Not gonna lie, been in a rut. Got too many things to do and not enough time to get ’em done. And yet, nothing that I felt was worth writing about.
Not that it’s been all bad, just not noteworthy.
I’ve only been to one show since my last post – Magic City Hippies at the Fillmore in SF. However, considering I’ve done something like 5 or 6 concert reviews about them on this blog and this was maybe the 10th(?) time we’ve seen them, I don’t really have much else to say. They are STILL gre,at, one of the best live acts out there. Seriously. If you like live music and you get the opportunity, go see them. You won’t regret it.
MCH@Fillmore SF
I also was surprisingly reunited with a dear old friend – one of my groomsmen as a matter of fact – that “fell off the radar” some 30 years ago and I haven’t seen or heard from since! We had a nice talk on the phone and he was coming to town from out of state, so we met up for lunch a few days later and it was fantastic. It really gave me a sense of joy that my feeble vocabulary can’t articulate. I’ve really come to appreciate old friends as I’ve grown old but it’s rare that I see mine, as we’re now scattered clear across the country. In different directions. I’m the only dumb sap that still lives in the area where we all grew up. Unfortunately it no longer even closely resembles the place of our youth and there isn’t much to draw them back here for a visit.
Such is life.
Still have a pile of parts to replace on my truck, but between the full to-do list and the absolutely crap weather we’ve been having these last couple months, I’ve not been terribly excited about doing the work.
But now SPRING is officially here, and today I felt pretty invigorated. Had a productive day at work, then came home and put in a couple hours of chorin’ , now throwing this little note out there just to pet you all know I’m still alive and kicking!
Hopefully the change in seasons will bring a change in output here on the old Blogstead.
My apologies to any readers that have been wondering where I’ve gone… I know it’s been quite some time since I posted here, but quite frankly I’ve been having ‘one of those days’ for a couple/few months now. I really try to not let this blog be a place for bitterness or despair, so I’ve had my head down just trying to ride the storm out.
I’ve got to say, 2024 will go down in my personal history as the worst year on record, and I’ll be glad to see it in the rear view mirror in a couple months.
And while the last few months have been pretty disastrous for me, it hasn’t been ALL bad…
Back in early September I had a reunion of sorts with some old friends, brothers from other mothers so to speak, that was LONG overdue. While I’ve been in touch with them both fairly regularly, the 3 of us hadn’t been in the same room together for over 30 YEARS! Yeah, seriously overdue! So that was certainly a bright spot for me.
And we saw a few great shows along the way – Dogstar at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, Nikka Costa in Berkeley, Abhi the Nomad in San Francisco and Still Woozy at the Greek Theater in Berkeley as well. All were great shows and there were some awesome opening acts as well – PawPaw Rod for one, was exemplary!
The Mrs. and I also had our 33rd wedding anniversary in October.
We had a couple nice outings with the family as well… A few day trips to Henry Cowells to bask amongst the Redwoods, we did the annual ‘Wine Walk’ in our little town which was nice. And just last week a 3 day camping trip down in Big Sur (more Redwoods!!) These are things that I hold dear. The things that kept me from losing my mind altogether. Much needed and welcome distractions from ‘the real world’.
And today is VOATING day. Yippee… Ordinarily I consider myself a very patriotic American and take my civic responsibility very seriously, but I’m struggling this year. BIG TIME. I’m sick of it all. Sick of the two wings of the same, diseased bird. Sick of the lies. Sick of the hyperbole and the projection. Sick of getting the short end of the stick, regardless of which way the wind blows.
Alrighty then, that is enough doom and gloom. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully a better one.
Thanks to all who have supported me here, I do appreciate it. It’ll probably be a little quiet in the near future, but eventually I’ll dig myself outta this hole and get back to it on the regular.
I’m feeling a bit neglectful of the ol’ blog these days and I just got back to town, so I figured I’d re-cap the last 10 days or so…
The first week of October was not unlike a big punch in the face. Work was ridiculous and on top of the ridiculousness of the day-to-day stuff, we were also hammering out the operational budget for next year. Now, I wear many, MANY hats in this gig, and do a lot of different things, but accounting is something I simply despise. I recognize that it’s a necessary evil, but I just really loathe that part of the job. A week of eyes glazing over and constant, recurring headaches, it was unpleasant to say the least. The Polyphia show was supposed to be the highlight of the week, but that was a bit of a bust too, so the week was just grueling. There was a light at the end of the tunnel though, an impending road trip, kicking off on Sunday, October 8th.
Sunday, October 8th we hit the road to Anaheim, CA for an out of the ordinary trip. For the last 25 or so years, the Mrs. and I have wanted to experience a Disneyland Halloween, and this year we finally did it. We tried to make this trip last year but our planning started only 3 months ahead of when we wanted to go and there was NOTHING available. Seriously, nothing. So this Halloween excursion had been on the books now for 10 months – a long time to wait! And to be honest, I’ve kinda lost my appreciation for Disney over the last few years, between them gobbling up so many other companies and intellectual properties, putting out crap movies and all their “woke” nonsense, I had considerations of calling the whole thing off. Nonetheless, a Disney Halloween was a bucket-list thing since I wanted to go long before the company started going down hill…
The last time we’d been to Disneyland was for our daughter’s 5th birthday – she’ll be 30 this coming February – it’s been a while!
We were expecting long lines and exorbitant costs for everything, and we grossly underestimated both. I’m a maniac for roller coasters, but waiting 2 hours (no, I’m NOT exaggerating!) for a 2 minute ride takes a lot of the fun out of it. Honestly, I have mixed feelings about the entire thing. When we first got there I found myself grinning ear-to-ear at the “magical” aspect of the place. Part of that was nostalgia, but really if you take in the architecture and the design and the special little touches everywhere, it really is unlike anything else in the world.
But the crowds! Good grief! It was just a non-stop, undulating sea of people everywhere you turned. And let me tell you, after seeing thousands upon thousands of these folks doing their best to make it an awesome day for themselves, I started to lose what little faith I had left in humanity.
This is not to say that no fun was had, there were some fun moments…just hours of waiting in “cattle chutes” in between those moments of fun. The Mrs. and I decided upon our departure that we won’t be back unless we end up with grandkids to take. Even then, it would be a tough sell…
On the bright side, we did get to ride the “Incredicoaster” at the California Adventure park on our last day, and I just gotta say WOW!!! Hands down the best roller coaster I’ve ever ridden – by a country mile!
As for the Halloween aspect, the main reason we went, it was underwhelming. There were a lot of decorations put up for it, some pretty stunning in fact, but overall it wasn’t all that different. Maybe the 80 degrees and sunny weather kept the Fall spirit at bay, I dunno. All I can say is Halloween didn’t seem to make it any more magical than it already is, it just brought in a ton of extra people.
The Haunted Mansion, Halloween Style…
After roughly 48 hours in Disneyland across 3 calendar days, it was back home for a layover/re-pack/car swap and a single work day for the Mrs. (and I got to put in some volunteer time at the school too, while she was working). On the 12th we set out again for one of our favorite destinations, Pismo Beach, CA.
I’ve said before that Half Moon Bay is our “home away from home”, but Pismo is a close second. The fact that one of my oldest friends lives there AND I can always count on him to head out into the surf with me, makes Pismo a very welcoming destination indeed.
This time around we tried out a few new places – the new food destinations were awesome, the outdoor hot tubs at Sycamore Hot Springs, eh, not so much… Nonetheless, we had a really relaxing time and I got to surf two days in a row, which almost never happens!
Pablo (right) and the B.O.M. (left) heading into the Pacific!
The whole reason for this trip was in celebration of the Mrs. and I hitting our 32nd (!!!) anniversary. Still having a hard time wrapping my head around that one… Add to that another 3 years together before we got married and we’re approaching double the years together than years we’d lived up to that point. It is staggering. Heck, our daughter is nearly 10 years older then we were when we got together, how time flies, eh?!?
We got back home late Sunday afternoon and the girls had a spa appointment to go to, so I headed out to my studio for some much needed drum time. I decided before I left on this trip that I wanted to change things up with my kit, and started tearing it down before I left. Last night I got a new, much smaller configuration set up and took it for a test drive. It’s pretty close to a “standard” set up now, which kinda rubs me the wrong way, but I’ll keep messing with it ’til I find a set up I love…Or I’ll go back to the “everything but the kitchen sink” set up, cuz I’m weird that way…
Before…After.
Monday was back to the grind, sadly. Morning commute traffic, 444 emails waiting and back to trying to solve everybody’s problems “yesterday”. Thank goodness for the recharge!!
All in all it was a great week, in spite of the hiccups, and I’m feeling invigorated and ready to seize Fall – my favorite season!
I’ve spent a lot of time over the last couple weeks both immersed in music, but also catching up with old friends and reminiscing about the “good ol’ days”. All that put me in a mood to do a flashback featuring songs we used to cover in my first REAL band. And by real, I mean we actually got out of the garage and played gigs, in front of real, live people. Sure, we were only 15 and 16 years old at the time, and were probably terrible, but that band – The Laters – would set a couple of us on a lifelong path of passionate love for live music, writing songs, performing for audiences…all that good stuff.
Ahhh…good times!
More than a couple of these are considered classics now, but this was cutting edge stuff back in 1983/84. Enjoy!
He was right, they DON’T write ’em like that anymore!
Have a great weekend everyone. Thanks for stopping by!
It’s been a weird week… We got back from our road trip late Thursday night, then it was back to the office Friday, which was a whirlwind of activity and turned into a 10+ hour day. Saturday was spent unpacking and fun stuff like laundry…then back to work Sunday for another full day…
And now it’s Monday and again and I’m smack dab in the middle of the real world. Drats.
BUT! I did manage to drag my lazy butt to the gym this morning before work though, so at least I’ve got that goin’ for me. Now if I can just keep it up for the rest of the week!
And I’ve got plans to meet up with one of my oldest, nearest and dearest friends tonight to catch up, so here’s to hoping Monday is painless and quick!
Take care of yourselves out there, and do your best to have a great week! Find something to be grateful for!
The Boring Old Man 