Back From The Fest!

Another Beatlefest in in the books, and as is my way - here is the full report!

The basic rundown:

The snow and ice caused many accidents on the roads to Secaucus, so the normal post-work 15-minute bus ride in from Port Authority took almost two hours. From the hotel window, we could spot accident after accident taking place out on the Turnpike. Looks like it was a great night for all those tow-truck drivers making overtime.

The weather made a HUGE dent in the Friday night attendance. It was probably the first time that I've ever seen an open seat in the bar on a Friday night (there was about seven people in there when I poked my head in around 10PM)! Still, the sparse attendance made for a nicer-than-usual commiseration experience with the old friends that did make it.

Attendance was more up to its' usual numbers on Saturday. Bruce Spizer's first slideshow (mainly containing material in his new book) was hindered because some of his audio / video material never made it via FedEx due to the weather! So we missed out on hearing an actual song by The Titans and WWDC playing "I Want To Hold Your Hand" for the first time in the US. Bruce covered up nicely (certainly better than Ashely Simpson would have).

Ran into Billy J. Kramer in the afternoon (he was just hanging around - not an actual guest!), talked baseball with him (of all things), got a picture. I also discovered that while the inclement weather may have cut down on the number of participants in the yearly Beatle-freak show, the intensity of the ones that DID show up were definitely kicked up a notch (bam!). Definitely an interesting side show element this year.

The Smithereens were great in the afternoon (when are they not?) and The Bootlegs had a great crowd (as usual) on the second floor. Saturday night festivitites ran WAY late (Martin Lewis didn't begin his goofy panel discussion until after 1 AM in the morning - when, by the by, Liverpool was STILL playing!!!). The Blue Meanies / Mr. Neutron finally got going around 2AM and good fun was had by all.

Didn't stay around very long on Sunday (I'm STILL suffering from some flu-like symptoms, so I spent more time sleeping than partying this year, and felt a little burned out by early afternoon on Sunday). Lo and behold, here I am back at the ole homestead a few hours later.

Other things of note that were obverved this year - for the first time, probably EVER - the hotel security was extremely Nazi-riffic. There was an increased "beefy rent-a-cop" presence throughout the Crown Plaza, and they were very quick to flash their hotel-supplied rent-a-cop badges and talk tough about people making too much noise (excuse me?) and open bottles (wha?), etc. For the most part, Fest crowds are very diligent about policing themselves, so seeing a lot of heavy-handed, ham-fisted cro-magnons making threats to people that really weren't doing anything out of the "Fest norm" (singing, drinking, etc.), and stomping around like jackasses was a tad disturbing.

Other notes - heavy amounts of ice and snow caused the cover on the lovely outdoor Crown Plaza pool to cave in. A somewhat incoherent Mark ("Cap'n Crayola") Hudson grabbed the mike on the second floor Saturday afternoon while The Bootlegs were on break and made a rambling spectacle of himself. Last but not least, someone made a VERY "intereting", um...shall I say, "phallic" snowman out back some time on Friday night that was easily visible to Saturday morning breakfast diners seated near the lake-facing glass in the hotel restaurant. Looked like someone had slipped Frosty a few Viagra!

See y'all again in 2008!

Beatlefest 2007 Is This Weekend!

Or, you know - The Fest For Beatles Fans, or whatever it is being called this week!

I'm planning to arrive Friday after work, probably around 6PM. Hope to see some of you there!

FLU UPDATE: Believe it or not, still feeling somewhat sick - TWELVE DAYS after feeling the initial signs of illness coming on. Hopefully more of that will clear out by the weekend!

Pete's Influenza Diary

It was exactly one week ago today that I first started to feel the effects of The Flu. Little did I know then that it WAS "The Flu". Boy, would I be sad to learn that this year's Flu is the Nuclear Flu.

It's the Flu on Steroids.

For those of you who may think you are coming down with The Flu, here's what you have to look forward to...

Friday, March 2: This is the first inkling I have that something is wrong. I drag all day and collapse in a heap before 8PM.

Saturday, March 3: I wake up feeling OK, assuming that I was merely tired the night before. Mon and I go to breakfast, hit the Stop & Shop, pick up something for lunch and head home. Between the hours of 3PM and 9PM, it becomes apparent that something is very, VERY wrong. My temperature shoots up. My nose closes up. My head starts to feel like it's in a vise.

Sunday, March 4: I wake up feeling like something cats play with after they've killed it. I can barely get out of bed without feeling like I've run the NYC Marathon. The concept of eating anything is nauseating to me.

Monday, March 5: Called in sick. No energy. Fluctuating between feeling like I am on fire and chattering with the chills. I manage to get some soup down, but that's about it. Nighttime brings massive chills. No matter what I do, I can't get warm. Hobbes throws himself on top of me and I manage to get a few hours of restless sleep.

Tuesday, March 6: Still at home. Chills still an issue, can't breath, throat is killing me, can't stop coughing. No appetite. Headache is debilitating. Can't move because head is pounding. This is how the entire day goes.

Wednesday, March 7: Feeling only slightly better. Some of my appetite is back, choke down some soup. Blow through an 80-pack of cough drops in about four hours. Knocked off my THIRD bottle of Robitussin.

Thursday, March 8: STILL out of work. Finally able to handle some solid food. Temperature is normal for the first time since Saturday morning. Despite all this, my throat is still like razor blades and energy level is zilch.

Today, March 9: Went back to work...big mistake. By midday I feel like I've been hit by a bus. Get some backed-up work done and hit the road as soon as possible.

And here I am, seven days later. Still feel like Hell. Temperature has normalized, but the cough is killing me. Chest aches. Tired. Going to bed.

I wonder how long it will be until I feel normal again...?

Sick...and Getting Sicker

Hey Gang,

Sorry to report that I seem to have been bitten by the flu bug, and have been feeling worse by the minute all day (although it really seems to be intesifying this evening...I feel like I've been hit by a steel truck).

Therefore, I probably won't have the Podcast up tomorrow that I wanted to post, but hope to get it done some time next week.

Well - back under the blanket wit a hot tea and a cat or two.

Life Is Funny

There are people who will say that "life is funny" without really knowing what it means.

I don't mean "funny, ha-ha" - I mean, "funny, like a kick in the balls" funny. When you are young, you have this idea in your head of how you want your life to turn out. Then, one day you wake up and realize you are still going around and around in the same cul-de-sac of frustration you were in ten, fifteen years ago.

The funny part is that life will throw you a bone every once in a while, and you think "Ah, finally - things are starting to turn around the way I always expected they would". But - those feelings are often short-lived; plans get squashed; things get ruined; and you find yourself back in the same spiral, watching sands pass through the hourglass and days get ripped off the calendar one by one, month by month...and your dreams and blueprints that you drew out for yourself the aforementioned ten, fifteen years ago - are not even CLOSE to coming to fruition. If anything, they are even further away than ever.

Like it or not, things WILL conspire against the blueprints you draw out for yourself, knowingly or accidentally. But in the end, the biggest enemy is yourself - because you know you could have done things differently, but you chose the path of least resistance at every turn rather than fighting the good fight because you just didn't have the stomach to fight.

You can look around one day, and in the blink of an eye you can feel the walls closing in on you - or, feel the foundations you built around you being dismantled with the cruel, clinical precision of an undertaker - brick by painful brick. Before you know it, the foundation is gone, and the ever-closing walls - will snuff out the dreams like a tsunami on a single candle.

It's at that point when you reach your nadir. How to get back to where you expect - no, demand to be - seems like a distant, darkened light at the end of an endless tunnel (that you have no clue how to navigate).

Thank goodness that at the end of the day, there is AT LEAST an iced tea and a cat on your lap to look forward to.

The Eagles Are Gathering

Last time the anti-war crowd decended on Washington, they spent a lot of their time desecrating monuments, causing disruptions and spitting on war vets. Horrors of horrors, they will be back on March 17th.

Thanks to a heads-up from Michelle Malkin in her column today, maybe we can do something about it this time:

A 'GATHERING OF EAGLES' TO MARCH FOR AMERICA

February 28, 2007 -- HOW many times have you sat in front of the TV over the last four years, watching anti-war activists march on Washington, chase the ROTC off your local college campus, vandalize war memorials, insult the troops and wreak havoc under the surrender banner?

How many times have you thought to yourself: What can I do?

Here is the answer: Get off the sofa and join the Gathering of Eagles on March 17 in Washington, D.C.

Perhaps I shall free my schedule for this.

Please go to the GATHERING OF EAGLES WEB SITE for more info.

Some Cool Jazz After The Snow

Hope everyone is successfully dug out from last night's latest round of snow and ice (remember back in November when it was in the upper-60s?). Got "iced in" again here today and used the opprotunity to get some stuff done around the house.

Thought I'd share something that is entertaining on two levels: it's a cute cartoon, and the music is top notch (Ella and Louis - does it get any better???).

Enjoy!

Busy Week

Hey all...had a pretty busy week so not a whole lot of time to blog, which is just as well - there wasn't a whole lot going on anyway. Work, as usual these days, gave me a headache - but I did take some time out to visit Hank and Jim and do some show, which was nice (I love doin' shows, man).

As a bonus, I recorded a George Harrison tribute for his birthday tomorrow (Sunday). George would have been 64, and while he may not be around anymore, he left behind a ton of great music for all of us - so I'll be playing much GH tomorrow at 4PM ET on the one-hour WBCQ show normally hosted by H&J (thanks, guys) at 7415 on your short wave - or you can get it on the net at WBCQ's Web Site and click where it says "Click here to listen live". Check it out, we had some good fun.

By the way, in case you missed it - Punxatawney Phil called for six more weeks of Global Warming! Good thing I bought that scarf!

A Little Ice for St. Valentine's Day

Unbelievable day in progress here…after a night of freezing rain and ice, we’re now being pelted by huge chunks of frozen…stuff.

Still have power (as you can tell), but the lights HAVE flickered on and off a few times. The fireplace is in full effect and the cats are bemused by all the racket the racket the ice is making.

Check out this picture I just took of the back yard. The white stuff LOOKS like snow, but it’s actually SOLID ICE. I haven’t heard a car on I-78 (what is on top of that hill and noticeably empty) in hours (just the occasional truck that is probably salting).



Still cannot believe how bad the roads are. Made one feeble attempt to get to the train this morning – the car went sideways and we turned around and came back. Saw a few cars up on the shoulder on the way down and back.

Good to see my tax dollars at work!

PS - Yankees pitchers and catchers reported for Day 1 of Spring Training - yesterday. Go figure.

The Wild Week That Was

It's amazing what can happen in just a few short days, isn't it?

Super Bowl XXVVXXWWIIXXVVIIXX came and went in a blur, as sports and news organizations alike tripped over themselves pointing out that both coaches were African-American - something the coaches themselves kept trying to downplay without much success. Both Dungy and Smith are fine coaches (religious fellows, too), who led less-than-perfect teams to the Super Bowl on skill and guile. The fact that the 'skill and guile' parts of that equation are not being mentioned very much shows you that we still have a long way to go in this country if we're ever going to have a TRULY "color blind" society.

Astronauts gone wild: Space Shuttle astronaut Lisa Nowak popped a cotter pin and strapped on an adult diaper to drive from Texas to Florida in an effort to "confront" the lover of a fellow astronaut she'd fallen smitten with. "Confront" could mean a variety of things...Nowak had a card full of items that could have been used for a kidnapping, attack of some kind, or worse. There was a time when our Astronauts were the best and brightest we had to offer. This could be the first one that becomes eligible for NASA's experimental "shock therapy" program.

By now, unless you've been living under a rock you know who Anna Nicole Smith is and you know that she's dead. You also know that there's now a couple hundred million dollars just floating in the wind out there like Forrest Gump's feather. As a result, there has been a mad rush on potential daddies for Smith's baby, the likes of which we haven't seen since the California gold rush of the 1800s. Who knew there'd be such a huge queue of men willing to admit to repeated unprotected sex with a notorious skank (not named Britney)? Stay tuned.

Also in the news, the amazing snows in upstate New York. The poor folks in Oswego are digging out from over ten feet of the white stuff, while several other towns around the Great Lakes region break all-time records for massive snowfalls and low temperatures. At the same time, here in our neck of the woods we are waiting for a storm that's supposed to blow through on Tomorrow night, dumping snow and ice all over the Middle-Atlantic region, up to New England - with more record cold to follow.

Global Warming Fever: Catch it!

Last but not least...I don't know if you've ever seen it, but there's this repuslively horrible reality show on MTV called "My Super Sweet 16", where cameras follow the exploits of these conniving, disrespectful, annoying, spoiled, bratty, rich 16-year-old girls around while they whine and stomp and bitch and scream like the spoiled little bitches they are for half an hour while their poor, long-suffering parents arrange a multi-thousand dollar birthday party for the little twats. That's right - no punishment for being horrible human beings - just more rewards. It will actually make you physically ill watching it all unfold before your very eyes.

I can only assume that's pretty much what watching the Grammy Awards was like last night when the Ditsy Twits got all their "statement Grammys" for a bunch of songs that about eight people outside of Hollywood and New York have heard. I understand there was also a Police reunion, and Lionel Ritchie performed.

And people want to know why I NEVER watch awards shows.

All The News That Causes Fits

As many of you know, I have begun to commuting to NYC via train instead of bus. The bus was just too damn expensive and at least I know WHEN the train will get in at night

Much to my chagrin, I have learned that one problem has followed me from the bus to the train: the dreaded curse of the large tabloid.

There was ONE kind of person I hated to sit next to me on the bus: anyone with a copy of the New York Times or the Newark Star-Ledger. Let's take annoying editorial policies aside (that's enough reason right there). The freaking papers are BIG. Too big, if you want my opinion. They are big and think, and have 100 sections in each because both papers seem to think people still have about three hours to read the newspaper in the morning.

It seems that any time a guy with The Times or The Star-Ledger sits next to me, they always do the same thing. First, they start disassembling the paper like some kind of sophisticated spy puzzle: this section comes out, goes back in the bag. This section stays on top. This section is not going to be read at all, so it gets folded and crammed under their seat.

Then, they whack and smack the paper into several readable folds. Of COURSE, they ALWAYS sit with their elbows at thier sides, flush to the seat - so that you get dug in the ribs with their freaking elbows for the rest of the trip. Then, the turning of the pages...grrrr. Perhaps the number one, most-annoying trait of the large tabloid reader. Since the dopey papers are so big and unruly, the pages can't just be TURNED...oh no, the have to be snapped, slapped, pounded, twisted and crinkled...in a cacaphony of noise specifically designed to disrupt and bring to an end the extra hour of sleep that I like to squeeze in en route to a day at the salt mill.

Naturally, it's logical to assume that the lack of respect for personal space and creation of all sorts of unnecissary noise just go hand in hand with that "I'm a Times reader" or "I'm a Star Ledger" reader attitude. "I'm better than you because I read a paper the size of a 1950's-era Mobil roadmap", the Time reader being the more arrogant and oblivious of the two.

At least the Star-Ledger has a couple of comics pages.

New York Deep Freeze

This just in from the Radio Free New York weather center: the Central Park temperature at 3PM ET was 16 degrees. That's right - sixteen.

The rest of the week isn't supposed to get any warmer, either. In fact, the highest temperature for the next five days is supposed to only be in the upper-20s.

Remember back in November and early-December when it was in the 50s and 60s, and every time you turned on the news all you heard was "Global Warming this" and "Global Warming that"? Seems like a long time ago, doesn't it?

Humorously, a group of U.N.-picked scientists decided last Friday was a good day to release a report claiming that the ever-dreaded Global Warming WAS happening and it'll be all over for us in a few thousand years! Never mind that the foundation of this report was all based on "predicitons" and "estimations", but very few "facts" (unlike this article HERE).

No matter how much proof there is that shows climate change is cyclical and as natural as dandelions in a sea of crab grass, there are always going to be those who insist that we'll be sorry when the Polar Ice Caps melt and pengiuns are forced to wear wife beaters. Why? Because the U.N. says so!

They also probably believe THIS.

PS - Now that Super Bowl XXVVIXXVVVIIIXXXVVV is over, the good news is that Pitchers and Catchers report in 10 days. Whee! Were those the WORST Super Bowl commercials EVER, or what???

New Classic WHOT Podcast Now Up

I know, it's been a while since the last Podcast posting...so I forced myself at mousepoint to post a new classic WHOT show from 20 years ago!

This time around, we hear the ever-frantic ramblings of Terrence Alexander Walker III, as he graces the microphone with one of his earliest WHOT shows.

WHOT-FM - February 12, 1987 Part One

WHOT-FM - February 12, 1987 Part Two

As always, don't forget to tune in to the Hank and Jim Show tonight, coming to a set of PC speakers near you! Just click Click HERE to listen!

Enjoy!

Stupid Hillary Tricks, Vol. 1

What did I say? Didn't I say it was just gonna be a matter of time before Hillary started double-speaking in only that way a Clinton can?

There's ole Hilly in Iowa on Sunday, dipping her toe in the Presidential waters and ending up with a foot in her mouth. During a Q&A session with the local media, she was asked what on the surface seemed like a legitimate question: what was it about her background that made her quailfied to deal with evil men?

In perfect Clintonesque subterfuge, Hillary avoided having to give a serious answer to the question by first repeating it, then smirking and raising an eyebrow. A crowd full of Hill-lovers seemed to "get" the joke and roared with laughter for half a minute.

The question, of course became "Well, who was the "evil man" she referring to when she pulled her Jack Benny impression?". The general consensus seems to be that she was referring to her hubby Bill. Others suggested it was a general comment about all the "evil men" in her life, like Ken Starr, George Bush, et al. Regardless, the chuckle worked: she avoided having to answer until later (when she could get a more suitable reply from her handlers).

It's intersting to note that while this vaudevillian moment was being reported all over the news, the Dem-controlled Congress was quietly working on a way to undermine the law and force a cut-and-run resolution on Iraq. Gee, this wartime campaign is shaping up to be a real laugh riot!

First, Hill denied she was trying to be funny and blamed the moment on the crowd in attendance. Then, she did a 180 and said she WAS trying to be funny, and blamed it on the media for telling her to "loosen up" in the past.

Where have I seen this strategy before? It all seems SO familiar...

You know, Bush has been on my shit list for a while now, for a variety of reasons. My biggest fear is that this non-qualified shrew will actually get elected because of W's repeated second term bumbling (remember, it was this sort of thinking that led to Jimmy Carter being in the White House, whose foreign policy ineptitude led in many ways to the explosion of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East we see today). Thankfully, there are some folks out there that will try and prevent this from happening (these folks, for one).

It's would be really nice if the GOP would put up a candidiate of substance, too. But I'm not holding my breath.

Toilet Humor: It's My Potty

Apparently, Murphy's Law also applies to the powder room.

I'm in there trying to "take care of business" earlier tonight and lo and behold, the freaking toilet won't flush. I remove the tank lid and discover that the plastic arm that pulls the chain that lifts the stopper has snapped in two.

Why do I mention this? Because this is the second time the same exact thing has happened here at Casa del Sayek since we moved in. BOTH times it happened after 8PM on a Sunday night - when either everything is closed or you have NO desire to hit the Home Depot (especially since it's snowing outside). Plastic breaks...metal rusts. You can't win.

I guess until tomorrow I'm on manual flushing duty. No pun intended.

There IS good news - the condo folks finally decided to give us a new roof, so we shouldn't have any more 'waterfall on Thanksgiving' incidents. We hope.

The office let it slip that our roof is NOW 'up to code'. Which I guess means that BEFORE the leak, it wasn't.

Make of that what you will.

Worst Kept Secret Dept.: Hillary's In

Unless you live under a rock, you know by now that Hillary officially threw her hat in the ring for the 2008 Presidential Election over the weekend. Good God, just THINKING about the concept of HILLARY possibly being the next President makes me a little queasy, so I've been deliberately avoiding making any comments about it.

Well...I just threw up in my mouth a little, so I guess it's OK to unburden myself now.

I figured out what the Clintons are a long time ago. They are the guests that came to your party (even though YOU didn't invite them - someone else thought it would be a "cool idea" to bring them along) and refuse to leave. You know the ones I'm talking about: the house is a mess, there's empty bottles and crushed tortilla chips all over the rug. All you want to do is kick them out and go to bed. You're tired, you're weary, and quite frankly - you're sick of looking at them - and once they DO leave, you hope you never see them again. But they refuse to go. They keep spilling shit on your rug, touching your books and records with greasy fingers and scaring your cats. You're in HELL.

That's the Clintons - the uninvited party guests that keep channel surfing your digital cable and eating the salsa off the sides of the bowl with thier index fingers at a quarter to five in the morning while you're struggling to stay awake on the barca lounger.

You see them FINALLY going for their coats, but you know something else is up. The wife has been saying she has a big announcement all night but hasn't made it yet. So you know it's coming. Sure, you hope she might forget, but she never forgets. You're still gonna have to sit through the announcement. Without warning, she drops the bomb on you - and it's so potentially disasterous that it keeps you awake...night after night.

Hillary dropped her bomb on Saturday - rushed mainly to counteract Barak Obama's Presidential bid announcement that came earlier in the week (Obama being the perennial empty-suit candidate..I have this visual image of the two of them whipping out light sabres at the Democratic Convention and saying, "There can be only one". Hillary's is of course, bigger). Talk about rotted pickins - the air fills with the stench of moldy, soft pumpkins. Oy and vey.

Hillary feels that she has what it takes to be the first female commander-in-chief. She's about as qualified for that job as Geena Davis. We're talking about the woman that looked the other way while her husband slipped the high hard one to any piece of ass that walked in his general direction. Under normal circumstances, women would ostracize Hillary for being a friggin' idiot. But I'm sure she will be canonized for being smart enough to stay on Bill's coattales while he drained the noodle.

The Clintons are the emodiment of self-absorbed political arrogance. Why not? They have (either seperately or together) gotten free rides from the media and magistrate alike on such unseemly matters at Travelgate, Whitewatergate, Cattlegate, Gennifergate, Filegate, Paulagate, LincolnBedroomgate, Hubbellgate, Chinagate, Auditgate, Pardongate...oh, I could go on and on. Former associates would rather rot to death in prison than turn on them. So why SHOULD they feel anything other than Teflon-coated arrogance?

Of course, Bill and Hill's greatest legacies will be Lewinsky, having their heads in the sand while the 9/11 plot was being hatched (and having enough pull to get a movie about it edited beyond recognition) and extremely skillfull carpetbaggery. With everything the two of them have been able to get away with, I would put nothing past them - even this.

Today officially began campaign Week One for Hilly. I'm sure she already hit the department stores to stock up on new pantsuits. While she talks about having a "discussion" on her web site, let's see how long it takes before she starts talking out of both sides of her mouth.

The clock...starts...NOW.

Another Weekend

Well, another week is in the can, and what a week it was. It finally snowed for more that ten seconds here - in fact, we got about two inches of snow in the wee early hours on Friday, which made the drive down to the train station quite the adventure. It's all gone now, but the cold decided to hang around. Another day by the fireplace watching TV and being surrounded by cats. I love days like this.

So - I'm now into my third week of commuting to Manhattan via train instead of bus. I thought that I would tire of the Newark / PATH transfer thing, but it's actually started to grow on me. The bus commute had gotten SO bad and SO expensive, I don't miss it at all. Plus, it's nice to know you are going to get home at the same time every day, not at the time the bus decides to get you home. Not bad at all.

I have not posted the WHOT 2nd Anniversary show YET because I am still trying to put the show back in proper order. Apparently, in 1982 Hank and Jim decided to have TWO "second anniversary shows" - one on October 8 and ANOTHER on October 15. Then Jim recorded BOTH shows over the same four reel to reel tapes - on different sides. So figuring out which tape is part of which show is becoming quite the challenge. On top of that, I am pretty sure one of the tapes is MISSING. So some more rummaging through the tapes will be required before I can post the show properly. In the meantime, I'll try to get something else up in the next day or two.

In case any of you missed Comet McNaught's appearance a week ago, you really missed something. McNaught was actually visible IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY here in the Northern Hemisphere (I saw it in the parking lot of Shop Rite and thought I was hallucinating)...but the BIG story is what it is currently doing in the SOUTHERN Hemisphere. We may not be able to see this unreal display first hand, but the photos will knock your socks off. Trust me, you've never seen anything quite like this from a comet. Check out the photo gallery HERE.

Last but not least, somebody sent me THIS mildly amusing blog link that points out some of the more, um, annoying aspects of MySpace. The guy can't spell too good, plus he's a smarmy jerk (the layout of that blog ain't so swift, either), and MySpace has made a lot of improvements since he wrote all that stuff - but he DOES have some valid points, especially the ones about rabid Bulletin posters and ridiculous page layouts. Thankfully, some of us still use MySpace for the purposes it was intended for. At least we TRY to.

If I ever get annoying like that guy or the goofballs he's writing about, just tell me.

UPDATE: It tuns out that Kris, they guy that wrote the schpiel about the MySpace insanity e-mailed me and he's a pretty cool guy, so I take back my snarky little pissant comments...!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Maybe y'all didn't notice but Old Man Winter finally arrived. After dumping a couple of buckets of ice on the midwest, it's now bitch-ass cold here in the western reaches of New Jersey. As I write this, it's 15 degrees (gasp!) going down to 11 overnight (double gasp!).

Thankfully, as you can see above, the old fireplace is doing it's thang and keeping our tootsies and kitties warm and toasty. Where would I be without the fireplace...probably in debt to JCP&L up to my frozen nipples.

Looks like we might even have a couple of inches of snow tomorrow. Will wonders ever cease? It's amazing what a little shift in the jet stream will do: a couple of weeks ago at this time it was in the 60s and all the doom-n-gloom Al Gore chicken littles were running around like the sky was falling - and now, half the citrus crop has been frozen solid (good for frozen concentrate - not so good for fresh squeezed). Which just goes to show you that the weather - believe it or not - CHANGES from time to time. I know...hard to believe!

In other matters - the aircheck archive project has yielded some really delightful (unfrozen) fruit lately. Several unlabeled reel-to-rell tapes ended up having the WHOT 2nd Anniversary Show from 10/15/82 on them! As soon as I can get out of the clutches of the flu bug and assemble the show into a cohesive order, I'll put it up on the Podcast for all to enjoy!

The sleep weasels AND the ice weasels are calling me, so off to bed I go. Keep warm kids!

Just Sitting Around...

Hey hey,

I was sitting here tonight working on the Archive and I figured I'd get some stuff off my mind as I am feeling a tad stressed out tonight.

So far, 2007 has been pretty stressful. I switched from taking the bus to taking the train in to work to try and save a few bucks - and let's just say it will take some getting used to. I certainly will be getting my walking in from now on! I'm also slightly concerned about my job as the particular office I work in has become the dumping ground for all the crap that no one else wants to do since the merger and layoffs.

It's basically been the busiest it's ever been since I started working there, and they're still giving us MORE work to do that we don't have time for. Add into the mix that we are about to spring a new product on the unsuspecting masses that (I am sad to report) is so FRIGHTENINGLY user-unfriendly that I am positive it's going to be like mailing out a train wreck in a box. The debris from which is sure to fall squarely on us.

Because of all of this, as well as OTHER stressful things going on right now, I just feel tired, anxious and completely stresed out. The good feelings I had while on vacation are completely gone, and I just don't know if I am coming or going.

I'm hoping that 2007 does not continue to be the fickle bitch she has been (at least for me) so far.

Back to the tapes...

Happy New Year!

Well Hi Everybody!

A classic WGUT New Year's Podcast is now up at the WHOT Pod-O-Matic Page for your listening enjoyment!

The happiest New Year's greetings to everyone. Hope you all have a safe celebration tonight and a wonderful 2007!

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful and joyous Christmas!

I never got a chance to mail out Christmas CDs this year like I wanted to - so I guess I'll just hold on to them for Christmas 2007!

The good news is - I'M ON VACATION!!! Work has been driving me insane so I will try to get maxiumum relaxation out of my week (if I can).

All the best for you and yours!

Pete

Classic WHOT Christmas Podcast Now Up!

Hey Cats and Kittens!

It''s a special flashback to Christmas Eve 1986 this week. Join Hank, Jim, Pete and Chuck as they warm the grilles of your PC speakers with festive songs and holiday cheer!

WHOT-FM - December 24, 1986 Part One
WHOT-FM - December 24, 1986 Part Two

The Merriest of Christmas greetings!
Enjoy!

Late Nite Blogging

Just sitting here with a nice adult beverage of the peach schnapps and OJ variety, reflecting on a day that consisted of getting the grocery shopping done and putting up the Christmas decorations (finally).

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care and all that. It's not officially Christmas in the Sayek household unless a small cat starts removing the decorations systematically the minute they are put up. This year is no different. I have spent the better part of the last hour trying to extracate Hopper from the tinsel-laden lights that are adorning the archways.

Ahh, the holidays.

Christmas is rapidly approaching and life is good. This is usually the time of year when I start getting reflective...and itchy for baseball season to start already. Eight shopping days until the big day - get a move-on already.

I had a blast sitting in on The All-New Hank and Jim Show Friday Night for a couple of hours and look forward to Sunday afternoon's one-hour show Sunday afternoon (or, later today of you prefer) at 4PM (you can listen live at WBCQ's Web Site by clicking on the "Click here to listen live" link). Hope to see you there!

Petezs

It Would Be Funny If It Wasn't True

Sometimes, all you need to see when it comes to a disturbing news story...is the headline:

European Socialists eager to work with U.S. Democrats.

Yep. I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Remembering John Lennon...

It's been 26 years since John Lennon was taken away from us prematurely. Why not join me in spinning a few of his LPs tonight and remembering the good times.

65 Years Ago...and Today

Today we marked the solemn anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. As we all know, the United States reacted the only way they could to such a threat to our well-being and way of life: swiftly and completely.

Ironic isn't it that was just a couple of days ago that the "Iraq Study Group" (sorry...I can't hear that term without picturing a bunch of sixth-graders working on a project with their desks facing each other) released their recommendation for "talks" with barbaric enemies like Syria and Iran.

What a difference 65 years makes, huh?

Cox and Forkum are among my favorite editorial cartoonists - never shying away from telling it like it is. The "Forkum" of the duo pens an excellent piece on the ironic juxtaposition in his Blog of yesterday, which can be read HERE.

The times, they sure are a-changed.

Thanks as always to Tammy Bruce for the heads-up on the C&F piece.

Giving Thanks

Hey pals and palettes,

Hope everyone had a super-groovy Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays, full of warm memories from my childhood, right up to today.

This year was another triumph. The day began (of course) with the yearly ritual of watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Despite the yucky weather, no light poles fell on anyone this year, and that alone is something to be thankful for. Even an unwelcome roof leak that sprung up in the middle of the daycould not ruin the good karma today.

We had the familiy over here and set up extra tables, chairs, etc. We had a 22-pound turkey (!) that was big enough to feed a small, fourth-world nation. I don't know how Mon does it, but she always makes perfect turkey - whether it's a 10-lb midget or a 22-lb behemoth. This year's was juicy, dark brown and perfect. One breast pretty much fed the whole brood.

Two kinds of stuffing, two kinds of cranberry (compote and the good ol' jelly), the obligatory green bean casserole, yams, corn...a feast above feasts. Five kinds of pie and cheesecake for dessert. Woof...I'm still stuffed.

It's been a few hours since the house emptied out, and as we sit and reflect, we certainly have a lot to be thankful for, leak be damned (especially the new Maytag dishwasher!). I sit here and raise a late-night beverage to all friends and family, I wish that you and yours enjoyed the same good company and food that we enjoyed here today at stately Sayek manor.

Let the holiday season begin!

No Thanks...for the Spam

Has anyone else has had the misfortune of getting Spammed or included on this chain e-mail that's been going around lately telling people NOT to celebrate Thanksgiving this year? There's a big diatribe attached to it that rehashes the old "Evil Pilgrims" tale and goes on about how the Indians were mistreated and taken advantage of, so Thanksgiving is bad, bad, BAD, etc., etc.

Thankfully (no pun intended), the guy who forwarded me this nonsense IS a friend and only sent it to me because he knew it would get my goat (and so I won't feel obligated to take a tack hammer to the side of his head). Unfortunately, the origins of this chain e-mail do indeed seem to be serious.

Look, lunatics…Thanksgiving is all about being thankful for what you have, your friends and family and counting your blessings - NOT what went on over 400 years ago. Maybe some people still DO think about it that way, but many people DON'T. Nothing is more unappealing than modern-day, 21st-Century Pilgrim guilt. What the hell is THAT all about?

If it makes the malignant narcissists out there feel any better (because I know, nowadays it's all about "feelings"), speaking as someone whose lineage is 50% American Indian (or Screaming Red Savage, whatever you prefer), it's OK. I forgive you on behalf of people that have been dead for a few hundred years and probably weren't your ancestors anyway. Let's move on. Or, feel free to go right ahead and have a Whopper with a side helping of self-righteousness on Thursday. Personally, I'll be enjoying the company of family and counting my blessings.

I get older…and the world keeps getting weirder. What's up with that?

This 'N That

Greetings peeps,

Now that the Election Day unpleasantness is in the rear view mirror, and I have entered the calm, acceptance phase (like with frostbite, the moment right before your digits fall off), I figured I'd just shoot the breeze tonight instead of griping for a change. I popped my ankle on the way to work so I'm currently on ice like Ted Williams' head.

Thanksgiving week is just about here...hope everyone has nice plans for the day of the feast. We have the usual spread on tap - big turkey, ham, two kinds of stuffin', potatoes, cranberry...I can't wait. The family will be coming by as always and the spirits should be grand.

One of these years I'm gonna convince the Mrs. to do a TurDuckEn. I am SO intrigued by the concept of that, but my palate is a tad more exotic than Mon's. I don't quite know how that works out. I know you have to cook them for nine hours at real low temperatures or something crazy like that. So you can watch football or play Monopoly by the actual rules and the bird-within-a-bird-within-a-bird should be done by then.

As it is, the REGULAR turkey takes too long for me, I might not have the patience for the mighty TurDuckEn! Maybe someone will sell them fully cooked - then I can shove it in the oven for an hour and go to town!

Have some new update news on the WHOT Aircheck Archive, but I'll save that for the next update.

Pass the apple cider!

The News Just Gets Better and Better...

I think I might move into a cave in the Andes for a while. Not only is it probable that we're going to have to deal with psycho-surrealist-facelift-manic-phycho-hosebeast as Speaker of the House, now comes the wonderful news that ten-toed, do-nothing sloth Gnarls Rangel will likely be the next head of the Ways and Means committe.

Great. This is rapidly turning into that eposode of Star Trek where Kirk ends up in the "evil" parrallel universe where everyone is insane and has goatees. The same tugboats they are using to try and move the Intrepid will have to be employed to haul his fat, moss-covered ass out of his old office.

This is gonna be a long, sad couple of years...

Post-Election Post Mortem

I started to get the sinking feeling some time around 8:30 last night that things were not going to go well. The early numbers were coming in, and races that I had good confidence in were not going as expected. By 9:00, I was fairly certain that the House was lost, and so today it is – with the Senate hanging by less than a cat’s whisker. The TV was off and I was in bed by 11.

After the initial shock comes acceptance, and so that’s where I am at today. The Dems are doing their best to play up last night’s election results as a “referendum against Bush / the War on Terror”, etc. Don’t believe it. Two of largest win margins were chalked up by WoT supporters (Arnold and Leiberman). If anything, the results of last night are a glowing example of just how out of touch the Republican Party is with their core constituents right now. The foundations that were successfully laid by Reagan and Gingrich were being neglected to the point of decay. Somewhere along the line, both the cart and horse ran way off the road.

If you believe in the ebb and flow theory of politics, then this turnaround was expected. What you see now is what happens when a party is in control for any extended period of time: they become complacent, fat and sloppy. If any good comes out of this, hopefully it will be the Republicans looking at themselves in the mirror this morning and realizing that what Republicans want to see in office are Republicans – not RINOs that play the “moderate” card without bringing any real thoughts or ideas to the table.

The Dems ran a campaign based on painting their opponents as “being with Bush”. The mistake the Reps made was not standing up to that and saying, “You bet your ASS we are with the President. We’re fighting the biggest threat to Western Civilization since Nazism, you idiot”. Instead, it was the same old smear-and-smear-more campaign. Maybe people are tired of that. Who knows. I’m certainly have my issues with Bush – the way he spends like a drunken sailor at the local whorehouse and never met a veto he didn’t sign – even disagreeing at time on how the War on Terror is being handled – but the alternative option was far more distasteful in my humble opinion. Others seem to have disagreed.

I guess what I am most disappointed about today is lost opportunity. We had 6 years of Republicans in the Oval Office, House and Senate. There was a golden opportunity to push through some REAL issues – REAL immigration reform (not that “guest visa” nightmare that Bush keeps pushing), REAL tax reforms, you name it. Instead, there were to many tangential issues that to be honest, the majority of Republicans (and Americans, for that matter) weren’t really all jacked up about. Sure, there was the Democratic stonewall that reared its’ ugly head whenever a judicial nomination came up – but with all three branches controlled by one party, it just feels like we showed up for a kick ass road trip, but no one remembered to buy gas. In many ways, W is too much like his Dad…mamby and pamby at the worst of times (when the Cowboy in him was most needed).

It also irks me that while a change at this juncture is not surprising, I guess it is what we are left with that is the most disturbing. I woke up today fully aware that not only had the Republicans lost the house (and possibly the Senate), but what we are left with is the usual Democratic refugees from Dick Tracy’s Rouge’s Gallery: a Klansman in West Virginia, a potential terrorist sympathizer in Minnesota, the swimmer / murderer in Massachusettes, a run-of-the-mill thug in New Jersey and a carpet-bagging leech in New York. Never mind the fact that we’re about to be saddled with the most oblivious raving lunatic ever to be installed as Speaker of the House in possibly this country’s history. It’s hard to find solace and feel good about that.

Despite the way this will be played up, what happened last night isn’t even CLOSE to the Republican Revolution of 1994. As waves go, this was no tsunami. I look at it this way: if I lived through the Rangers winning the Stanley Cup, the Red Sox winning the World Series and TWO TERMS of Clinton, I can live through this, easy.

The GOP has two years to get their act together and learn from these mistakes. Hopefully, the Democrats wont muck up the political process so much that our enemies have two free years of scheming to try and kill more of us. The focus is now on them. They wont be able to get by on bitching and moaning anymore. Since the Democrats did so well in the minority of mucking things up, threatening filibusters and locking up judicial nominees, maybe the Republicans can return the favor.

Bottom line now is to focus on 2008. The madness stops NOW.

PS – Despite the gloom and doom, we had a great time in the Hot Air Election Night Chat Room last night. It was about as much fun as you can have while watching your pet hamster get run over by a mack truck!

Monday Evening Quarterback

Well, the eve of Election Day is upon us, and regardless of the outcome (more about that later) I'll be happy to finally be rid of these freaking politcal ads on TV. The basic approach from the Dems (at least in NJ) has been to offer up nothing in the way of a platform, other than to discredit their opponents for backing President Bush. Nothing new here.

I've also greatly enjoyed Madame Hillary's ads that give her credit for everything - from the sun coming up in the morning to man landing on the Moon ("When we needed sunrise in the morning, Hillary was there to make it happen..."). If you didn't know any better you could swear they were a really elaborate SNL sketch - THAT'S how ridiculous they are.

This is an important election, and while the latest POLLS now show a more realistic-looking dead heat across the board, I tend to put very little into polls. As our old friend Tammy Bruce points out, since most polls are run by the major media outlets, relying on them is like trusting Goebbels to be honest with you about how World War II was going.

That said, if you really care about what the next few years are going to look like, get out and vote. On the other hand, if your only knowledge of the candidates running in your local race is what you see in their campaign ads, maybe you should stay home. Just a thought. As Hank opined on Sunday's Election Day special, when you are in the voting booth, just ask yourself: who would the Al Quada prefer you vote for?

Think about it.

Alrighty then off to bed. On an unrelated note, I'm starting to think that I am the only person on the face of the Earth who thinks that Borat movie looks like the stupidest thing ever caught on film. I think I'll hold on to my $10 - $15 and wait until I can't sleep one night and it's on HBO.

Keepin' the faith,
Petezs

New Classic WHOT Podcast

At long last, there is a brand new classic WHOT broadcast up from May 26, 1984 for your listening pleasure!

By e-mail request, we present the very FIRST WHOT appearance of the one and only Chuck Simpson! Chuck joins Hank to grace the WHOT mike and answer listener questions on "Dial-a-Bus-Driver" night!

May 26, 1984 Part One

May 26, 1984 Part Two

In Other News...

There's so much going on in RFNY and Hank and Jim land that I don't even know where to begin! Hank and Jim (and occasionally, yours truly) continue to bring you the finest in controlled insanity (AND your requests), every Friday evening at 8PM ET! You can join in on the fun by going to The All-New Hank and Jin Show web site - just go to the TUNE IN link and click away!

Since you're listening, why not stop in the all-new Hank and Jim Show CHAT ROOM? Crazy is more fun when you can share!

Last but not least, if you find yourself needing nitrous oxide when visiting SOME radio forums, we've got the answer for you: the BRAND NEW "Mixed Signals" Forum!!! Come on by, register, say hello and feel free to join in. Discussions on everything from radio (licensed and unlicensed) to music to your pet llama is welcome. We hope to make this bigger than plastics! Just click HERE to stop in!

Of course, for the latest in the Brooklyn Pirate Radio Archive Project, remember to come on by the Radio Free New York site, too!

It's multi-media madness, I tell you!

Meet the Hopper!

Yes. there's a new cat in the Pete household - the aptly named Hopper. Mon rescued him from a garage in the back of her workplace.

He's too damn cute for his own good!

Cory Lidle: 1972 - 2001

Please send thoughts and prayers to the wife and son of Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle. Cory died in a small plane crash earlier today when the Cirrus SR-20 he was flying crashed into an Upper East Side condominuim.

I can't really explain the mixture of shock and sadness that I am currently experiencing as I watch the news and hear players talk about Cory as a teammate and man. Always misunderstood - probably because his career began as a replacement player during the player's strike in 1995 - Cory spoke his mind but never really said anything that wasn't true. He called Barry Bonds out for his alleged steroid use and gave his teammates a hard time for their lousy performance in the ALDS against the Tigers.

I respect a guy that can be honest without being trite, and Lidle certainly was that. He did tireless work for the Make-a-Wish Foundation and never met a poker game he didn't like. He was, above everything else, a regular guy.

Thanks for the big games down the stretch, Cory - and thanks for being a regular guy.

October 9th

Today is October 9th, 2006. John Lennon would have been 66 years old today. Take some time today to enjoy some of John's music if you can.

Good news: looks like I survived the first round of layoffs at work. Whew.

Could be worse: Tower Records officially put the "Going Out Of Business" signs up today. The music institution suffered from the same old story (over-expansion, slow reaction to buyers trends, stubborn refusal to change, etc.) and will soon close its' doors. Of course, Tower has not really been the same for me since the days when I used to rifle through the stacks of LPs and 45s, but it will still be sad to see it go.

Keep smilin', folks...

The Party's Over...

In case any of you missed it, the Yankees were embarrassed by the Detroit Tigers in four games and ousted from the playoffs last night. Since then, I have received countelss e-mails and messages from friends and co-workers, all bandying about what the Yankees will do between now and next year. As such, I figured I offer up my two cents...

I am all for a total rebuild around the obvious nucleus. I wanted this team to rebuild 3, 4 years ago. If they'd done that - instead of putting new coats of nasty paint on the same old problems - the team would be just about ready to contend right about now.

Why rebuild? Obviously, the methodology of tired, old free agents on the downside of their prime is NOT working - especially in the pitching area. If the team can unload some of the older talent to hungry teams that would be willing to part with some high-level AAA or young talent, do it. Let them cultivate and mature here. They either end up playing for the Yankees or go in trades for needed talent (something under 40 from now in, please).

Rebuilding makes sense. Do it now, and you will have a team ready to contend just as Yankee Stadium III is ready to open. The downside is you MIGHT miss the playoffs for a couple of years (even that is not a given - look at the Tigers). OR - keep doing things the way they are done now - keep trying to win THIS YEAR - and make the playoffs, but win NOTHING again.

I'd rather not make the playoffs and work to another Dynasty than keep putting the same Rust-O-Leum on the rusting hull that we've been doing since 2002..

There are obvious things that need taking care of:

The Pitching Staff

Michael Kay said it best on the Game 4 post-game show: aging free-agents have not been working. Look at the teams that have been advancing: young, hard throwing guys that are not afraid of the strike zone. Cash a Co. need to look at what's out there and start dangling the dispensable parts.

Mussina needs to go. He's done nothing to alter that rep he has of being "just good enough to lose". When you want to know why he's never won 20 games in his career, look no further than Game 2. His inability to hold a 2-run lead was the turning point in the ALDS. It caused the offense to press and put tons of pressure on the other pitchers.

Randy Johnson needs to go, but with a no-trade clause, we're probably stuck with him. A best-case scenario would be RJ retiring, but that is not likely to happen. Wright was never meant to be anything other than a #5 starter - but at this stage of his career can only get worse. Should go.

The young pitchers did not embarrass themselves this year. Give Karstens, Beam, Rasner and others a chance to fight for a spot (or two) in Spring Training. They certainly can't do any worse than what we have now.

Everything Else

More than anything, this team needs a REAL first baseman. If Giambi sticks around, he needs to be the full-time DH as his fielding is atrocious. Phillips has not shown he's 100-plus-game starting material. A problem that needs to be seriously addressed in the off-season.

Melky Cabrera showed himself to be for real by staying consistent until regulated to the bench. Although there is risk to doing this, I'd like to see him be the starting left fielder next season. We have way too many OF/DHs on this team, so let's use some to get younger. Sheff plays hard but is a liability in many ways. I would say "thanks for the monster shots" and bid Sheff farewell. Matsui is a solid player, but his lack of an arm and propensity to be streaky - and getting older - means I would NOT turn down any deal that brings his name up. Abreu fit in well, he should be a keeper. Damon is a solid CF despite having an arm made out of fusilli. Lost the sparkle in his eye when the post-season started - can't let that happen again.

Jeter and Cano are here to stay. Cano needed more pressure-seasoning, but another year under his belt should help. Jete is Jete - never stopped playing hard throughout. That leaves A-rod.

Love him? Hate him? Indifferent? Regardless of what you think, he needs to go somewhere else. Some marriages, no matter how good the courtship or the honeymoon, just don't last. This needs to be written off as another Brad and Jen...Burt and Dolly...whatever. It just didn't work out.

As much as Alex says he wants to stay, does ANYONE want to be there on Opening Day 2007 when his name is read during starting lineups? It will be pretty ugly. I for one do not call out other fans for booing. Booing has been part of the game since Day One. All new players get booed until they win over the fans. Happened to Tino, even Reggie. A-rod just seems to make his own mess worse, and I do not ever see any time when it will get better. So it would probably benefit all parties to start divvying up the living room furniture and part the closest of friends.

Last but not least, I think it is now the appropriate time to bring an end to the Joe Torre era. Joe was definitely the right guy at the start of the Yankees’ turnaround – a calming force in a place that had been filled with chaos. However, all things must come to an end. Even the great Casey Stengel eventually was shown the door as the stagnation of his managing style crept into the players’ psyche.

I’d always been non-committal about whether or not Joe should stay, even after the disaster of 2004. That all changed during Game 3 of the ALDS. When Joe didn’t even flinch when that horrific ‘safe’ call was made at third base – no argument, no yelling, not even a swear word – I knew it was his time to go. When asked by a reporter if he planned to speak with the team following the embarrassment of Game 3, Joe replied, “My guys know what they have to do”. Maybe not, Joe – or they would have been doing it. There’s laid back…and then there’s comatose. Joe’s behavior in this ALDS bordered on mummified, and perhaps after 10 years, that’s not what this team needs anymore.

So there you have it – my analysis on what needs to be done before Pitchers and Catchers hit camp in February. Let the games begin!

Congratulations 2006 AL East Champion NY Yankees!

It took a Red Sawx loss to make it happen, but maybe that was more "poetic justice" as the Baseball Gods continue their "market correction"...? :-)

What a year! 11 more wins to #27!

LET'S GO YANKEES!!!

Don't Mess With Jack

Not that we needed more proof, but THIS is just another reason why Jack Nicholson may just be the most awesome American actor of our generation.

You CAN handle the truth!

Hey Matt - You're an Idiot!

I may not always agree with President Bush, but right or wrong he's a genuine guy who tries to do what's right (unlike his predecessor), and I have to respect that.

Plus, nothing makes me happier than when he goes on the offensive - especially when it is against a lightweight pantywaist like Matt Lauer.

Check out how Lauer tries to bait Bush (and has the audacity to argue the side of Kahlid Mohammed, of all people). Bush refuses to take Lauer's shit and treats him like the bitch that he is.

I wish W would get his rankles up more often. I could totally get on board with THIS President Bush...not that I'm not already.

Recollections, Five Years Later

It's amazing how five years can seem like five minutes, but it surely can.

Five years ago today, on September 11, 2001 my day started out like pretty much any other day. I said goodbye to Mon and boarded the 6:50AM bus. On a normal day, this bus would have gotten me to Port Authority by 8:30.

But this day, there was a disabled bus in the "express bus lane" to the Lincoln tunnel. From the loop of the Helix, I sent a text message to work to let them know I was probably going to be late. It was such a perfect morning, I didn't care. I took a few extra minutes to marvel at the Manhattan skyline and its' majesty in the morning sun.

As luck would have it, no sooner did I text my message when the traffic started moving. As the bus entered the mouth of the tunnel, I checked my watch: it was 8:45AM.

Running late, I purchased a new MetroCard, took a short cut through the 42nd street tunnel and ran up for the 1 train. As I hit the platform, an ominous announcement was being made overhead. "There is no 1, 9, or 3 service due to police activity at the World Trade Center". "Damn", I thought to myself, and prepared to walk up to get the M10 bus instead.

Strangely, as I turned to head up the stairs, a nearly-empty 1 train pulled in to the station. "Next stop, 50th Street". What luck, the train IS running. I jumped on and got off at 66th street like every morning.

As I emerged from the station to the street, my pager went off. Expecting it to be work, it instead read "Breaking News". I hit Enter and read, "Small plane hits the World Trade Center. Smoke visible for miles". I sped up 66th towards West End. At Amsterdam Avenue, I saw the guys at Engine 40 / Ladder 35 speeding out towards downtown.

As I raced up the elevator, I entered the lobby at 9:10AM. Staring at the TV monitor, I grabbed a co-worker by the arm and asked, "What the hell happened? Did a plane go through both buildings?". White as a sheet he replied, "No - there were TWO planes".

That's when I knew.

The rest of my day was a blur. The phone rang off the wall from radio stations in search of information. I remember not being able to get a dial tone, and the helplessness of not being able to call anyone. Finally, a call from Mon. I had to fill her in on what was going on as she had no TV at work. A frightening call from my Dad in Brooklyn, telling me that debris from the crash impact was landing in his backyard in Brooklyn.

Call after call, all day long. The Tower collapses. The Pentagon. Shanksville. Couldn't eat - no appetite, just a sick, queasy feeling. The next ten hours went by like a blur. The phones never stopped until President Bush came on. It was as if everyone stopped to hear what he had to say. It was then that the phones fell quiet.

With no way in or out of Manhattan, and an "all hands on deck" call at work, all of the day staff was still present. As the clock struck 10PM, we decided to venture out to stretch out legs and maybe find somethine resembling food. That was when the reality really hit me.

As the adrenaline rush of work subsided, I became aware of what was happening around me: armed National Guardsmen guarding the utility building; sharp-shooters on the roof; spotlights outside the Red Cross building; barbed-wire laden roadblocks in front of Lincoln Center; and a Broadway that was eerily dark and desolate.

This was the sort of thng you got used to seeing on TV in a war-torn nation - NOT in Manhattan. I felt sick. The combination of the ghostown-like Broadway combined with reality sinking in - oh, and "the smell" wafting up from Downtown - I probably couldn't have eaten anyway.

Our little group found a restaurant - kitchen closed, but bar open. We ordered a drink and said a prayer. The world as we knew it would not be the same again.

I decided to head back to work so I could call home before trying to get some sleep. After being scared to death by a low-flying fighter jet, I RAN back. I called home, tried to shut my eyes, and thought about everything that had gone on, not knowing when I was gonna get home, unable to sleep on the cot they set up for me because my mind was racing. Whenever I would drift off to sleep, I'd be awakened by the nightmares.

I finally gave up trying at about 3AM. I wandered into the newsroom with a hat on my sofa-headed hair and asked if I could do anything. I got put of coffee duty. Once the coffee was made, I sat and checked out the forums on NYYFans.com. It was almost theraputic.

After working another half a day came word that the trains were running to New Jersey. I finally got home at 7PM on the 12th, a trek that started around 1PM. NJ Transit was letting people on the trains for free, and I ended up taking three different trains (transfers at Newark and Bridgewater), with long pauses at almost every stop along the way so the police could walk the train. At the time, everyone was expecting another attack (I still think there was probably something else planned, but they cancelled it), so they were being super cautious with the trains. All cross roads the tracks went over were blocked with construction or farm equipment.

I stumbled into my house, ate my first real food in over 40 hours, and promptly collapsed on the sofa. As exhaused as I was, it was still the worst sleep I ever had.

Every year on the anniversary of 9/11, I replay that day in my head, minute by minute, in great detail. I guess in some way so I won't forget. None of us should EVER forget. I know I personally changed that day, as so many of us have.

As I sat and watched President Bush earlier this evening, I was reminded of how much we came together after 9/11, and how far we seem to have come apart at times since then. First and foremost, we should always remember the victims, the heroes and the fighting men and women that are still working to keep us free (even the ones that don't appreciate it).

We may never have that same naieve view of the world that we had on September 10, 2001 again, but in reality, we shouldn't. We must remain diligent and steadfast - and remember that our best plan of action is STILL to Defend, Protect and PREVENT. Freedom, as they say, is never free.

God Bless the United States of America. God Bless us all.

Insanity Update

We're now three days in to the "Path to 9/11" saga, and here's what we defintely know:

1. ABC, in their attenpt to make an even-keeled doco-drama on the events that led us to the tragedies on 9/11, used multiple sourcing (NOT just the flawed 9/11 Commission Report) as their guide. They then made the grevious error of pre-screening the thing.

2. Once the Democrats and Clinton saw that it wasn't going to be the typical Hollywood lovefest / whitewash of Clinton's culpability in what happened on 9/11, they blew a gasket.

3. In one of the most horrific examples of using power as a bully pulpit and censorship tool, the Dems further embrace the warm fuzzy glow of fascism by releasing a letter to ABC that coyly THREATENS THEIR BROADCAST LICENSE if they run the film as-is.

Since yesterday, a few things have happened: some left-wing web sites and organizations are trying to get a protest outside ABC together (wonderful); ABC claims it's still "editing" (when in fact, the final cut was completed weeks ago); Surprisingly, some of the actors in the film are speaking out AGAINST the censorship (good luck finding another job), and some 9/11 Commission members are supporting the film (not surpriising).

What has now become violently apparent, is what I have said for many years: The Democratic Left in this country talk a great game about free speech - UNTIL you say something they don't like. Then they have no problem censoring, bullying and threatening a victim into submission. Don't be fooled - this is nothing more that The Guilty not wanting people to see the fruits of their ineptitude, plain and simple.

Someone sent me a link to an entry on Power Line that spells out VERY clearly ALL of the Islamofascist attacks that took place while Clinton was president. It's WAY more than you think. It's a good learning tool for exactly how brazen these savages were while Clinton sat in the Oval Office, planning his next conquest. So I don't want to hear any more bullshit from the Dems about Clinton's "dilligence" against terrorism. He couldn't have cared less if he tried.

Clinton's been pretty lucky in getting a free pass or successfully blaming his messes on others since leaving office. As soon as he gets the FIRST example of Hollywood not playing nice-nice, he circles the wagons and calls out the Schumerman Pinscher attack dogs to squash the misbehaving child IMMEDIATELY to make sure it never happens again.

This is shameful behavior of the highest order, but since the 2000 Elections, I have learned that the Democratic Left has NO shame. I'm not surprised - just amazed.

PS - it was pointed out to me that several of the former Clinton administraions complaintants - and loud 9/11 Commission complaintant Richard Ben-Veniste - happily accepted invitiations to - and attended - the premiere of Fat Boy's polemic "FatAss 9/11". Surprising? No. Like I said - NO shame.

The ABC / Dem Saga Gets Crazier

Shame on me for not watching the news BEFORE posting last night's blog, or I woulda been REALLY steamed...I had no idea that Iger / BAC was doing a complete cave-in on "The Path to 9/11" because of the shameful bullying tactics of Clinton and the Democratic Party (I guess the old line appiles to the Dems as a whole: "You can't HANDLE the truth!"). There's even some discussion now that ABC might cancel the whole thing. Incredible.

Rather than go over and over what's already being blogged elsewhere, check out a detailed compliation of how this mess has been unfolding over the last 24-48 hours over at Hot Air (as always, mega-props to Tammy Bruce for the heads-up). There's stuff on there about the current conent being posted on the official Democratic Party web site that will make your colon prolapse.

Even more harrowing details of "The Great Cover-up" (a.k.a. the "Demo-Fascist-Bully-Censorship") are posted at Texas Rainmaker, whose link I got from Hot Air (above).

I can't believe kind of shit goes on - and gets neatly tucked away by 90% of the media (they seem to be coyly siding with the Dems - what a shock). I'm sure if the Bush Administration protested their portrayal in the film (something they haven't done BTW because they don't wring their hands about image issues), what the reaction would be.

Some people have no shame - others just don't care.

The Lunatics and their Asylum

Hey all...been a while since the last blog, been super-busy. The Archive Project is moving along so quickly even I cant believe it. I'm in the process of setting up a PodOMatic page to replace the Archive Shows page on the RFNY Site, and all other exciting bits of this and that...the Yankees are 9 games up, the Magic Number is down to 15...all the while, trying to work some SLEEP into the math.

But that is not why I come to you this fine evening. No, I am pounding away at the keyboard because I have my nuts in the kind of twist that can only be untied via all-out gut-spillage.

We sit here tonight four days away from the 5th anniversary of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 - the worst attack on this country since Pearl Harbor. This is a topic for a future entry, probably on Monday.

However, the news was vivid today with stories and images of a newly-discovered tape on Al Jazeera (a.k.a. Terror TV) of Osama bin Laden meeting with the 9/11 hijackers in advance of the attacks (guess THAT shoots a hole in many of the wacko conspiracy theories out therebut then again, the insane ARE delusional). Interesting timing by Terror TV in magically finding this footage so close to the anniversary of the attacks, dont you think? Its akin to someone magically finding video of a loved one about to be murdered on the anniversary of their death. Nice work.

If it serves ANY purpose, it's a stark reminder of the lengths these parasites went to in their plan to commit mass murder. I know it's easy for a lot of us to not think about what happened, but its something we should ALWAYS think about.

The other and more ponderous story of the day was the former Clinton administration's reaction to preview screenings of the upcoming ABC docu-drama, "The Path to 9/11". To ABC's credit, they chose NOT to go with the broad whitewash of the administration's culpability in what transpired on 9/11 as much as the so-called "9/11 Commission" chose to (thanks in many ways to the heel-nipping of Dem commission lackey Richard Ben-Veniste, who has also chimed with his two cents against this film).

Previous to the day at hand, the buzz about "The Path to 9/11" was that it was a more close to what actually went on leading up to the attacks than what we actually got out of the 9/11 Commission. When I first heard that, I wondered what THAT meant. When I saw Clinton and his lap dogs going apoplectic in the papers this morning, I finally knew.

There's a pretty good reason why they are all foaming at the mouth: because the representations laid out in the film are just TOO close to the 'real thing'. The first blow in the war against America WASN'T on 9/11: it was eight years earlier when the FIRST attack on the World Trade Center took place. Then, the attacks on the U.S. Embassies in Africa. The terrorists saw the Clinton administration doing NOTHING to retaliate for these attacks, so they got bolder. Next came the attack of the USS Cole (something a little bit too close to home for MY liking), after which Clinton did - you guessed - it nothing.

Three major attacks and all Clinton could really get worked up about was how much adultery he could commit in the Oval Office without getting caught. It's percieved of late that the miscommunication problems between the FBI, CIA and other branches of law enforcement that proved so fatal on 9/11 all spiraled out of control under Clinton's watch. No one was able to muster a cohesive plan to take out bin Laden; several opportunities to do so were blown and lost.

One of the more outspoken critics of the ABC pic is none other than Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, Clintons national Security Advisor, who gets called out in this film as being too tentative - and allowing bin Laden to escape a possible attack. Sandy's a fine, upstanding citizen after all, whose word is GOLD. This is the SAME Sandy Berger that stole critical documents from the National Archive and shredded them at home before the 9/11 Commission could see them! What a guy.

What makes this most humorous is the fact that "The Path to 9/11" supposedly takes a pretty even-keeled approach in the blame department. George W. Bush does not escape unscathed, although it IS pointed out in the film that the man had only been in office for 200 days at the time of the attacks. OF COURSE, the Clinton camp hasnt said word one about the Bush portions of this movie, because I'm sure they believe THOSE parts are ALL true! In actuality, Bush was probably never properly briefed about the Al Quada threat because despite Clinton's claims to the contrary, he couldnt give two flying shits about Osama bin Laden when he was in office.

All Clinton gave a crap about for eight years was getting fat, making hay and banging interns. All this crybaby bullshit that is coming out from Clinton (and his bunch of gorillas) today is nothing more than him trying to maintain this Vaseline-on-the-lens, smoke-and-mirrors joke of a supposed legacy he's invented for himself. WHAT legacy? As the Bang Master? Clinton believes if he keeps repeating it, everyone will eventually start believing it, too. Most Clinton sycophants already do.

When the 2000 Election mess was finally settled and the dust was clearing, I remember sitting here with The Mrs. and saying, "There's probably so much underhanded shit that went on while Clinton was President that this country will still be tripping over it for years to come". Little did I know at the time that Osama bin Laden, already viewing America as a weak, paper tiger in light of our lack of action and reaction to repeated attacks, had the worst by-product planned to come.

Of course, late word is coming now that Iger and ABC are caving in to the all-out uber-fascista-censor-and-fear campaign being waged by the Clintonistas, and will make some tweaks to "The Path to 9/11", and will stress that some of the film is a dramatization (something they previously swore they wouldnt do). Incredible. John Gotti didnt have such pull. I think Clinton is feared more than HE was, although I have no idea why. Strip away the faux-Hollywood veneer and he's still just a two-bit Arkansas used car salesman in a thousand-dollar suit, same as always.

As I said on December 15, 2000...we may never know the true extent of the royal fucking this country (and several interns) may have endured for eight years. Hopefully, 9/11 was the worst - and last - of the under-the-rug surprises.

New RFNY Site Update! - 8-18-06

Two BIG NEW SHOWS are now up for your listening enjoyment at the Radio Free New York Web Site.

From October 22, 1983: WHOT kicks off their FOURTH year with a FUN show! It's "Nothing But Oldies" night, and Hank and Jim are going wild!

From February 28, 1986: WHOT is now heating up the AM Band in full force, and the East Coast of America checks in early and often!

For more info & sounds, visit the Radio Free New York show archive at http://rfny.hankhayes.com/13_shows.html

Last (but not least), the Show Archive has been updated to include the newest additions. You can have a look-see at http://rfny.hankhayes.com/12_archive.html

Thanks again for stopping by Radio Free New York - we love ya!

Successful Perseids Tonight!

Hey Kats and Kittens!

First of all - Happy Birthday, Mon! :)

Most pleased with tonight's Perseid Meteor Shower viewing! Between 8:30PM and 10:30PM ET, I saw eight (count 'em - eight!) meteors - six of them of the streaking fireball variety! Most awesome. I wasn't expecting much since all the pre-Perseid buzz has been that the show would be kind of weak because of the full moon - but I wrapped up my sky watching just as the moon came up, pretty satisfied with eight meteors!

Hope you got to see some nice ones too!

In other news...the Yankees lost tonight to the freaking Angels - a team I truly dislike -cutting the AL East lead down to two games. A lead is a lead, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

Nightly Bitch: You know what? I don't think we have enough card games on TV. I think we need a few more channels carrying card games. I love when I see ESPN running "The World Series of Poker" (which apparently takes 365 days to play). Um, in case anyone didn't notice, card games are games of chance - NOT a SPORT.

Now with ESPN, ESPN2, Spike TV, TNT, Game Show Network and who knows who else showing a bunch of fat guys sitting around a table playing cards, I think we need to have "The World Series of Uno". Maybe "The World Series of Monopoly". You know, something EQUALLY as exciting.

I can't wait for TV Food Network to start up "The World Series of Deal-a-Meal".

Breaking News

For those of you just waking up this morning, serious news coming out of London...Scotland Yard has foiled a major terrorist plot to blow up 'as many as ten' planes in mid-flight which would have caused massive death and destruction. Thank goodness for our English friends and the heroes at MI-5.

This is just another terrible reminder of how far Islamofascist terrorists will go to in their attempts to steer western civilization back to the stone age (where they feel most comfortable). Make no mistake. We are fighting an evil that may surpass Nazism in sheer barbarism before all is said and done, if it hasn't already.

Check out the latest at the BBC's web site here:

'Airlines terror plot foiled'

Kind of ironic that this story breaks so soon after Joe Lieberman gets 'purged' by anti-war Moonbats in Connecticut, isn't it?

Look...George W may drive me crazy with the way he spends like a drunken sailor, and his inability to fully grasp the seriousness of the illegal immigration problem, but one place where he's 100% correct is in the War on Terror. When I try to explain to my goofy Lefty friends the importance of a pre-emptive strike in Iraq and establishing a presence in the Middle East, they just don't get it. To them, he's just "Bush", object of ridicule...either a moron or evil genius, depending on what day it is.

If thousands dead throughout the world isn't enough to make some people see the forest for the trees, I fear they never will. But hey, maybe the Dixie Chicks can write some more cute songs about their unrepentant Bush hatred! Wouldn't THAT be special???

Havin' a Heat Wave

Guten Tag,

As most of you already know, the East Coast is boiling under a massive heat wave for the fourth consecutive day now. Temperatures around the area topped 100 for the third day in a row, and today is expected to be the "peak" before a cooling front moves through later today (with the obligatory accompanying thunder storms, I'm sure).

Naturally, it didn't take long for the moonbats to start crawling out from under thier collective rocks and start hemming and hawing about the old "global warming" chestnut. I have to admit, I admire the moxie used to futher the "global warming" hysteria. We get a heat wave? It's global warming. We get a blizzard? It's global warming. We get a lot of hurricanes? It's global warming.

A memo to all the global warming Chicken Littles out there: SOMETIMES IT GETS HOT...SOMETIMES IT GETS COLD. SOMETIMES IT RAINS...SOMETIMES IT DOESN'T. It's been this way since the freaking lava cooled and crap crawled out of the resulting muck and evolved over tens of thousands of years so that we could have diet soda and porn! OK?

On a serious note...yesterday markes the 27th anniversary of the death of former Yankee captain Thurman Munson in a place crash. Hard to believe it's been 27 years. I can remember the day like it happened yesterday. I came in from a backyard barbecue to fetch something off the table and at that moment, the bulletin came on the TV. I was in shock. Who expected a guy like Munson to be taken from us in such a way...and so young.

YES re-ran the Thurman Munson Yankeeography after the game last night, which brought back all the emotions again. I still think about all the "what-if's": What if he'd just gotten a summer home in North Jersey like everyone else? What if he'd just not taken that "one more" landing practice run? Sadly, we'll never know. It's a shame that we don't get to see Thurm at Old-Timer's Day, busting balls and having fun, like he should be.

But we have the memories, and based on comments made by current Yankees on what his his legacy means to this team, Thurman is still around - showing the young'uns just how a ballplayer should play the game. Jorge Posada keeps a picture of Munson in his locker, and hit a huge home run last night to keep the Yankees percentage points ahead of the Red Sox...just the way Thurman would have liked it.

Last, but certainly not least, Hobbes is back home. The finest minds in the veterinary world can't figure him out, so I'm not even gonna bother trying. He's doing well, eating and drinking and being Hobbes - a blessing on four paws.

Stay cool, y'all.

Just Checking In

Hey Everyone,

It's been a while since the last blog, however that has more to do with MySpace's issues than my laziness (sorry, Blogger.com readers - although truth be told, it's been a combination of both).

The back's acting up, and it's been a crazy couple of days, and rather than rework her sentiments, I'll just borrow from Monica's Blog, as her thoughts very much echo mine right now:

I am not going to ask you to pray for me. Instead, I am going to ask you to pray for those I love.

I wish for you to pray for my wonderful cat, Hobbes, who got sick yesterday and is in the hospital. Pray that it's just a tummy ache. I would be lost without him and wrecked if something was wrong with him.

I wish for you to pray for my brother, Brian, who was deployed to Iraq on 12 hours notice to the James E. Williams, a guided missle destroyer. The man who told me, "No I am not afraid. This is what I do".

I wish for you to pray for his wife and kids so he comes home safely and returns to being the most wonderful husband and father I know.

I wish for you to pray for my mom. My mom who is the rock of this family. The woman that makes everything better. The woman who stood before me yesterday crying for her son.

And, I wish for you to pray for all of those who are risking their lives everyday so we can sit on myspace bitching about mundane crap that seems so important but in retrospect really isn't as disastrous as we think at the time.

Please, pray for them all...

Thanks, all.

Poisoned at Work

Good evening. Right now, I'm just happy to be not bent over and wretching. They ordered pizza for us at work today, and I thought, "wow, cool deal - free pizza on a Friday!". Little did I know that I was gonna get poisoned by what was probably some bad ricotta cheese on what was supposed to have been a white pizza. I should have known something was up because I never saw white pizza with tomatoes and basil on it (FWIW, that's a margherita pizza, folks).

Even BEFORE that, I should have been suspicious of any pizza that comes in boxes bearing advertisements for Manhattan mini storage.

The funny thing is, as I was eating the offending pizza my taste buds were sending up flares to my brain, trying in vain to warn me that something was amiss. But you know how it is...you see everyone else eating the pizza, so you rationalize that it MUST be OK. And hey, it's free, right? So I eat it anyway.

Twenty minutes later, I'm starting to feel some rumblings down below. Thirty minutes later, I knew I was in serious trouble. If not for being alone at work, I would have bolted right then. But I stuck it out until 6PM, and on the way home suddenly found myself in a moving bus restroom throwing up a Volkswagen van. I think I left my spleen in there.

Thankfully, here I am, a little over six hours later, and I'm alive and NOT hurling projectiles anymore. The lesson to be learned here is two-fold: if something doesn't taste right, down't eat it. In addition, unless you pizza comes in a white box with a stereotypical drawing of an Italian chef saying "You've tried all the rest, now try the best"...DON'T EAT IT.

Speedy Alka Seltzer, I love you.

A Few Minutes Without Thunder

Hey kids...just wanted to post a quick bloggie update before bed. Another day, another round of massive storms. We had the power going on and off all freaking night, as usual. Guess I should be used to it by now. The poor cats are gonna lose thier minds soon from all this racket.

The power was kind enough to come back on in time for me to see Pat DiNizio's "7th Inning Stretch" special on ESPN2, which was great. I learned a lot of things about Pat (and the Smithereens) that I never knew. I have to meet Pat one day so I can tell him all about how WHOT used to play The Smithereens before anyone else. We were wearing out "Especially For You" before ANYBODY, man!

I then went ahead and did the stupidest thing I could have done before bed - I sat down with a calculator to figure out how much I have to shell out in bills this week, only to find out the bill-to-money ratio is waaaay out of wack. So now I have agita and I'm borderline manic depressive. Plus, I'm still bent out of shape about the friggin' tax hike boloney.

On a positive note, last night's MLB All-Star Game was pretty decent for a change. As much as I hate using a glorified exhibition game to decide home field advantage in the World Series, at least they didn't have a tie after nine innings that needed to be settled with a SHOOTOUT!

Soccer. What a retarded sport.

Alright, since I'm good and agitaged, let me go try and get some "quality" sleep,

Petezs

Still Fest-ering After All These Years

I'm sitting here this morning trying to figure out how I managed to instigate an argument last night about something that happened four years ago. I finally concede that all people (including myself) are crazy, and in the words of Paul Anka, That's just the (bleeping) way it is.

Here's the proof: about four or five years ago (I forget), the folks that participate in the Saturday Night Jam at Beatlefest (or whatever it is they're calling it these days), made an effort to try and prevent the thing from turning into the discordant, ear-splitting train wreck it had increasingly become over the last few years. The previous year's shenanigans challenged The Who at Shea Stadium for sheer blood-splattering decibels and The Clash for sheer lack of musicianship. It was an unmitigated disaster. Even the Red Cross refused to show up with blankets. You know it's bad when other Fest guests actually call the lobby to complain about the noise. But that's exactly what happened. No one really enjoyed themselves.

After much discussion between many of the jam regulars, right up until that Saturday night, it was decided that rather than have 100 people with AC-30s and Fender Champs bitch-slapping each other into permanent tinnitus, a professional P.A. system would be set up and people could sign up to take turns jamming for a few songs, a couple at a time, plugged into already-supplied amps and everyone would get a chance to play for a bit instead of turning the evening into another Hindenburg.

Sounded like a beautiful idea, except that as with anything and everything, there were a handful of people that got pissed off because they couldnt set their amps up and play all night. Wouldnt listen to reason, just stormed out. "Whatever", I thought. Screw you, I want to be able to hear when Im 50. Good riddance.

After the initial brouhaha calmed down, one member of the group stepped up to try and organize the sign-up. It could have been ANY of the 20 or so people already assembled there, but it just happened that this one guy stepped up first and tried to keep things organized. People signed up, people played, the jam went on until the wee hours of the morning and no one bled from the ears, no one called security - everything was beautiful. Or so it seemed.

The next morning at breakfast, everyone seemed pretty happy about the previous night's affair. I had missed the real bulk of it, but the folks that had stayed were very pleased with the resulting quality of the music and the crowds enjoyment thereof.

Some time between bacon and eggs and the start of Sundays festivities, things took a nasty turn. Word started spreading through the place via the 'Devil's Radio' that people had been prevented from playing, or were only allowed to do one song. I had seen just the opposite before turning in, but I checked with some of the gang that had remained after I left. "Thats not what happened at all", "Not true", and "No way" were the general responses.

It didnt matter. By the middle of the afternoon, the guy that had foolishly volunteered to manage the sign-up sheet (and it really could have been ANYBODY) was being vilified. Childish cartoon characterizations of the guy started appearing all over the hotel and the place was abuzz with bad vibes. None of the bullshit came remotely close to the truth, but once you start an avalanche, it cant be stopped. Things got so bad, the guy stopped coming to the Fest for a couple of years. All this because some people got their nuts in a twist because things weren't being done "their" way anymore. As a result, the organized jam idea was abandoned, and the next year, chaos and deafness ruled once again.

Now, fast-forward to last Wednesday. I'm on vacation with some friends and one of the guys has a CD of the audio from the ill-fated organized jam. I was taken aback by just HOW good it was. Musically, it was superb. No clashing amps on full volume. No sharp and flat guitars dueling like the 200 Spastic Musketeers.

So last night, I'm chatting with a bunch of friends and one of the guys there happens to be the one that (foolishly) volunteered to manage the jam sign-up. I off-handedly mentioned that I'd JUST heard tapes from that night a few days earlier, and that I was surprised at just how good it actually was, and how sad it was that a few people had to ruin a good thing.

We're talking back and forth about all the crap that had gone on when suddenly, without warning, someone jumps in and starts arguing about it! Four years later, and theres STILL crap going on about what supposedly went on that night - and heres the punch line - mostly by people that weren't even there.

I felt bad that the whole thing got re-hashed again, and I was sorry I'd even brought it up. But in the aftermath, I was mostly dumbfounded by how much info from that night is STILL 100 percent WRONG, and how people are still clinging to the phony-baloney bullshit version like it was Moses clutching the tablets.

Oh yeah - so at this LAST Fest back in March, I ran into a guy who no longer participates in the Saturday Night Jam. I asked him why, and he said because its become a train wreck that gets crashed into by a plane wreck.

What can you do.

Back Just In Time (For A Tax Hike)

Hey Eveyone,

Good weekend greetings to one and all. Mon and I are back from our very relaxing week up in the country and I must say, I am feeling revitalized. Nothing quite like a week of doing nothing other than swimming, kicking back and having a few adult beverages by the fire pit to recharge the ole batteries.

I picked an interesting week to disappear. While we were gone, the nation celebrated its' birthday, NASA launced a Space Shuttle, North Korea launched a few bottle rockets, the Deleware River receeded and the State Sales Tax went up a whole percent.

What a shock. Jon (Two Sheds) Corzine, billionaire, who owns a mansion and a yacht, pulled the ultimate temper tantrum and shut the whole state down to force the state legislature to enact his $1.1 Billion sales tax increase. What a guy.

Those of you that may have forgotten, Corzine ran for Governor on the platform of NOT raising taxes, and here he is - raising taxes. Is anyone really surprised?

Look, most New Jerseyans - especially those of us out here in the "Red" part of an otherwise aimless Blue state - love it. But more and more people are starting to leave because they just can't afford to live here. Since 2002, we've had to endure 3 billion dollars in tax and fee increases. It's re-God-damn-diculous. People continue to leave the Garden State in droves every year. It's a damn shame.

Unfortunately, the scoundrels in Trenton lacked the BALLS to stand up to a lowlife like Corzine and tell him to go eff himself. Instead, they went ahead with this budget "compromise" , which was nothing more than a gift-wrapped piece of pork for Corzine to show off to his special-interest cronies.

Of course, Corzine and the Trentonites are attempting to off-set this latest tax scam by promising property tax relief. Yeah, right. New Jerseyans were promised the same "property tax relief" for years now with only a phoney-baloney "rebate" - which is nothing more than a payback of OUR OWN MONEY - to show for it.

At last check, Atlantic City casinos and parks were STILL closed, despite the "11th-hour" shenannigans that took place yesterday. Let's see if any New Jersey paper puts a cartoon of Corzine in a diaper crying like a baby. Probably won't happen. The News media is too busy leaking information about active investigations to worry about little old us.

Remember what I've always said, folks. Repeat after me: Democrats raise taxes. Again. Democrats raise taxes. High taxes stagnate growth. Stagnant growth means downward spiraling economy.

Evantually, the rest of New Jersey will get hip to this. You would think they would have learned something after the elections of Brendan Byrne, Flim-Flam Florio and Jim "Special Circumstances" McGreedy. But I guess not.

More details (and some pictures) of the vacation after I get to relax and calm down.

Independence Day Greetings!

It's Fourth of July once again and as we celebrate the most important day in our country's history, let's take a few moments to thank the brave men and women that fight to keep us safe and allow us to live free. God bless them all.

Please have a safe and sound holiday. We'll be away on vacation for the rest of the week, but I'll fill you in on all the fun when I get back.

Ciao for now!