More posts about stuff

People my age
They don't do the things I do
They go somewhere
While I run away with you
-Neil Young

Rush concert was great, as always. Highlights;
BU2B
Faithless
the Camera Eye
Presto
La Villa Strangiato
Working Man
Closer to the Heart Jam

Then it was back to Mel's. Sunday Mom's. Smith's yesterday. Today Mom's. Tomorrow Tietjen's. Thursday Sheridan's.

Just keep moving. Hot. Humid. Ugh.

The Smith kids got big, indeed, as with the Sheridans, McFaddens, Tietjens. The kids are alright.

What's a nerd to do?

I told a few folks that Mel, Brendan (her friend from work) and i were all going to see Rush tomorrow. "That's so COOL!" was the general answer from various and sundry. When did Rush become cool? Where's the geeky eggheadness i've experienced my whole life? Scary. Frightening.

Maggie Sheridan is a big Rush fan. Pretty cool, but look who her Pops is.

So....., i sit here watching the Mets, in my Mum's house (who i'm living with) - she's out, i'm in on Friday night, with my diabetic cat and his effusively talkative brother, sending pictures of the two of them to my Wex's daughter, who is my surrogate child. I live in Madrid and visit the American Northeast once a year. And i'm waiting for Mum to come home so she can give Frippy his insulin while i'm still here if she needs help, dirty stay-out that she is.

Question-When did my life become a become an bizarre Showtime sitcom?

Answer- October 14, 1967, the day i was conceived.

Brave New World

And thusly, life begins for me with a diabetic cat. Fripp is discombobulated, Bethany (Bryan's girlfriend) has a dog. She is also a vet (handy!). But Fripp is not eating so i can't give him his insulin. I did not sleep well. Nervous for Fripp i suppose. How do you you parents function when you are worried about your kids? I need to try and steal another half an hours sleep so i can drive. Drive, drive, drive. He's under the bed right now. Doesn't help that Oscar, Bryan's cat, was hissing outside. 3 people, 2 cats and a dog. It's a circus.

When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother, what will I be
Will I be pretty, will I be rich
Here's what she said to me.

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

-Doris Day

Books of summer;

Pygmy - Chuck Palahniuk

The Strain - Guillermo del Torro and Chuck Hogan

City of Thieves - David Benioff

All three were very good. My reading has slowed to a snail's pace since i've arrived back, as it usually does.

A Young Person's Guide to the Spanish Exile Blog;

Sue is now my Wex (ex-wife).

I am Sue's Hex (Ex-husband). She may or may not have referred to me with this term at other points in our relationship for altogether different reasons.

Kid A got teary eyed when she said good-bye to Frippy. I promised i would email pics of he and Mully playing. She's adorable. She said she would dream about "Frippy and Jay."

I put on some Pink Floyd (Wish you were here) for Frippy. He loves it. Maybe that will calm him down.

Magnetic North

On the road again. Just can't wait to get on the road again. The life I love is makin' music with my friends And I can't wait to get on the road again. -Willie Nelson

I've been home a week. 470 miles. I'll rack up another 250 tomorrow, and another 100 on Thurs. And then another 200 over the weekend. It never ends. Fripp is upstairs sleeping under the covers. He and Bryan and I will head to Mel's tomorrow.

Keep me movin' -The Who

Watching the Mets in Arizona. They are losing, as is the norm of late.

It's Always Sunny in Rockville

day six

Count'em off;

-CT
-NY
-NJ
-DE
-MD
-VA

6 states in six days. Mother of pearl!

Here at Bryan's in Rocvkville, MD. Barbecued a few 16 ounce steaks last night. Delicious! Thank you Iowa for giving us grazing land for great beef. Saw Sue, Kid A and Frippy. All are well. Saw Mike and Mima and the girls. Saw Jim and Lisa and the girls. Saw Kev, Heather and Colin. Saw Mum, of course.

I don't care about pollution
I'm an air-conditioned gypsy
That's my solution
Watch the police and the tax man miss me
I'm mobile
-The Who

Home

(Above - World Cup Victory Kiss)

We're a ship without a storm

Cold without the warm

Light inside the darkness that it needs, yeah

We're a laugh without a tear
The hope without the fear
We are coming - home!

-Dio

I am back in the USSA. Hallelu-jah.

Ass for the mystery girl- I never got her name. She just came up and kissed me when Espana won the world cup. Laura took the photo. I love football.

The grand parade of lifeless packaging, part IV

Music to pack up your life by;

Give 'em enough rope - The Clash

Let it Be - Beatles
Heaven and Hell - Black Sabbath
Bind Faith - Blind Faith Deluxe Edition
Joe Satriani - Live in Paris; I just Wanna Rock


Backing up computer to the MyBook Hard Drive before the Voyage. Always a good precaution. Always. That's me. Senior cauteloso (mr. cautious).

Here's the concert from June cut down to individual tunes, as well as three acoustics numbers from Feb.
http://www.youtube.com/user/fromlttr

T-minus 29 hours

Til re-entry.

Espana gana el Copa Mundial!

This may be my last transmission before I go.

Up to my eyeballs in logistics!

See you on the other side!

T-minus 50hrs.

91F, going up to 97F. Fuck. I hate the heat. The country is in the grip of Copa Mundial Fever. The country will explode when they win. I say 2-1 Spain. Packing, cleaning, logisticating.

Can't stop listening to Dio albums- Rainbow, Sabbath, solo stuff, etc.

The Dutch are South Africa's former colonial masters, and their descendants molded the disgraceful Apartheid policies that plagued the country for decades and decades. So not many South African's will be cheering them on. They'll all be cheering for Espana!

I will be home in about 50 hours.

besa mi culo adiós

(Kiss my ass goodbye )

Exile² Checklist

✔ Meds for 49 days

✔ Passport

✔ $250 'gift' for US customs officials

✔ Drums secure at Laura's

works in progress

➔ Laundry (copious amounts remain due to a week without electricity

➔ Clean “my cell” at Laura's

➔ Pack

➔ Send July factura (bill) to Celia

➔ Pack

➔ get final stuff to Cat Woman's in Getafe (Monday)

The caravan thunders onward

To the distant dream of the city

The caravan carries me onward

On my way at last

On my way at last

I can’t stop thinking big

I can’t stop thinking big

-RUSH

Sun and Rock

Losing my insanity again
-Ronnie James Dio

Went to the pool today with Cara. After the dentist, after laundry. Then I went with Fernando (our lead guitarist) to a DIO tribute concert to mark the passing of the master. It was at a bar and was all just people who gig at bars like us. Many different lead singers (men and women). They played songs like Holy Diver, Rainbow in the Dark, Children of the Sea, and Rainbow classics like Long LIve Rock and Roll, the Man on the Silver Mountain, Kill the King and Catch the Rainbow. It was awesome.

Watching Mets/Braves. This is an enormous series for the Mets. Winning the series means trimming the Braves' lead. Losing it means they are 4 or 5 games behind.

Final del Copa Mundial!

I'll count the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike

They've all come to look for America

-Paul Simon

Somehow, Espana beat Germany to advance to the World Cup Final. Puyol, a defender, headed the winning goal (he is also on my fantasy team!). Either Spain or The NetherRegions (Bleck!) will be the eighth national team to win the World Cup. I say Spain, 2-1. My old flat mate, Don, had Dutch blood, so i can only wish them ill. I think they will choke like Pamela Anderson on Tommy Lee. Much celebrating throughout the city. Tomorrow is the last day of work, i think. Said goodbye to two students today. Always sad. But see them again, i may.

Re-Entry

July 7

Six Days before re-entry to the USA. 7 Weeks - 49 days, long enough to make you never want to see me again. Oh yeah, and a temporary new look for the website.

SO hot. Hotter than God's balls. 97F today. 98 tomorrow. I am teaching in shorts for the first time (precipitated by all the walking last week because of the Metro strike. Pants have no place in my life after July 1. It's 79F at 2:30 in the morning!

Spain vs. Germany tomorrow. That's going to be a tough one for Spain to win. Germany has been the class of the tourney so far.

Next year

Home in one week. Woo hoo! Me encanta (i love it). I'll see family and friends and your surprisingly large and intelligent children. Watch baseball with Mum. Kayak. See the Mets. Stomp in the old grounds from DC all the way up to VT. And jam with the boys from back in the day. This is my 4th Annual US Tour. Where the hell does the time go?

Sooo hot here. 96F today. Roasting like coffee beans on a sheet of zinc in the Caribbean sun.

Why the hell do i always wind up in such hot places?

Next year in Sweden!

interdependence day

• Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national animal but was outvoted when John Adams and Thomas Jefferson chose the bald eagle. Could you image the Army trying to recruit with a picture of a turkey?
• The words Under God were not added to the Pledge of Allegiance until the year 1954
• The national anthem is actually set to the tune of an old English drinking song called To Anacreon in Heaven
• Hey, do i preach to you when you're lying stoned in the gutter? Noooo. So beat it! - Bender Futurama

Spain beat Paraguay to advance to the semi-finals. Viva Espana!

Not Ghana fly

Ghana had a chance to become the first African team to ever reach the semifinals of the Copa Mundial (and more importantly win me 40E), but they cracked like the free wine glasses they used to give away in Pathmark when you bought lots of groceries in 70's. Ghana would have scored in the waning seconds of extra time, but the Uruguayan defender, Luis Suarez, used his hands like he was the goalie. He kept Adiyiah's ball from going in. It was blatent cheating. He got a red card and Ghana was awarded a penalty kick, but Asamoah Gyan clanged the ball of the top cross bar. Uruguay won on penalties. It was brutal. Some of the guy's who work at Peor are Uruguayan. So the bar erupted when they won. That was fun.

So Laura and i got a hotel Thursday so we could actually sleep. It was hell trying to sleep in the heat on Wed. without a fan. And then the penlight i was reading by crapped out, so i was reading by candlelight like I was a much shorter Abraham Lincoln.

Power came back yesterday. Hooray. No more cold showers. No more shrunken balls. They were so small when i got out of the shower the other day that all i needed was a bottle of vodka and a bottle of vermouth and you would have thought i was making a martini.

After my time in Jamaica, cold showers and dance hall reggae music have the same effect on me that the sound of helicopter blades had on newly returned Vietnam Veterans in the 60's and 70's.

Must wash clothes. Clean. Buy food. We have to chuck everything in the fridge.

Here i go.

And here's six tunes from the gig at Hangar 19. Let me know what you think. Play it on auxiliary speakers if you can. It'll sound better, but not bad for a room recording. I have another five or so to upload.

From Lost to the River, 6/5/10

http://www.youtube.com/user/jaygreco333#p/u/4/2HemRqipb5A