I waited until the film was over to call her back. She asked if my aunt called. I told her she did and how amazing she is.

Just now, I found out that a cousin is having open heart surgery on Tuesday through a Facebook update.

I hate being so far away from them.

Speed like Wind

2011-12-09T03:34:00.001-08:00

Yesterday there was a rather fierce storm in Scotland. Winds exceeded 160 mph at one point. When I first heard about the storm, it was simply called a storm, a weather bomb.

But then, something interesting happened.

It was around 8AM my time that the hashtag #hurricanebawbag began making its way into the consciousness of Twitter.

A bawbag is a Scottish derogatory term for a part of the male anatomy. Its American equivalent would be Al Roker calling a storm Hurricane Dickhead, or Nut Sack.

Meanwhile the storm was happening, Hurricane Bawbag was trending and the Scots were posting some amusing things.

The Edinburgh Zoo just received two pandas.

Soon after that video started coming in. The Clyde River in Glasgow was close to overflowing due to the storm surge. Then a young man named Conor Guicham posted this on Facebook, which moved to Youtube and became a viral hit.

OMG! Trampoline then received a musical soundtrack.

All of this was happening in less than three hours from the start of Hurricane Bawbag. Enterprising companies began selling T-Shirts! The storm even received a Wikipedia entry.

It was amazing how fast it was all happening, and more than a few of the comments on Twitter were very funny. Luckily, there were few injuries reported and the storm damage was minimal. I could picture my Father-in-Law in his living room, observing the fair breeze blowing in Duntocher.

By the end of the day, Hurricane Bawbag had its own song.

My wife was giggling most of the day, like a thirteen year old boy, and she asked to see this clip again.

I'm still not sure who coined the term "Hurricane Bawbag" yesterday morning, but I'm sure that will be revealed in the fullness of time. I salute this person, and Scotland, for sitting in their homes, staying put and taking the piss out of the storm instead of cowering in fear. Well played!

That's perfect on this cold, dim, December morning

2011-12-07T09:55:00.001-08:00

My son had the day off school today so it was my turn to look after him. I had a bunch of errands to run and I wanted to get them done early.

A couple of years ago I filled out an immigration form wrong and had to overnight an envelope to the UK ($42), the clerk at the Main Post Office was amazing as she helped a panicking me get the paperwork done to get it there in time. I had a thank you package to mail out this morning and expected a line at the Post Office. To my surprise, there was none and the same clerk got my package out to its destination.

Errand two was to get myself a coffee and bagel I went to Colin's Coffee. I do not get up here much, it's out of the way, but I really like the atmosphere. The owner and I follow each other on Twitter so I finally got to introduce myself. He said hello to my son, I explained why he does not converse. Colin asked if he could get him a book, and went to the bookshelf and got a couple of books for my son to look through.

This is the type of service and treatment I do not usually get at Stauf's. There you get your beverage in an assembly line that is as bitter as the coffee can be there. Have to get to Colin's Coffee more, it's worth the time.

Errand three was to the Schottenstein Center for OSU Hockey tickets. Got a pair for Friday night against Miami. Should be a great game. While at the arena we stopped to look at one of Archie Griffin's Heisman's. Someone's kid was not impressed.

A quick trip to the library and we got home before 11AM. Cold and miserable out there.

Tonight at Writers' Block Poetry is the Grand Slam for the Women of the World Poetry Slam. No fake feminists here, all eight of the contenders have got the motts, but only one of them is going to represent WB at the WoW finals in Denver. Starts at eight at Kafe Kerouac.

What I'm Drinking - episode 4

2011-12-06T04:03:00.000-08:00

Transition

2011-12-05T04:25:00.000-08:00

We're due for about three days straight of rain to start the week. Dreary, dark, depressing and other D words come to mind. None of the words are snow, which is odd for this time of year. Friends in Buffalo are worried. There has been little, if any, measurable snow. A very rare happening.

It's going to get cold though.

On Wednesday night Writers' Block will be holding a Grand Slam for the Woman of the World Poetry Slam. Eight poets will be competing for the opportunity to go to Denver in March. Going to be some hot action on the Kafe Kerouac stage. Starts at eight.

He is Shaggy with Coin

2011-12-03T19:02:00.000-08:00

This weekend the Wexner Center is holding its annual family film festival. A silent is usually screened and this year was no different. They selected three silent shorts and had local band Super Desserts provide the soundtrack.

The first short was Movie Night, with Charley Chase. I admit to being unfamiliar with Chase's work. You do not see it screened much and his work is overshadowed by Chaplin's and Keaton's even though he was quite popular in the late twenties.

It's a period comedy of Chase taking his family out to the movies. His son needs to dress younger to get in at a cheaper price, there's a Jewish joke and a couple of people with cases of the hiccups. Super Desserts really captured the feel of the film and delivered a very authentic soundtrack. I thought this was their strongest interpretation of the night. A good start.

The second film was Go West, this had nothing to do with the Keaton feature.

Monkey western.

This was a group of trained animals called the Dippy Do Dads, who were involved in about twenty Hal Roach produced shorts in the silent era. The Monkeys drank, smoked, rode goats and were probably horribly treated. I'd bet a number of these monkeys were in some of the Our Gang shorts.

The finale was the classic Laurel & Hardy short Big Business.

The boys are selling Christmas trees in July. They come to the great James Finlayson's house. Mayhem ensues. One of the great silent comedy shorts. Super Desserts did some nifty foley work involving a tree stuck in a door. I was teasing them on twitter this week but had to go up and praise them after the show. I asked how they prepped and they told me they watched the films over and over, took lots of notes with cue points. They did a fantastic job.

It was a good night out. We took my son, the program was only an hour. Hard to tell what he got out of it, but he stayed in his seat the entire time with no trouble at all. It was his second time seeing a film at the Wex, maybe Godard will be next for him?

Annual Consolation

2011-11-30T19:03:00.000-08:00

These are five artists who came close to making my favorites of the year. For whatever reasons, they did not make it.

I like this band, but something is not quite complete yet. If they can keep it together long enough to fill in the hole, good things can happen.

I made the mistake of calling this band the Canadian Posies earlier this year. They've been around just as long. I knew this, but failed to make the connection. It's a very pleasant record, but did not have enough to push the top twenty two.

This is a monster of an album. It could be a Grammy sleeper. That said, I really wanted to embrace it, but it's too damn clean. Every note is programmed, played with expert technical precision. I wanted some spontaneity, this record is missing that.

Close, so close.

Is it me or is the video kinda pervy?

Sondre: I love you. You are the Norwegian son I do not have. You are a talented musician and arranger. A craftsman of your instruments. Son, it's been eight years since I've been following your career. It's time to get a lyricist.

Going to get to work on the obsessive liner notes soon and tweak the order of the year's best over the weekend. Expect the official release in a couple of weeks.

You Love to Surf and it Shows

2011-11-29T04:15:00.000-08:00

Readership here is up. November is the fourth highest number of views since I started here back in 2009. Men in Morphsuits has plenty do do with that, it's the fourth most read post here and it's not even a month old. I'm pretty sure the shout out at Buckeyes are Deadly Nuts helped with the clicks, as did posting a link to the Green Men group on Facebook.

I was very amused to see the term "white women poetry slam" as a traffic source.

November is ending, look for the year end CD in a few weeks. The usual holiday angst will turn up soon enough, and then 2012 will arrive.

Thank you all for stopping by this part of the internet. I know you have a lot of choices when it comes to internet entertainment and I appreciate all of you who make a point of stopping by The Mystery Spot.

From the spam folder

2011-11-27T10:34:00.000-08:00

"You must have forgot your little sister? Is it so wonderful in Chicago that you neither have time to give me a call nor answer my calls? But I’m clever enough to e-mail you! ;)"

The link is selling viagra.

"Booty Cutie Sexy Dolls wait for your Viagra Falls )))))))"

Ok.

Then there's this one.

"Sex with two women - the first step to having sex with three."

I'll take their word for it.

Forgot to post that picture on Thursday.

Sanford keeps the junk out of the yard

2011-11-25T19:48:00.000-08:00

Friends of our asked us if we wanted to go see the Blue Jackets play the Sabres tonight. We were thrilled to say yes. It's true the Blue Jackets have been the doormat of the NHL this season, but their play of the last couple of weeks may indicate that the situation is improving.

I am also a Buffalo Sabres fan, they're my second favorite team. The last time I saw the Sabres and Blue Jackets battle this was the result. I was at this game, which I believe was Pascal Leclaire's last win as net minder for the Blue Jackets.

We had really good seats. The type of seats where your section has wait staff and they show up between periods and hand out the team stats for the game. Impressive.

We were slightly stunned when the home team went up 1-0, and I was elated when Nash deflected a blast from Wisniewski to put them up for good.

The Blue Jackets added to their lead, three, then four goals to nothing by the Sabres. They did not seem to show up tonight. I'm trying to remember when the Blue Jackets chased he other team's starting goalie and I cannot. The Sabres did get one goal back, but Nash scored another goal and the final was 5-1!

Here's the difference maker.

Curtis Sanford has given this team confidence. He's 3-0-2 as a starter for the team, and they played like a team tonight. Players were covering for each other in both zones, they were scrapping, passing well. One Sabre got in a little shot on Sanford after the whistle had blown and The Wiz's reaction was to grab the guy by the neck and nearly throw him to the ice. This grit has been missing from the Blue Jackets for, well, a long time and it's great to see, finally. It's a long season, and one way or the other, anything can happen.

You never know who will show up

2011-11-25T05:16:00.000-08:00

When you become part of a meme, the only thing better would be to turn up as the subject of a Downfall video.

Jon Sands did a great feature Wednesday night at Writers' Block. You already knew that was going to happen.

At dinner that night, my wife an I were talking about Scott bringing up Jon to do about five encores last year, nearly killing him. She came up with the idea of Jon reading other people's poems all night. I brought this up to Scott, and he liked the idea so much he handed me a note to have one of my poems ready for Jon to read. The decision I had to make! First off, I needed a clean copy, one that was not edited or annotated since my handwriting is atrocious. Second I wanted to give him a good poem, not a raunchy piece of fluff, like the poem I read earlier in the evening. So I chose David's Rock, and Jon was a great sport.

He also did one of Hanif's poems, which was really long. So long I thought the battery in Hanif's phone would die.

Another sick night at Writers' Block.

Son and Saint Nick

2011-11-23T03:37:00.000-08:00

Every year around this time I get the question, "Is your son excited about the holidays?" And I give the same answer, "I do not know."

Since he rarely shares his feelings in a way we can understand, it's hard to know what is going on in his head. I wonder, if he's like Tommy, and does not know what day it is. We do not know if he knows about the concept of Santa Claus. He is nine, and probably on the cusp, or past the time most kids start realizing the truth about Christmas.

A few weeks ago my friend Teri let me know about an event that was taking place at the local mall where she works. It was a Sensitive Santa event, in which special needs children could take in Santa's workshop and visit with him in an environment that is much more laid back and quieter than usual. It happened on a morning in which the mall was not open yet, lights were low, music was turned down and crowds were non-existent. The event coordinator asked me what snacks my son liked, what he like to do, and what could be done to make the visit enjoyable for him. I let her know about the only thing he might enjoy are lollipops.

We got to the mall at the designated time and Teri was waiting for us at the door and took us down. There were crafts they could make, coffee, juice and other snack items available. The coordinators really did a good job welcoming us.

We had only taken him to see Santa once or twice before, there is one picture of him at about the age of two or three screaming in Santa's lap, and we were wondering how he would do now. Here's a pic from his first Christmas, not with Santa.

When we got to Santa, he was seated and N. walked around a little, looked at Santa, put his hands on his eyebrows and gave him a kiss on his forehead. Unbelievably sweet. Santa got out a Tootsie Pop and he took it. He was not interested in sitting on Santa's lap, but sat on the floor at his feet. Santa pulled out a small footstool and my son sat on that.

The mall staff also took some pictures, showed me what they had an printed a couple of them out, for free. Send them to my mother, she's wanted a picture of him with Santa for years. Just wanted to say Tuttle Mall did a really, really cool thing for families of special needs children this year. I commend their staff and thank them very much.

Listen to the words

2011-11-21T06:51:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday night, Writers' Block Poetry will be hosting Jon Sands. He's been on this blog before, and is most likely going to be on this blog in the future. Why? Because he's one of the best damn poets I've had the pleasure to know.

Sure, the video is off a blurry phone, but through the Vaseline lens, Sands' work hugs you hard. He's hard to let go of.

Here's Sands with more visual clarity.

Sands' book, The New Clean, is available at the usual places.

He will also be appearing at Writing Wrongs Open Mic in Columbus tomorrow night.

I am not breaking rocks in the hot sun

2011-11-20T05:15:00.000-08:00

Friday the eleventh was Veteran's Day, a federal holiday for some, including myself. My son had school that day so my wife and I had a rare day to ourselves.

Last year several of us went to Spoonful Records then to lunch. I asked Scott Woods if he wanted to continue this and he agreed.

After record shopping we were going to go to lunch at Dirty Franks, but it was jam packed. It's so crowded, no one goes there anymore. So we went to Little Palace, which was almost as crowded, instead.

We parked at the meters around the corner. My meter would not accept my money, seemed to be broken. Strangely, the meters were on during a federal holiday. I'm not sure how much Scott put in his meter. I also got to tell Scott the story of Elvis Costello, Bonnie Bramlett and the bar in the Town Street Holiday Inn.

When we finished lunch we came out to our cars and discovered we both had been ticketed. How does one put money in a broken meter? I filled out a form on the city's webpage, disputing my fine and called the 311 line to let them know that there was a broken parking meter.

Yesterday I received this in the mail.

Tore up the ticket and did a happy dance in the kitchen. Saved $25 by fighting City Hall, and winning. Still, owe Scott Woods a couple of lunches.

What I'm Drinking - Three

2011-11-19T17:32:00.000-08:00

One Paragraph at a Time

2011-11-16T04:16:00.000-08:00

Time to get a bit nostalgic for another post. I Want My MTV is a lengthy, oral history of the first decade of MTV, when music was the focus. Like many of videos of the era, it's assembled in very brief snippets that make it seemed edited by someone with a short attention span.

The chapters are easy to follow, it flows in loose chronological order and we get to read sentences by many of the major players of the time. Stewart Copeland hates Sting, Martha Quinn wonders why and Adam Curry hates everyone.

The chapter on the winner of a weekend with Van Halen is sad and shocking as is the chapter on the video that ended a career.

The book depicts a lot of egos, sex and drugs. Plenty of coke was consumed. There's still a lot of he said, no he did not about the network's race controversy in the pre-Thriller era. I'm surprised a few of these stories came to light as, even thirty years later, they're rather eyebrow raising. Makes me wonder what the author/editors could not, or would not print.

If you were there during MTV's heyday and want to relive the times, or want to find out the history of a station that did change the way music was marketed, it's rather compelling reading.

A Journey to The World of Beer

2011-11-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

Regulars to this blog know that I like beer. Beer, is good. Still, when I found out that World of Beer was opening up a couple of miles from my house, my response was a bit tepid.

It opened up on Halloween and I gave it a couple of weeks for the initial hysteria and crowds to die down a bit. Stopped in yesterday afternoon and found a decent, half filled bar drinking beer and watching football.

Got a seat at the bar and was immediately asked by the bartender if I was doing alright despite the Bills score (I was wearing my Bills polo), then presented with a two sided sheet of their fifty beers on tap and a substantial book listing their bottled beer.

Looked at the list online earlier in the day, glanced at sheet in front of me, and ordered a Kolsch draft. You do not see too many of those in bottle in Central Ohio, let alone on tap. I was happy. The beer was good. The bartender asked what I thought of the beer. Great flavor, light nicely balanced between malt sweetness and bitter hops, what more could I ask for?

What I did not tell him was that it was cool to see such a simply made yet complex beer on the list. That I'm sick to death of seeing over hopped, high alcohol beers with every ingredient but the kitchen sink dominate American craft brewed beer culture these days. Yes, I'm looking right at you Dogfish Head!

They do have a massive selection of beers from all over the United States and the world. They're trying to represent every style, it's a very deep, and well presented selection.

My wife showed up and placed her order. A few minutes after that one of the bartenders with a lot of cleavage asked us how the beer was. It was odd, there were a few female bartenders, but not all, doing this. It was not Hooters, The Pub, or, heaven forbid, The Tilted Kilt. But it was strange, I kept waiting for an invite to a private beer room where she'd sit on my lap and pour me a bottle of Westvleteren or New Glarus while whispering to me about HBU's and ABV.

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy a good cleavage, but it showed up in an unexpected place. And it's not that I did not enjoy going to The World of Beer, I just found that the service tried a bit too hard. Maybe that will settle down once everyone gets used to the place, I hope so.

Also keep in mind that the selection is beer (and some wine) only. There is no hard liquor and no intention of bringing any in. Also, there is no on site kitchen, all food is brought in through neighborhood restaurants, the friendly bartenders will offer you menus and the restaurant will deliver.

What I did not like about the World of Beer is the pricing. I get what they're doing, but if you're on a budget five dollar pints empty the wallet quickly. Which is something I will keep in mind before my next visit, and there will be one - or, shall I say, more than one.

Men in Morphsuits

2011-11-12T19:04:00.000-08:00

Instead of trying our luck and scalping tickets to the Blue Jackets game, we went a safer and less expensive route and went to see the Ohio State Mens Hockey Team for the first time this season. They've been playing well, on a four game winning streak as they faced Northern Michigan.

Not many people have been going to the game, when 2,000 people go to an arena that seats 17,000, it can feel like a tomb. The band was there though, and these dudes in front of us made the night extra special.

I was told that there were two members of the Red Man Group at yesterday afternoon's game. Tonight, the unit doubled in size.

They did some truly filthy things to the first Wildcat player who was penalized. Unfortunately the camera app froze on me, but I was able to catch security having a few words with the gentlemen.

Buckeye goal!

All was forgiven as they received approval from the second most important Buckeye. Only Gordon Gee's attendance would have given them more cred.

Later, some young ladies came down to take a closer look at the redness.

So awesome, they had to appear on the Jumbotron.

Oh dear. What are they doing?

OSU wins 4-1! Red Man Group makes my day!

All Joking aside, I was very impressed with the team I saw tonight. They can finesse it when they can and compete physically when they need to. Five wins in a row, well done!

I know what I did, what have I done?

2011-11-08T03:27:00.000-08:00

What I told my son about his Grandmother's death.

On Saturday I told him to think good thoughts about Grandma. Yesterday I sat with him and said that she got very sick, and that she had to go someplace, that he will not see her again - but that she loved him very much. And to give his mother, his Uncles, Aunts and everyone nice hugs the next time he sees them. I do not know what else to tell him. Have no idea what registers with him. Not much of a reaction. It was hard.

Still have not heard from L. about anything, understandable since I'm persona non grata. I know she's grieving, and it has to be hard on her, but she would not even tell me what hospital she was at.

Went to Rumba Cafe to see a friend read. Ara Harris uses a precise brush. Mary Stuart Masterson with a pen, and her friends, the F-Bombs. She is her own brat pack. You won't forget about her after seeing her read.

Ok, enough eighties.

I think I've been officially relegated by a friend again. When someone cannot bring themselves to call you by name, well there you go. It's good to know a person is happy in their new life, but when they don't return your email or address you as a collective term, well you know you're not cool anymore. Just ballast on the balloon that is now ascending.

Rest you well

2011-11-07T04:20:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I was bringing my son home from swimming. Down the road I noticed some emergency vehicles near my ex mother in law's house. I thought there was an accident on the corner, but when I got closer I saw they were in front of her house. There was a paramedic in her front doorway, which was also open. That door is rarely open, so something was up.

I called L. and told her. She had not heard anything. I'm guessing she went right over there and I did not hear back from her until that evening.

She told me her mother had a ruptured brain aneurysm, and the prognosis was poor. This morning she let me know the doctors declared her brain dead yesterday afternoon.

I feel horrible for her, her brother and the rest of her family. She loved all of them and was equally loved back. She and I ended badly and had not spoken for over four years. Life's to short to keep those grudges, right? I wish everyone peace.

I do not know what to tell my son, what will register with him? I told him to think good thoughts about her on Saturday. But now what?

What I'm Drinking - Two

2011-11-05T16:48:00.000-07:00

Time for the seasoning

2011-11-03T04:27:00.000-07:00

A lot of poets, before they read, tell a story or anecdote about why they wrote their poem. Sometimes the story is longer than the poem itself. This act is often called marinating. To be honest, most of the time, marinating does not help your poem. Last night though, two poets very effectively marinated their work. They each told a very personal story, put themselves out there, and shared some brilliant work.

Since this is my blog, and I rarely do this, here is a bit of marinating. For the past few months I've been trying to research the army career of my Great Uncle. He was killed in action during the late stages of World War Two. He was nineteen. His death had a serious impact on my father's side of the family. My Grandfather was devastated by his death. Never spoke about him, only asked my parents if I could be named after him. My Great Uncle was one of twelve children. First there was a boy, my Grandfather, then ten girls, then my Great Uncle. Irish-Catholic, if you have not guessed.

So I've been trying to find out about his unit, the circumstances of his death, with a little luck I've found out the activities of his division but have been unable to find anyone living who knew him. Last week after a four month wait I finally received his individual personal death file from the National Archives. The information I hoped to see was not there. Eighty five pages in a PDF file gave me little else to go on. World War Two veterans are not getting any younger, they're dying every day and I think I'm losing the people who served with him, if they're not gone already.

Here's what I've written about him, still a bit rough.

My Great Uncle and his Inventory of Effects

One wallet soaked in the Rhine with the blood of soldiers form both sides
One identity card: In case of capture, break out.
Be grateful you were not captured by the Japanese
One souvenir note: Francs to buy beer with, for the grateful girls you kissed
Five souvenir coins; to give to the French children the way you gave away Good Humor ice cream to the kids in Brooklyn when you were the neighborhood Ice Cream Man
One cigarette lighter, no name, because a tin of cigarettes were included with your c-rations.
You did not care if the tobacco killed you.
In your case, it did not matter
Two religious medals: They protected you at Anzio, on D-Day, but not on March 26th, 1945.
One Wearever fountain pen, to write your brother, my grandfather
Eighteen photographs. One of you and two of your buddies walking through the streets of a French town you helped liberate
Another of an infant we guess was yours, but where or with whom, no one knows. The easiest path to the child, you left in your grave at St. Avold.

The other sixteen pictures were missing, lost for years traveling from Germany, to France, to your dead father's home in Brooklyn where it was returned to sender, to a government warehouse in Kansas City.
Returned years later the pictures are scattered among family who do not talk.
Who think that grief should be kept in a vault, turned into a puzzle that future generations will not be able to reassemble.
The PDF file from the National Archives I waited months for, it details the fate of your remains, it cannot speak.
I look through newsgroups on the internet, hoping for a mention of Company A.
Scan pages of a now overdue inter-library loan, looking for time, or a face that may be yours, and that of a veteran who may still be capable of remembering you
But all I see are obituaries of men in their nineties
As for trying to know anyone who fought alongside you, age has taken away what the war did not
He was only nineteen, and I do not want to forget someone who shares my name, but never knew.

One minute snapshot

2011-11-01T03:30:00.000-07:00

Today is Autistics Speaking Day, an event similar to last year. My son does not type, but I put together a video last year and this year I have done the same.

My son does not initiate a conversation with you, for the most part he is non verbal and echoic. He is capable of telling you some of the things he wants, but he has only verbally expressed how he is feeling to me just once in his nine years. He is in there. You can see the wheels turning, the joy and the frustration. This is a typical minute of his life, with prompting.

The Bills are 5-2, here's some of the soundtrack

2011-10-31T03:22:00.001-07:00

Since I'm not a Halloween person, here's the first of the month What I've Been Listening to project, a day early.

This may be my favorite Venezuelan metal band. Ok, screw the maybe, it is! Thanks once again to the Music Alliance Pact for this rocker!

These guys have been doing some touring, previewing some new material for their upcoming February release. I'll never see them for $12 again.

She's released her follow up to Lungs and I'm a bit on the fence. There are a couple of strong cuts on it, but too much of it sounds the same.

White Curtis Mayfield is back. I like this kid. The video for this song has a lot of bad marksmanship. Seriously. A lot of bullets do not find their target.

I think this is the best album of the year.

Will 2011 be the breakout year the Explorer's Club deserve? They have some free music previewing their efforts at Amazon that is worth checking out.

No Blue Jackets Rant

2011-10-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

Working with ceiling tile in the kitchen today was a bad idea. Not as bad as the attempt I had with the toilet earlier this year though. There is a bad bracket that I cannot seem to fix right and cutting a piece of tile to fit in a spot was a small disaster.

Later, instead of raking, I tried mowing down the leaves. It started raining about a third of the way through. At least the load of laundry I did went well.

We went to dinner at one of the newer pizza places in town. It was ok. Not as great as some of the reviews. A bit over priced and not enough mozzarella in the pie. I like the cheese spread around, not in a quarter sized splotches on each slice.

In better news, the fan on the laptop has been replaced properly. Seems the old fan blades fell apart and while the new fan was being installed some of the pieces hid. After the laptop was reassembled the pieces moved and jammed up the new fan. Regardless, it's back now and in good working condition. The repair only took five days, should have been two and was still returned faster than the two weeks I was told by another local repair shop.

The night stars are shining in my eyes

2011-10-28T10:52:00.000-07:00

I had no idea this was a potential Eurovision entry from 1982. It was a part of the contest for the UK and came in sixth. This is a day maker. I'm being flooded by eighties memories now.

Oh man, the orbital be-bop!

I oppressed that muffin

2011-10-27T04:10:00.000-07:00

The Writers' Block Halloween show last night was another evening of mayhem and poetry. The was a nun, Rapunzel, Princess Leia, Nacho Libre (and steel chairs) a mad hot pirate and so much more.

The highlight for me was a pimp and a mime doing a duet to Shel Silverstein's 'Boa Constrictor'

A guy dressed like Garth from Wayne's World won the scream contest, but he was not in costume. The mime came in second.

There was the usual coy racism. Jake and my wife sparkled as hecklers. Somewhere in there was an inappropriate joke about Roger Ebert.

Maybe I will wear a costume next year.

Got the laptop back from the shop. When I brought it home I tested it. Same damn problem. Not pleased. Called the shop and questioned what kind of testing they did with the new fan. Even asked if they actually replaced it. We shall see if they make good on their work.

Back in the shop

2011-10-25T04:22:00.000-07:00

The laptop fan quit over the weekend. One local repair shop told me the fix would take two weeks, another said five days.

Two weeks? Really?

So I'm typing this out on the iPad, which is not as troublesome as I'd have thought. The keyboard is a decent size. The font is tiny though. Maybe by the end of the week, or early next, this first world problem will be solved.

The IDPF finally arrived in email yesterday. It is the death file of my great uncle, who was killed in WW2. It is a 35mb PDF file and I have not had much time to look at it. Need to transfer it from work on a flash drive or disc as it is too big to email. Plus. No laptop. At first glance there is nothing.too revealing other than my grandfather and his sister had a tough time getting his personal effects back. Seems the army sent them to an old address of his and they were returned, then lost. Looks like it took a couple of years to resolve that situation. I see a few letters from my grandfather asking for assistance. He was more polite than I would have been.

Pop-up political art

2011-10-23T03:10:00.000-07:00

Vinchen is a street artist based in Columbus who really needs to work on his/her website. Over the weekend what is said to be the first exhibit of Vinchen's work was shown at a local gallery. The exhibit's location was announced just a few days in advance of the event and was only shown for a night and a day. I was able to head over to the gallery and get a look at the art.

Vinchen's work is obviously inspired by Banksy. I was kind of hoping one of those rocks would be handed out as party favors. Sometimes I think I know who Vichen is. Most of the time I'm wrong about guesses though. Kudos to the Invisible Gallery for putting together a very cool show.

What I'm Drinking

2011-10-22T17:18:00.000-07:00

Is that Peter Forsberg banging a stick?

2011-10-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

This marks another in the series of occasional posts about Eurovision, which I know little about, but it seems to be great fun.

This one's from the year 2000. I have no idea who Roger Pontare is other than he is Swedish. Wikipedia does not have much on him either. Is that for the best?

Fabulous costumes. Splendid.

Medical terms and no pictures - for your protection

2011-10-20T04:17:00.000-07:00

The 1990's were wasted in a series of bad job decisions, with bosses who were crazy, suicidal or dead. While the marriage failed, the wine was excellent. Alcohol was better than the music the decade provided.

Writing and reading has been slow going. Distractions come easy, and there is work being done.

Been trying to tone down the onychophagia again. Tried it five years ago and it lasted for many months. Since then, it's been hard. The compulsion is there, too easy when absorbed in a book.

Since returning from Scotland, I've been dealing with a raging case of tinea pedis. Painful, hard to stand up, functioning was difficult. All the walking in Glasgow, combined with the sweat and dampness formed some angry beasties down there. Nasty looking, then the toes swelled. Thought it was chilblains, the digits on my feet looked like Vienna sausages. That plumpness has thankfully gone down.

I'm on the hunt I'm after you

2011-10-19T03:56:00.000-07:00

The big story in Central Ohio today is happening about an hour east. Seems a guy keeping a lot of wild animals on his property was shot to death yesterday. Many of his animals, which included lions, tigers, bears, cheetahs and wolves, were set loose and have been roaming the area. About 25 of the suspected 48 animals released have been killed. Schools have been closed, twitter accounts have been activated. Just hope this has a safe conclusion. I'm still wondering if the guy shot himself after he opened the cages, or was shot by someone who opened the cages. A sick mind has caused some major chaos in the Zanesville area.

When I took my son to the doctor's yesterday, I found one of those phones in the cushion of the chair I was sitting in. Did not turn it on. Did not make a call or look at any of the pictures. Simply turned it in at the reception desk. Hope phone and owner get reunited.

Toilet training my son is a trying experience. Had him on the toilet, iPad within reach and in sight. Told him all he had to do was pee or poop, something, and he'd get the iPad. Did he?

No.

Stubborn.

There is much work to be done.

Ok, this is adorable

2011-10-17T06:23:00.000-07:00

Not even Sophia can help this team

2011-10-16T03:44:00.000-07:00

After five games the Blue Jackets finally broke an 0 for 20 streak and scored a power play goal. It was not enough as they lost 2-4 to the Dallas Stars. The team is off to an 0-4-1 start to the new season, the worst start in franchise history.

In fact, if you go back to last season and include this year's start, the team is on a 3-16-8 run, with only one win in regulation.

Why even question what is going on anymore?

Despite the additions of new defensemen, a trade for a number one center, and a new goaltending coach, the results have been the same. Loss. Defeat. With little hope in sight.

I can't put the woes on Steve Mason alone. He has not been the sole reason for the team sucking. Being 1 for 21 on the power play this season, not managing to score more than two goals in a game, getting only one shot on goal in the third period in one of the games - these all add up to a completely inept offense. No goalie can compensate for this ineptitude. Is Mason playing well? No, but he has four lines of offense and three pairings of absent defensemen who are contributing to some serious futility.

Nationwide Arena was at less than half capacity for the last home game. I cannot expect it to get any better. Why should it? Who in their right minds will pay to see this team deliver another defeat?

I'm at a total loss for answers. Do you fire coach Arniel this early in the year? And who do you bring in to replace him? Ken Hitchcock? Please, no. Who do the Blue Jackets have to trade? Anyone?

Is there a lack of leadership in the locker room and on the ice? I see nothing wrong with taking the captaincy from Rick Nash and giving it to Umberger. As a friend said last night, it's been the one constant in the last few seasons of loss - other than team president Mike Priest.

Just when you think the franchise has hit its lowest point, it finds a way to dig deeper. It's a very sad culture around this team, and I no longer have a clue, as a fan, what to do to stop the bleeding.

Farewell to a trusted tool

2011-10-14T04:21:00.000-07:00

When my parents were here a couple of weeks back we ordered some pizza and I opened a bottle of wine with the Screwpull I've had for about twenty years.

It had opened thousands of bottles in its life. The bottle of shiraz it opened would be its last as one of the prongs cracked. The Screwpull was a wine opener I recommended when I worked in wine retail. It was easy to use and super reliable. The Teflon coated worm always got inside the cork and pulled it out with little chance of the cork breaking. With a reverse twist, the cork came off. Simple.

I received another Screwpull type corkscrew as a gift several years ago that I used as backup. It's my main corkscrew now. Somehow I do not think this one will last as long.

Starts tonight

2011-10-13T11:32:00.003-07:00

The Individual World Poetry slam is in Cleveland this week. I won't be going, but wish all the poets luck. Two Columbus poets will be in the mix, Vernell Bristow and Ellie White. Show them what Columbus poetry is about ladies!

in other news, I've been sick. Another case of strep throat. Ugh.

Until next time.

Airports take you around the world

2011-10-11T04:21:00.000-07:00

Five years ago today New York Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle crashed his plane into a New York City apartment building. There were tornado warnings in Columbus. The woman I just met at the airport for the first time and I watched this from a restaurant that burned down two months later. Early the next morning, our neighbor died.

Thus began the craziest year and a half of my life, and hers. Nothing was supposed to happen. but it did.

She called me a dick the other night. Her accent makes it sound so sexy.

When we first met, the Blue Jackets sucked. Some things never change.

71 If

2011-10-09T07:24:00.001-07:00

I feel for you, you little horror

2011-10-06T03:47:00.000-07:00

Last night was the fourth time I had seen Richard Thompson live, the first time without a band. Without the additional musicians you know the show is going to be different but Thompson is his own band out there. He often sounds as if there are two or three guitarists on stage.

Looking at the setlist shows the depth of his catalog. I knew about half of these songs. He did Persuasion, which is one of my favorites that I'd never seen him do before. Also The End of the Rainbow, one of the most intense and bleakest songs ever put to tape. There were some extremely dark songs in the set, which is part of the Thompson package.

Of course he did that motorcycle song. This picture is a 1949 Vincent Black Lightning, from the old Glasgow Museum of Transport

A great concert, and a more than solid performance. As always, he handles the crowd like the pro that he is. Had great seats high up in first row of the third balcony. Here's a snippet of one song.

116 had he lived

2011-10-04T04:33:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday Buster!

My favorite gag is at the 2:00 mark.

Slept through Celtic failure

2011-10-03T04:10:00.001-07:00

What's exciting? Well, we bought a new dryer that gets delivered tomorrow. The motor died on on it last week. Thought about repairing it, but remembered the toilet tragedy. It's at least eight years old, and hiring a repairman would be cost close enough to buying a new one. So that's what we decided.

We headed up to the Bills Backers bar in Dublin to watch the Bills lose on a late field goal yesterday. Part one of Ken Burns' Prohibition started last night and runs through Tuesday.

But the dryer.

Fluffy towels again!

Tonight is tomorrow

2011-09-30T19:10:00.001-07:00

Since I'll be busy with the Merseyside Derby in the morning. Shopping in the afternoon, and the Doctor Who finale at night - here is what I've been listening to over the past few weeks.

He's coming to Columbus on Wednesday. Just him, and a guitar. We're going.

I know very little about the Eurovision Song Contest. I've been finding some very interesting songs on youtube from it and am thinking of doing a weekly feature here. Again, I know nothing about this, but digging around one can find the scary, the plain weird, and the amazing. I really like finding international music through youtube, you learn a lot.

Case in point.

Stevie Jackson, the guitarist of Belle & Sebastian has just released his debut solo album, and it's pretty darn good.

Been listening to 12 Songs, always loved his original version that Three Dog Night turned into the hit.

I was going to post something off his wonderful new record, The Old Magic, but stumbled across this video, which I had never seen before. Listened to a set of his from Maryland last Sunday. He opened for Wilco and sounded sweet. This man has a deep catalog of great songs that have been long ignored and overlooked. He's one of the best.

That's what's been on in the car, and in my headphones.

From my subconscious to you

2011-09-30T04:13:00.000-07:00

Woke up at 4:30am, somehow remembering these ditties.

We were in the Short North, my wife was in one of the restaurant and a pan handler asked me for money for the bus. A dollar I think I knew this person already had a bus pass, and I did not have a dollar anyway, so I said no. Said person then went inside and asked my wife for a dollar, and she, being the soft touch kindest person in the universe, gave the person the money.

In another Kafe Kerouac was now some sort of wine bar/bistro. There were higher tables and at one of them we joined another person, who I think was a blogger, who had a bottle of wine and was drinking it by herself. I asked her what it was. She told me it was a carignan then proceed to pour me a glass while she spoke in French.

Is there an app for toilet training an autistic kid?

2011-09-29T04:19:00.000-07:00

My mother bought an iPad for my son. It arrived on Tuesday night. Set up the iPad for him. Did not add anything for my personal use. I do not need another gadget to be addicted to.

It is sleek, easy to use and had amazing video quality. The camera is still a piece of crap.

Gave it to him, and he spent most of the morning watching the same video over and over on the PBS app. I took it offline, knowing I'd put it back. I'm trying to figure out a way to use the iPad as a tool in toilet training. Something has to motivate this kid.

Later, he handed me the iPad on the screen that shows the homepage of the PBS kids app. The one I took off. The one he wanted me to put back on. No sure how he found it, but he did.

Last night, he was at his mother's and asked her where it was. Later, she said he was looking at an app for learning Portuguese on her iPod. Great, another language he can learn that we will not understand.

Proportion does not matter when they will add up to millions

2011-09-28T07:13:00.001-07:00

Trying a new look here. Any opinions?

Last night I drove up to Mount Vernon for my feature with Joe Suarez. Had an unexpected detour that involved bridge construction but I got there in plenty of time. Pleased to see this outside Sips Coffeehouse.

First of all, my name was spelled right - and I got top billing! I've been trying to get Mark to book me for one of his nights and I'm glad he finally asked.

You never know what to expect when you read to a new audience. Read a mixture of work, most of it serious, some of it about autism.

The crowd was very, very quiet throughout. They did not even clap between poems. Not what I'm used to. Had no idea if they thought my work was any good or not.

Did a little whining about it on Facebook until Paula L. said that is how the crowd is, and that they will come up to you after and praise your work.

That is exactly what they did. Got some good feedback and conversation. All the people I spoke to had an autism story. Their grandchild or niece's son has autism. Everyone is being touched by it now. What to do about it?

Here's the set list.

It Was an Old Book
Corridor
After Birth
David's Rock
Notation
Hearing Projection (new: read off iPod Touch!)
The Tall Man Tries
Jungleland: Praise and Response
Nobody's Poet

It was great being there with Joe to have someone familiar in the audience, and to exchange a knowing look when a certain guitar playing poet took to the mic.

Got some gas money, sold a few cds. Yes, it was a success. Drive home was dark, rainy and scary. My eyes are not good in the dark, and no one was on the roads behind me. When cars approached, the headlights were a bit overwhelming. Freaking age.

In other news my son now has an iPad. I set it up for him, downloaded some apps. All he's doing right now is watching videos on PBS Kids. How to use this as a toilet training tool?

Is it a trap game?

2011-09-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

One of the first things my stepfather said to me today, after seeing me in my Bills polo shirt, was, "You still root for them?"

The day was so busy I was not able to watch the Bills/Patriots game. My parents were in town this weekend, so I had go swim with my son in the pool at their hotel so Grandma can see her Grandson swim duty.

It wasn't a bad gig.

We had some other errands to do and went out to eat at a non-sports bar. My idea. Did not want to be distracted and agitated if the game was tense.

Turns out it was. We got home and the score was tied late in the game. The Bills had come back from being 21 points down. Put the game through the internet radio feed so we could hear John Murphy call the game. The local television affiliate here shows either the Cleveland or Cincinnati games, and the Browns game was not over. But for the life of me when it was over I could not believe they did not immediately switch to the Bills/Pats game as it was very exciting.

Eventually they showed the game, and we had to turn down the radio because the feeds were not even close to being in synch.

Man, that was one crazy finish but seeing the Bills finally beat the Patriots, which they had not done since 2003 was sweet! Belichick losing his cool and losing a time out, Brady intercepted four times, and unable to rally his team to a last second comeback because the Bills won the game on a last second field goal was icing on the victory cake!

How many games were the Bills on the negative side of the win/loss column dealing with last second field goals over, say, the last five years.

I'm celebrating and taking this win, but knowing that 3-0 is only 3-0. There are thirteen games left, all of them tough. None tougher than next weeks game at Cincinnati against the Bengals. If this team is serious about being taken seriously, it is a game that must be won.

Eight years, fifteen games of defeats against New England is finally over. While there are more important things happening in the world, it's good to have a victory beverage or two taking some comfort in the end of a losing streak.

If I send it to you you've got to promise to keep it whole?

2011-09-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

I wrote this during the day, now I'm posting it to keep my mind off the state of Georgia and blood lust.

If you listened to college radio at all the in the 1980’s you could not avoid R.E.M. I’m trying to remember where I was when I first heard them. It had to be the Chronic Town E.P., sometime at WCVF during my sophomore year, fall of 1982. I had to look that up because I thought it was sometime in the spring, but it looks like the record was not released until October of 1982.

In the spring of 1983 I went to a college radio convention in Washington D.C. and they made an appearance. A meet and greet to sign autographs. I did not see them but managed to get one of their early press photos. I still have it, found in the basement. Sorry if the scan cut off the top of Michael's head.

Then in the spring of 1983 Murmur came out and it was like Thriller for independent music. It changed the indie music sound, brought back the jangly guitar and influenced a lot of kids. They were the perfect alternative band, could rock when necessary, and kept it quiet when they could. They were MTV friendly, a bit surly or engaging during interviews; a group of four mysterious characters, yet accessible all at once.

Every year through my college days and Fredonia years it seemed that the band released a new record. They are one of the groups that definitely provided the soundtrack to my life during that time. I remember being in the recording studio at WCVF with the new copy of Document and the looks on the faces of the people in there with me, listening as this great new record was being played for the first time is a good memory. I think the station, as thanks for your support from the record label, received an autographed copy of the album cover that was stolen.

I was obsessed with Life’s Rich Pagaent. Played it over and over, then the house was robbed, along with my turntable. That was a sad time.

Green alienated me a bit, I can't name any song on it other than the mediocre Orange Crush, but Out of Time brought me back into the fold. Loved Me and Honey and the work they did with Kate Pierson. Automatic for the People kept the streak going then Monster completely lost me. Guitar noise, What's the Frequency Kenneth was a grab at pop culture they missed. After that, the band and my life were headed in two different directions. They, along with 10,000 Maniacs (who had their own connection to R.E.M.) and U2 will forever be my Fredonia bands. Maybe Columbus, myself, and the band could not connect?

There really were not many of their songs that hit me over the last ten years. At My Most Beautiful is probably my favorite of anything they recorded during that era. Never saw them live. Never really wanted to after hearing a few of their shows, they did not impress me as a live act so I did not think it was worth the effort. Maybe in time I’ll regret this.

They gave it a go, and had a good run for over thirty years. Not many bands can claim that longevity while sustaining success. They could have called it a day in 1999, or when Bill Berry left and I’d have written the same thing then as I am now. Heck, U2 can break up today and I’d be writing the same thing. It’s sad that it’s finally happened, but they did well, very well, and we can celebrate the great music they left us. Perhaps Mike Mills can put out a solo record now?

77

2011-09-20T03:15:00.001-07:00

Pushing the Button, Again

2011-09-19T04:19:00.000-07:00

Gambling is not something I do. You want me to place a bet on a team, go opposite. The west side casino is not someplace I'm going to visit.

There is one thing that is hard to resist though.

Let me change that. I do not put money into any skill crane, just the ones with frogs in them.

You see, my wife, she likes frogs.

The Kroger we go to has a skill crane. As we leave I check the skill crane for frogs and, more importantly, their position in the box. If they're at the bottom, hiding underneath a pile of unnecessary plush, I walk by. If I do not have any quarters in my pockets, I walk by. I do not carry rolls of quarters to the skill crane. So if there is a frog in an attainable by claw position, and I have a couple of quarters, I'll put them in and try my luck. This usually happens a couple of times a month. Most of the time, the frog does not get grabbed by the claw and I'm out fifty cents. Life goes on.

I've pulled a frog out of a skill crane once, two years ago I was alone, tried my luck and brought home a wee frog.

But if no one sees you do it, did it really happen?

Yesterday we did our shopping and walked through the vestibule where the skill crane is. I looked in, assessed that a big frog just may be ripe for the picking, put in my fifty cents, lined up the claw, and pushed the button.

Win.

Now, as we're walking to the car after I won her the frog she's going on saying that the machine, the claw, is set to work only every so often. She's saying the machine is rigged.

Please.

Why do they call it a Skill Crane?

It's skill that won her that cuddly frog friend. My skill. There were no electronic shenanigans in play here. Why can't she accept that her husband is occasionally adept in the use of the skill crane and leave it at that?

Drops on 9/27/11

2011-09-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

To Migrate?

2011-09-16T04:00:00.001-07:00

After years of waiting and rumor, Yuengling Beer is finally going to be distributed in Ohio starting next month. I say Huzzah to this! My introduction to it came years ago at my sister's college graduation in Williamsport, Pennsylvania at a small neighborhood bar she took us to. We had it on tap, while it is far from the best beer I've had it is quite flavorful, and the price point is excellent.

I'm a bit disappointed that the Lord Chesterfield Ale is not going to be sold here, probably because they do not make enough of it, there will be plenty of lager happily consumed. Never been a fan of their, or any, black and tan.

While at Kafe Kerouac the other night I noticed they had some Columbus Brewing Company's Festbier in the cooler. Made a note to have some before the night was out. Gina came into the room with one, sat next to my wife and told her to tell me the beer was excellent. Now when Gina says a potent potable is good, it's good. Went and got one before finishing my Italian Soda, and ended up having two bottles. It's impressive. Good amount of malt, appropriate for the style and enough snappy hop flavor to make it interesting. Well made. Hope to find some in the stores because I prefer it to the Oktoberfest by Great Lakes this year.

Thinking of moving this place over to Wordpress. Kicking the tires over there, not time to check out how easy it is to use, yet. Something I'm going to ponder for a few weeks before making a decision.

Chasing the Waterfall

2011-09-14T04:03:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, we received our staff appreciation gift. A similar item is in the photograph above.

I received a copy of the recorded CD last week. After listening to it, I discovered it needs a couple of edits. My producer is out of town until the night before the feature. Looks like I'm going to go into Garageband and attempt the edits myself. Oh boy.

In fifteen days

2011-09-12T04:02:00.000-07:00

I will have a feature reading at Sips Coffeehouse in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

You can find the event link on Facebook HERE!

If you do not have a Facebook account, here's more information.

Ed Plunkett will be a featured poet during this reading, with Special Guest poet Joseph Suarez.

Ed has been reading his work in the Central Ohio region for over five years. He is a member of the Writers' Block Poetry group and represented them in the Individual World Poetry Slam in Berkeley, California in 2009. He has published one chapbook, "Nobody's Poet" and is working on a CD that will be completed by the time 2011 ends. Ed writes about the challenges of raising an autistic child and the lighter and darker sides of life's foibles. A goal of his is to read in all of Ohio's 88 counties. He has a long way to go. Ed lives in Columbus with his wife and son.

Here's what Joe has to say about his craft -

I was introduced to the world of Poetry thru a friend 3 1/2 years ago after being invited to tag along to go to a Wednesday night Poetry Reading at Writers Block. Just 2 weeks following I performed my first piece ever in public at Writers Block during Open Mic; after that I was hooked. Most of my Poetry is based on real life observations and experiences - some funny and some serious. Poetry has been a great outlet for me and has enriched my life in more ways than ever imagined and has been a true Blessing. I have met so many great people thru this experience who have offered their support, many who I call friends. I am a proud father of 5 children and Grandfather of 3 and currently live in Marion, Ohio. Columbus is my hometown.

Starts at 6:30, on 9/27, at Sips Coffeehouse, 101 South Main Street, Mount Vernon, Ohio.

Hope you can show up.

It was a beautiful morning

2011-09-11T06:20:00.000-07:00

Daredevils (for Philippe Petit)

Scotland, the Last

2011-09-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

I had a couple of days on my own as my wife and her sister spent the days together shopping. Friday was the walk around the west end. Tuesday, the final day we had in Glasgow, had me taking a walk, in the rain, towards the east end.

It was a very pleasant walk. There'd be a sheet of rain, that would stop, start up again, then the sun would try to make an appearance. Unlike Friday, it did not.

Glasgow Green is the oldest public space in Glasgow. It's a lovely park that has the People's Palace, a neat little museum that depicts the history of the city.

In front of the museum is the Doulton Fountain, the largest terracotta fountain in the world. It's very impressive.

The Anderson Shed was used as a bomb shelter during World War Two. Glasgow and the surrounding areas, including Clydebank, were heavily bombed due to their shipbuilding capabilities.

Perish the thought!

I did manage to drink several fine whiskies during my stay, and was given an old bottle of Glenkinchie from my Father-in-law.

After my tour of the People's Palace I walked a bit on the east end and found the Barras, a part of the city that is filled with character among the small shops and stalls that are only open on weekends. These shops have reputations for selling dodgy, pirated merchandise and I'm guessing things that came out of the back of a lorry. Next time I want to see this place in action.

Met up with my wife and S-I-L at Rogano's, a very classy place that has been around since the mid thirties. It's art deco style is based on the Queen Mary, and the food is top class.

I'll be eating at the bar next time.

It was a short walk from here to The Lighthouse, a school of architecture and design. It contains a very cool spiral staircase.

It was designed by Charles Rennie McIntosh and was a part of the Glasgow Herald's offices.

Before climbing the staircase, I needed a comfort stop.

The views of downtown are worth the climb. Had to hang on to my hat, it was windy up there.

It's a great city to visit, easy to navigate, and I still have not seen everything I want to, and that includes a soccer match. Still have not seen The Mitchell Library, or taken a distillery tour, or seen a gig. So much to do, and outside of the city is Loch Ness, Millport, Aberdeen, the northern islands and on and on.

It was a long trip home. This will be the last time we take a two connection flight. We got out of Glasgow late, out of Amsterdam late, then missed our connection in Detroit. We got rebooked, that flight was late due to the weather. It's all good and fine, but the extra waiting is very tiring.

Had a wonderful vacation. Now back to the real world.

Auld Reekie

2011-09-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

The only time I was in Edinburgh was in December 2007. The winter sun blinded me as we exited Waverly Station, the wind was persistently cold. The walk toward the castle was an intimidating tourist trap of age, bagpipes blaring out of every shop window and history.

Sunday's visit was different. We took a cab from Waverly to our B&B, got the key from the owner, put our bags on the bed, stopped at a shop for some snacks and went to Arthur's Seat

That was the view from the window of our B&B. I'm just going to post a few pictures here to depict our ascent. We took the hard route, which we probably should not have, but we did not know any better. We did not know about the relatively easy path on the other side, the one we took down!

Some things you have to work for, and the wife and I worked hard for these pictures.

If you look there, you see Emma doing some rock climbing. She did the rock proud!

As you see it's a clear day, it was also a lot warmer than we expected. Going the tougher route really took a lot out of us. But we continued and prevailed.

Em' decided not to make it all the way up, but I continued, only to be rewarded by a Midge attack. As you see, I'm happy, but being swarmed by the beasties, as was everyone else up there.

Em's down there somewhere.

There's the path down, which eventually led us to what is alleged to be The oldest bar in the U.K. The refreshments were well needed, and we beat the crowd.

The image above is of the legendary Heart of Midlothian. That is not my spit.

We were in the city on the last day of the Fringe Festival, and I have to say the service workers in bars and restaurants were more than a bit surly. I get that they wanted it over, but there was one wanker bartender who did not seem to want to sell us the refreshments we wanted. I'll call him a tASShole.

Here, they were nice.

There's something about the city that gives me bad vibes. Sure, there's plenty of history but the citizens have to realize that tourism is giving them work, and not a reason for them to act like douches. Oh, the guy who sold me Buckfast (more about in an upcoming post), he was cool. I was respectful the whole time and nearly had my head handed to me when I made a wrong turn in the B&B and put my head into the owner's private quarters. It was not just bad luck, they're not as friendly a bunch in Edinburgh as they are in the rest of the places I traveled to in the country. I think it's time to go someplace else during our next trip over.

Bards of the Round Platform

2011-09-08T03:31:00.000-07:00

The last few days in Scotland were quite busy and I did not have much time to update here. We're back in Columbus safe and sound.

Let's go back a few days and refresh.

Saturday afternoon we headed to Tollcross Park to take part in a monthly poetry reading I found on the internet. Did this on a whim, was not sure if the group was still active, or what to expect.

Took a commuter train there, got to the station just in time to catch the train to Tynedale, which was a short walk and one asking for directions to the park.

While headed up the road there we heard a marching band just down the road. Had no idea what was going on. Was it a rally for the Scotland/Czech Republic match?

Turns down, it was a political march. Take this wikipedia entry with a few grains of salt, but this was the gist of the march.

As we got closer to it I asked Emma if I could take a picture without getting beaten up, "Do it discreetly," She said.

At the end of the parade, I noticed someone taking video of it with an iPhone. Quite the culture shock.

The park itself, is quite lovely.

We got to the place for the reading a bit early and asked the worker at the Winter Gardens where the poetry would be read. He pointed is us in the direction of the Secret Garden.

While waiting here we discovered that Poet's Time exists in Glasgow too. One poet showed up, we introduced ourselves and about a half an hour later the rest of the group showed up.

"You're the American that's looking for the group?" I was asked by Colin, the organizer. I guess word got around at the Winter Gardens.

A small group of poets were sitting in a park in Glasgow on a not too bad Saturday afternoon sharing their work with each other in what I'd say you could call a cypher. Only eight people were there so we read in a round robin fashion. It was great. Funny work, political poems, personal. I got a few asides asking if I could understand the accents. We discussed our disgust for neo-cons and the Chicago School of Economics. The group has been together for about eleven years. Attendance was small this particular day due to a few illnesses and a football match.

It was fantastic. I ended up reading: Pantoum for a Child with Insomnia, Gaythiest, David's Rock, For Daredevils, After Birth and Nobody's Poet. A mini-feature.

I asked Emma to get a picture of me reading, and the group forced me to get up on the platform where people would read if they had a better crowd. So I did.

At the end we exchanged names, emails and I vowed plan my next trip around the first Saturday of the month, when Bards in the Park meet at Tollcross Park.

Our next stop was the Parkhead, we were given a ride to Celtic Park by one of the poets, a very generous and decent man.

After the photo-op we got on the bus and headed into town for a bite to eat before headed back to Lenzie for dinner. I'm glad I finally got a picture of this.

Still recovering from a long trip home yesterday. More to come.

Almost four years later

2011-09-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

My wife and her sister shopped the day away so I was left to fend for myself. I'm trying not to return to many places this trip. Wandered past a few places on the West End that I'd been to. The University and Kelvingrove Park took up a wonderful amount of time. This place though, I could not resist returning to.

Simple fish supper. The counter man could not understand that I did not want salt and vinegar on them, just salt, so I got neither. It did not make a difference.

Went down by the Kelvin River, which is next to the place to eat. Walked along the path to find a decent spot, and here it was.

In the shade, watching fisherman, joggers and strollers. Does not get much better.

Been a long day. Met a fellow blogger, had drinks at the Horseshoe and was treated very well by the bartender who, hearing my accent, gave me a couple of samples of their microbrewed beer after I told him to please bring me the #5 single malt on the blackboard because there was no way I could pronounce it. Three pound ten for a half pint of beer and good whisky. Great bar. Tomorrow could be a slower day, but a lot of walking.

Pictures from a Moving Skoda

2011-09-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

You want scenery? Have your Father-in-law drive you though the Scottish Highlands.

He'll tell you all about the abandoned rail lines.

People from all over the world, even America, come to see them. You may even see nuns eating ice cream.

And when you say "Oh Jesus, Look at that!" It's only a few moments later you say the same thing.

You appreciate the natural beauty.

The cows know here, too.

You do not care that charming little towns on a loch are money vacuums.

There is a Loch Awe, and a Loch Fyne. They are that, and more.

The journey is worth the $9 a gallon for diesel.

At the end of an exhausting day, you thank the man who drove you, then follow the sage advice of the Green Wellie.

Tomorrow, the sisters shop, leaving me to explore the Dear Green Place on my own. Subway, buses, appropriate footwear will take me downtown and to places on the west end I want to return to, and see for the first time. Will I be able to find batteries on my own?

They Fall Asleep Early in Lenzie

2011-08-31T14:03:00.000-07:00

After being awake for about 36 hours straight and dealing with crying toddlers, a barking dog and a diabetic seizure towards the back of the plane we finally arrived in Scotland.

When we got off the train and set foot in George Square we found out it turned into Philadephia.

Today was the last day of location and extras filming World War Z, which will be released sometime next year. Brad Pitt is starring but he left before we arrived. A lot of street signs of Philly were added to the streets around the square and some American cars, taxis and a bus was shipped in. Interesting stuff and this makes the film a must see.

The film in based on a book by Max Brooks, Mel's and Anne Bancroft's kid. Zombie wars. We also hit a book store, where I found Denise Mina's latest.

While walking on Buchannan Street my wife saw Colin McCredie of Taggart fame.

Another type of public/private partnership?

Had a fine day in Glasgow, wandering around in the wrong choice of footwear. Took in the street life, did some shopping and had a proper Glaswegian experience in Queen Street Station.

Weather's been cloudy, but decent. We're headed up to Glencoe today to see the site of a massacre. I'm suspecting the next time her Dad comes to Ohio we'll take him to Kent State to reciprocate.

All's well. Exploring tomorrow, a gig in the evening, Edinburgh on Sunday.

I see Vernell Bristow repeated as the Writers' Block the IWPS Championship. Congratulations!

He probably will not see his, but my son turns nine today. It would not be my night with him, but he is missed and thought of with love.

First of the Month Project (September)

2011-08-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

The hurricane caused some minor damage to my parents property and I think the wind gave them a bit to think about as well. But it looks like most of my friends and family are alright.

Leaving tomorrow for Scotland, which means this blog is most likely not going to be updated for a couple of weeks. I should have some limited access to email and internet, but I'll be elsewhere.

Before I go, let's continue with the First of the Month Project, aka What I've Been Listening To.

I do not like the lip synching, but I've always been charmed by this cover.

The Motels had a couple of hits in the eighties. Recently, what should have been their third album, Apocolypto, was released. It contained different mixes and track listing from what became their breakout record, All for One. I always like this song from the record. Never became a single. A shame. Good to hear Martha Davis is still rocking.

I liked Beirut's last record and their new one, The Rip Tide, is just as haunting and catchy.

Going to see him in October. Stoked!

I'm not a fan of The Fiery Furnaces, but I like this record by the female half of the duo.

This is the song my son's been listening to on the iPod.

Back in a couple. You call play nice.

But I will never lose my head tonight

2011-08-27T11:51:00.000-07:00

The hurricane is headed up the East Coast. Like many, I have plenty of family and friends in Irene's path, including my parents. I spoke to my Mom yesterday, they're fine. She mentioned the long lines at the gas stations, that they had plenty of food. They're going to be fine, as long as no trees blow through their windows, but I worry. This is one of the frequent times I feel guilty being so far away.

My wife is going to see her Father for the first time in over two years this week. He and her Sister are even further away. It's hard to imagine what she has done for love, crazy! This week she filled out the paperwork to have her permanent resident status updated. Today I mailed that out. We're likely to hear back from Homeland Security soon, with a note that her status has been extended another year while they review the paperwork. Sometime after that, she'll find out she can stay another ten years.

We've been watching my son for about ten days straight. When he gets on the bus Monday morning, I will not see him until the next Thursday. While I'm away, he will turn nine. He's a great kid. Even greater once toilet trained. He's been listening to a song on my iPod all weekend, walking all around the first floor of the house, holding the iPod, taking the beginning of the song in, then restarting. I'll post the song tomorrow, as part of the 'What I've been Listening to" project.

Really, there are no Mummies in my Basement

2011-08-25T03:59:00.000-07:00

The assessment on my house arrived in the mail from the county yesterday. The auditor lowered the value of my house by $22,000. I'm a bit stunned, but not completely surprised. We're not in a desirable neighborhood, but we're not in the middle of urban blight here either. This part of town has no real amenities, no coffee shops, no movie theaters and it's not walkable.

Last night at Writers' Block was the final qualifying slam for IWPS. I was prepared as it would be my final slam of the season since I will not be in the country for finals. Drew the third slot out of six poets and brought out a debut. If you were not there you missed out on "Crispus Attucks Speaks through my Oujia Board" which does little to extinguish the flames of the Race War that Scott Woods is trying to start. Must be experienced to be believed.

Went into round two in first place. Asked Gina if we could end it there, she was not able to. Read "My Thunder" and I brought it like a weak cold front as three other poets passed me and I finished fourth. Congratulations to Rose Smith for winning it all. Vernell finished in second, Megan in third.

It was a good slam season. I respected the "No Repeat" rule and adhered to it, even counted the two poems I read at Rust Belt even though I did not have to.

A couple of months off from slam and it all starts again in January. Got to improve the writing, always.

The Livin' is Easy, Fish are Jumpin' and the Cotton is High

2011-08-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

Summertime for my son is about to end. Tomorrow is the first day of third grade. I've got a few forms filled out, his backpack filled with supplies that a Staples franchise could use, and have sent a note and email to his new teacher.

Now, to see how late the bus will be in the morning.

We had some more errands to run after we got up, and they included a visit to Schiller Park.

He went up the hill a couple of times, hit the swings, went up and down the slide, took a lap or two around the tennis courts and did not complain when we had to leave!

We were hanging out in the early afternoon. He was on he laptop, I was sitting in the green chair checking Facebook when the floor began to twitch, it felt like someone was hitting the back of the chair - as if there was a loud truck or car with an enormous sub-woofer passing by. But there was no vehicle in the road. This went on for about 10-15 seconds. My son looked over at me with a 'what is this Daddy?' look.

I immediately posted to Facebook that I thought I felt an earthquake and the site lit up with confirmations from many of my friends on the east coast in Southern Virginia all the way up to Poughkeepsie, New York.

That was the first time I had been aware of an earthquake, and I did not like it. I cannot imagine going through one that is more powerful, and of longer duration. That unsettling feeling I had this afternoon was plenty enough, and I'm glad to hear that no one was seriously hurt.

The Nearly Fatal Baguette

2011-08-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

My son is on a break between day camp and school, which starts on Wednesday, so I took the day off work. We had some errands to run and I took him to a park.

He likes the swings and specifically asked to go on them. He had to wait his turn at one point so he went up the slide, from the bottom to the top.

When we got home I went to make a sandwich using a baguette. I was not aware of a battle between me and the bread knife, but whatever was going on in its mind ended up with the knife going into my finger, very deep.

Patched it up, hoping for the best, and waited to change the dressing until the Manchester United/Tottenham match ended. After Man. U. kicked their butts I discovered the wound was still bleeding.

Made the decision to get to urgent care when my wife got home as I had the kid with me and was not going to risk bringing him to the doctor. No need to give him any stress, or to stress me out any further.

The Doctor removed the bandage, and the bleeding stopped. The wound closed up to a point where it would have been an effort for her to reopen it. There was not much she could do besides putting a couple of strips on it and giving me a tetanus shot.

That's the White Finger of Truth pointing at you all!

Going to be very hard not using it as a prop on Wednesday night.

My Bunker’s better than Gaddafi’s

2011-08-21T04:59:00.000-07:00

We watched Blue Valentine the other night. A realistic, but completely depressing film about a couple who meet, get married and split up. I thought the leads, played by Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling were terrific. A lot of it hit very close to home in the ‘hey this shit really happens to people’ theme. My problem with the film is that the script ignored the middle period of the brief marriage, in which the rot set in and the death spiral began. Their marriage itself seemed to be built on a lie and a sense of duty by one of the couple. We’re never shown scenes in which they are truly happy.

The film seemed to trigger me. Maybe it was a combination of that and the "You were at SUNY Fredonia in the 80's" Facebook group which added to my baggage of moroseness.

Anyway, it put me in an unsettled but safe mood and has made me think too much.
My first wife is in that group, and it's weird seeing people naming her in threads and me not being able to see it. She's blocked me. She requested four years ago that I no longer contact her. I have not crossed those boundaries. It's petty and bizarre all at once and I know there are people reading this who still have contact with her, which is expected.

I bear her no ill will, never have.

Closure's a myth and social media is a really fucked up place sometimes.

Busy week ahead as we prepare for the trip to the old country. Sending out the itinerary to some, a spare key and phone numbers go to others. Have some immigration forms to fill out and send. Bills need to be paid. What to pack? The temperature will be about twenty five degrees cooler. Do we go to the concert on Friday or Tuesday?

Also have to start promoting and get ready for a feature I will have in late September. It will be in Mount Vernon at Sips Coffeehouse. Mark, the man who runs the show up there has been asking me a few times and it’s time to finally take him up on that offer. I’ll be joined by Joe Suarez. Not sure if the CD will be done by them as it has some production issues and the inevitable delays of life. Mark September 27th on your calendars to take a little road trip up north.

In the midst of everything else, I’ve been researching the action of my Great Uncle’s WW2 unit, to varying degrees of success. It is a lot of work that takes up plenty of time with a lot of dead ends and dead veterans. I’ve found a book though interlibrary loan that has a history of the unit’s activities. There are some pictures and the names of his fellow soldiers are listed. Now comes the task of trying to find out if any members survive.

We both took the day off on Friday. My wife waited at the house for the gas company to install a new meter while I got the oil changed in the car. She wanted to play mini golf, in a continuation of the International Mini Golf Series, and blew me out by four strokes. I think she has a three to two lead now.

I have a couple of days off early in the week coming up. My son finished day camp on Friday and his first day of school is on Wednesday so I’m watching him until then. Third grade, how did that happen!?!

The final qualifying slam for IWPS is this Wednesday at Kafe Kerouac. I will be out of the country for the finals (which I have most likely qualified for) so this is my game seven sudden death there’s no tomorrow last slam of the season. I will not only be swinging for the fences, but at them.

Mourihno is a bad man

2011-08-18T05:35:00.000-07:00

When a place you frequent is having a bad night, you can tell. When you look behind the bar toward the kitchen there's a tension you can see. I'm not sure if the place was short staffed, or simply not prepared. It was busy, I've been there when it was busy and I'm still not sure what was different.

It took a long time for our order to be placed. We ordered guacomole dip to go with our chips and salsa. It never showed up, and we asked about it. There was nothing wrong with the food but it took its time in arriving. In the meantime, the Barcelona/Real Madrid match was on, and it was entertaining to see there was one Madrid fan watching. He cheered when they tied it up, then got sad when Messi scored the game winner. Then the game got all thuggish, a bunch of men waving their purses at each other and it was all over.

We waited at least fifteen minutes for the bill to arrive, and the guacomole dip, which we never did receive, was on it.

I rarely do not tip, and last night was one of those times. The establishment had an off night, as can happen, so we're not going to dismiss it.

A fine return to Writers' Block last night. Chet Peters strafed the stage with F-Bombs during his feature. Rose Smith wowed us with a poem celebrating her daughters. Marshall cam back from exile and gave us some Meta-Five! The Race War continued. Some time soon I may even post some pictures. Hell, I still have not talked about Theresa Davis' first draft feature!

Next week is the last qualifying slam for IWPS. Since I will not be in the country for finals (assuming I get in, and it looks like I would be) I'm treating this like the last official slam of the year. Take that as you will.

It Started with Jacques Dutronc

2011-08-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

While listening to Radio 10, with a song by Dutronc

I'd never heard of the guy before, quick wikipedia shows he's married to Francois Hardy, which gives him instant cred. The man's a legend in France, and that's about it. He's still performing strong at age sixty eight.

While looking through his videos on youtube, I came across this chanson in the sidebar.

This gal was bad! I know nothing about her other than she's French Canadian. She does have a oddly translated website which shows she's still kicking some butt.

I absolutely love discovering new old music from around the world.

Shit Gaze as Poetry

2011-08-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

My son has been using the iPod Touch. When I take it out all of a sudden I'm his best friend. He finds movie trailers and keeps playing the one for Rango, which is alright and Jackass 3, which make me wonder. He also gets into the music and finds his favorites by KT Tunstall. This weekend he's been listening to Here Comes the Sun and has found a song by the Acid House Kings that he likes as well as Airport, by The Motors. He does not like My Morning Jacket.

We were also in the yard in the afternoon, where he took a soccer ball and threw it against the fence, then the garage, then the fence on the other side of the yard. No, I never did anything like that ;)

Had an opportunity to meet up with a fellow blogger yesterday. He came down from Fredonia and we went to the Columbus Crew match. Good to talk about Fredonia then (as he was not there when I was) and now and some other conversation. The Crew were victorious!

The National Poetry Slam finals were held last night. Congratulations to team Nuba form Denver as they won the title. Writing Wrongs, from Columbus came in fourth. The Nuyorican team from NYC finished second and Team Providence third. From all reports is was a great bout with inspiring poems all around. Congratulations to Simone Beaubien and her staff for putting together a great event whose sole 'problem' was the bouts being sold out, with overflow crowds. What happened that was out of the organizers control was a fire in a venue, and when the venue was moved a poet had a seizure on stage. No one was injured, all is well today.

Have a few poems that are more than half finished that should be completed by the time we leave for Scotland. Some meaner stuff than usual. Some of it necessary, some of it deliberately spiteful. I'm a bad man.

News from Cambridge

2011-08-12T19:15:00.001-07:00

Been following updates on Twitter (thank you James Meranda) regarding one of tonight's semifinal bouts in the National Poetry Slam. Columbus' Writing Wrongs was competing with four other teams for a spot in the finals. Scores were tight and going into the final round WW was in second trailing by three tenths of a point.

WW was set to go last in the bout and needed a 26.2 to tie for first, which would have put them into the finals and Jason Braswell who nailed a 26.6 to win the bout. Man that room must have been electric. Congrats to Will, Rachel, Ethan and Jason for being the first team from Columbus to make the finals of the National Poetry Slam!

Finals are tomorrow night, and I'll be missing them because I'm going to the Crew game. As soon as I get home though the laptop gets fired up.