It's the only way that you can travel down that road...

Boy, are we just absolutely drained!  It was so friggin' hot outside!  And you talk about humid!  Welcome to St. Louis!  We worked outdoors today - Jenny mowed the yard (to be fair, I offered - don't think I'm that much of a jerk!) and I worked in the garage putting stain/urethane on our closet doors.  Man, is that crap sticky!  I usually listen to my car radio when I'm in there, because I've got forty-eleven CDs to choose from, as well as XM radio, so I've got plenty of choices.

Recently, though, I inherited an old stereo (late 80s) from Jenny's dad when he moved.  It's almost exactly like one I had back in high school, actually - dual cassette player and - wait for it - a record player!  W00T!  I've had an old milk crate full of albums that I've literally had for almost 20 years that I haven't been able to listen to, because I didn't have a record player.  Today I got to hear some of those albums!  First up was the soundtrack to the movie "Heavy Metal", which I hadn't heard since my old boss from my college summer job at EFCO turned me onto it back around 1993.  I sounded so good, too - I had forgotten how much I liked that album!  I also listened to Steely Dan's "Can't Buy A Thrill", and Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak".  Great albums, both!

As I was listening to "Heavy Metal", I heard the song "Open Arms" by Journey, and it reminded that my sister, Katie, and I played that song about 25 years ago at some talent show down in Arkansas (probably Fayetteville, or Rogers - can't remember).  I guess I was only about 13 or so, and it was the first time I had really played drums in front of a lot of people.  I remember thinking it was weird that the drums didn't sound as big and boomey as the recording, and I wondered why in the world that was.  I found out much later that you could do all sorts of special stuff in the studio!

I also remember that in that talent show one of the "celebrity judges" was the drummer from Black Oak Arkansas - no clue which one, though - they've had more drummers than Spinal Tap!  Katie and her friend, Shannon, did a song, and Shannon's mom did a comedy routine.  The the  Pièce de résistance, some little skinny redneck dude who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket attempting to sing Paul Anka's "Lonely Boy".  I still cringe thinking about that "performance".  Wow.  Kinda funny how hearing one song a quarter-century later can trigger all of those memories!  Music is awesome!


Anyway, I figured I'd pay tribute to "Heavy Metal" by doing a light-orange-ish stroke - the color they wrote the band names in on the album cover.  Rawk!