30 September 2010

Ocean dreamin'...

Well, it only took about 6 months or so, but I finally finished up staining and urethane-ing our closet doors today.  Shoot - I think it was pretty cold when I started them!  I can't remember!  I do know that a lot of the reason it took so dad-blamed long was the humidity!  It just took forever for the stuff to dry, so it seemed like every time I did have a little bit of time to work on them, they were still wet!

Jenny's really happy they're done, though - she was tired of looking at all the crap in the closet!  Not that the closet is that much of a mess, it's just better to have the doors on and closed.  :-)  She painted the floor of the closet a kind of light aqua blue, so with the sandy color of the carpet, it almost looks like a beach - which goes perfectly with the decor in our room.  It's just too bad we won't actually see the "water", since we'll once again have the doors closed.  Oh, well - we'll know it's there!

I think it's time to be at the beach again, really.  One of these days I'll live on the beach.  Until then, however, I will have to settle for doing the occasional aqua blue stroke on this painting.  :-)

29 September 2010

I still love ya...

Summer is gone.  Autumn is quickly fading, too, unfortunately.  All I have to say is that "HEY", I got to go to one of the last Cardinal's games this year!  WOO HOO!  A buddy of mine called me last minute to ask if I wanted to go.  I told him that was a damned silly question!  Of course I want to go to a Cards game!  I don't care if they're 15 places out of 1st place, or whether or not we're even in the play-offs, I love to see my Cardinals play! 

I am and always will be a die-hard Cardinals fan!  I think I was among the only people at the stadium that didn't care that they had just been eliminated from play-off contention, I still love the Redbirds!  I don't care if it's just the B-Team playing (which it was - the most recognizable name was Colby Rasmus!),  I cheered for every single play! 

It was kind of interesting, actually, seeing players that you wouldn't see on a regular basis.  I've been kinda wanting to see what they had other than the normal day-to-day Cardinals: your Pujols' and Molina's and Holliday's - actually, that's pretty much the only real "names" you would know.   I guess you can attribute that to MLB's system of trading everyone every season.   You can't really root for any one guy, and any one team, because next season he's gonna be with another team. 

But I digress. Today was completely about my Cardinals.  No matter if it was the Springfield Cardinals or what, it was still my Cardinals, and I will root for them until the day I die. My stroke is red and yellow, for my boys!  We've always got next year! 

28 September 2010

My mind's playin' tricks on me...

There are a lot of things that occasionally make me think I was just born a few decades too late: the types of music I like, from the old big band stuff to the fact that I really believe I would have been right at home at Woodstock.  The television shows I grew up watching, i.e. "I Dream Of Jeannie", "Bewitched", "Gilligan's Island", "The Monkees", etc.  A lot of people actually think that I'm older than I am (and not just because of all the white hairs on my head and beard, thank you!) due to all of the references I make to TV shows and movies from the 50s and 60s.  What can I say?  I just soaked up all of that stuff like a sponge!   I got the first season of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" on DVD - that had obviously come out before I was born, but I just loved the humor and the feel of it.  Mom and I sat and watched some of that together a few years ago and had quite a few laughs. 

I love to watch old movies, too, but this is where I kind of feel that I've been cheated.  I've seen so many movies that have already drawn off of prior movies, and many times been done better, that when I go back and see one of the old ones, it just doesn't pack as much of a punch.  I guess to a certain extent my mind has just been de-sensitized.  Take for example "The Amityville Horror".  I only recently saw that (well, about 5 years ago).  I'd heard for years that it was one of the scariest movies ever.  I guess, though, with all of the horror movies I've seen (especially the "slasher" type stuff, like "Halloween" and "Friday The 13th"), my mind has become so jaded that it just kind of "needs" to have "the scary" forced upon it - not just be subtle, or inferred, like it was in "Amityville", or even more recently "Paranormal Activity".  You had a couple of doors slamming, maybe a light turning on or off, but no actual monsters, or any other ghoul-ey kinda things.  It left it all to your imagination, which, to a certain extent has been diminished by all these years of "in-your-face" horror stuff.  I hope I can watch "Nosferatu" and not be disappointed!

I experienced this again today.  I've really been wanting to catch up on some of these older flicks, especially some Hitchcock stuff.  The only one I'd seen in it's entirety before that was "Psycho".  I saw part of "The Birds", but didn't get all the way through it.  I'd like to see "Rear Window", but I pretty much know the general gist of that from the spoof of it they did on "The Simpsons".

Today I watched "The 39 Steps" from 1935.   While it had a lot of great parts, and I generally enjoyed the film, I couldn't help but to think the entire time that I'd seen it all before - like I could tell what was going to happen before it did.  I blame this on all of the other spy movies I've seen over the years that have ripped off movies such as this, which were completely original 75 years ago!

The ending did surprise me just a little bit, though, and, like I said, there were little parts here and there that I truly did not see coming.

I figured I'd pay tribute to those old movies and TV shows today by making a black and white stroke. 

27 September 2010

Move along; nothing to see here...

Okay, so I'm going to save all of you fine readers 3 hours of your life. If you haven't already, do NOT rent
"Stephen King's 'The Tommyknockers'"!  I came into it not having really high hopes, just for the simple reason that pretty much every Stephen King novel that is turned into a movie has about a 99% chance of being a big ol' ball o' suck!  I don't know what it is about Steve - he writes some really great stories, but I guess the morning they try to make said novels into movies someone eats a big bowl of "Dumbass" and the movie ends up being a steaming pile of...well, you know. 

Anyway, I should have known from the cast - the big stars are Jimmy Smits, Marg Helgenber, Traci Lords (!) and Robert Carradine (the 'head nerd' from "Revenge Of The Nerds"), that it wasn't that great of a film.  I just really wanted to believe that there was at least one Stephen King movie besides "The Shining" that was worth a crap.  I was wrong.  Very wrong.  I've actually seen better acting in "CSI:Miami", and that's really saying something - I honestly think that David Caruso is the worst actor on the face of the planet!  Seeing that show really just makes me want to punch someone, namely David Caruso!  Needless to say I think it's a really horribly acted series!  Okay, so now that I think of it, "The Tommyknockers" wasn't nearly as badly acted as Caruso's show.  Man, it that bad!

But I digress...For today's stroke, I did, however, mix a little bit of a bright green in with a bit of  Matte Medium - to see if it would give the painting just a little bit of a green tint, as opposed to having just a big ol' green swipe!

26 September 2010

Measles make you bumpy, and mumps'll make ya lumpy...

So I'm sitting here flipping back and forth between the football game (Washington Redskins vs. the Rams downtown) and the Cards' final game against the Cubs this year up at Wrigley Field.  I've got to make it up there one of these times to actually see a game at Wrigley before MLB decides that they want a brand new stadium for the rich folks and tear it down like they have all of the other old historic stadiums ( Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, the old Yankee Stadium, and Candlestick Park in San Fransisco - well, that one's still there for the next couple of years, they just play 49ers football there, not Giants baseball). 

Watching this game (which, unfortunately will be the second to last one I'll get to see on regular TV: all the games next year will be on cable, as opposed to at least one a week being on channel 5) got me thinking about all those old stadiums, and what makes them unique and memorable.  The old Busch Stadium (r.i.p.) had that cool circular design, Fenway Park in Boston has the Big Green Monster, and Wrigley's got all those loser Cubs fans - er, I mean all that ivy on the outfield wall.  The ivy (which has swallowed up many a ball, not to mention players) was planted in 1937, the same year they built the bleachers and the scoreboard, in an effort to cushion the outfield wall, so players didn't just knock themselves silly running into it! 

Anyway, I know one of these days I'll get to go see the ivy in person.  In the mean time, I'll just have to be happy with my green stroke today.  Maybe they'll hold off on building a new stadium until the Cubbies win a World Series.  That ought to give me plenty of time! :-D

P.S. - my boy Sam Bradford and the Rams finally won today - and they looked spectacular!

25 September 2010

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Zuppa!

Well, today was my first gig with The In-House Band.  We played over at Growler's Pub, for their annual "Oktoberfest" celebration, which was also a benefit for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  I got there at 10:30 a.m., then realized I had forgotten one of my speakers, so back home I went.  I got back there about 45 minutes later, we got set up, and away we went.  For only having 3 short practices, we did pretty well.  Some of our endings were a little rough, but overall it wasn't too bad. 

It was interesting seeing all of the different outfits, too: dirndls (no, that's not missing any vowels), lederhosen, and Tyrolean Hats everywhere!  At one point in the day a whole group of people (some of which were actually from Germany) commandeered the microphone and led the crowd in some rousing German folk songs.   That was pretty darned amusing!

They had a whole slew of microbrews to try, too - from Goose Island to Schlafly, there were all sorts of different beers for different tastes. 

The whole day reminded me of a few years ago when my cousin, Heidi, married a German guy.  All of his family came over from Germany.  They dressed in traditional clothing for the wedding, sang a lot of the same songs.  You haven't lived until you've heard a bunch of drunk Germans phonetically singing "Take Me Home Country Roads" by John Denver! 

The even brought over a few bottles of a microbrew from their village, not too far outside of Munich.  I tell you what, that is, to this day, the best beer I've ever had in my life! 

Today I mixed up a little green and yellow, to represent the color of the lederhosen.  Maybe I'll get some lederhosen.  I think I'd look pretty swell in them!  Here's to those crazy Germans! Zicke, Zacke, Zicke, Zacke, Hoi, Hoi, Hoi!

24 September 2010

A case of the "Blah"s

I was originally going to write nothing but "Blah, blah, blah, blah..." for this whole entry, but I figured that would be a complete cheat to all of the lovely readers of this blog.  Luckily for you (or not, depending on how you view this) I refuse to do something like that.

Today Jenny pretty much finished up the stuff that she's doing for the big "Show-off Shindig" tomorrow over at Fontbonne.  I tell you what, I'm so proud of her!  She's once again outdone herself as far as creativity!  I will do my best to get some pictures of her latest round of amazing cupcakes!  In the mean time, however, I will simply make a quick stroke of this light blue that is very reminiscent of the blue Jenny used for these cute little "Ducks-On-The-Pond" cupcakes!

I'll have more to talk about tomorrow, I promise!  It's just hard to come up with anything on some days when all I do is search jobs on these here internets and go to band practice!  I guess if it's any consolation, I'm getting ready to watch "The Tommyknockers".  No?  Oh, well, I guess it's better than nothing.  :-)

23 September 2010

It's Dave's Big Music-Link-O-Rama!

Well, I think it's time for a musical blog entry, good people!  Today I've run the gamut of musical genres - I've listened to Phil Collins, Boys II Men, Jesus Jones, Spacehog, Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog, Steve Vai, Natalie Cole, Beethoven, Gap Band, ZZ Top, Frank Zappa, and even Michael Buble (that one wasn't by choice - Jenny happens to like him and had his CD playing in the other room when I walked through.  I immediately had to throw on some Slayer to cleanse my eardrums :-D).

As you all know, music is pretty much tantamount to breathing to me.  I love to listen to it, write it, and especially play it!  Last night I had band practice with this new cover band I'm playing with, tonight I practiced with the church band, tomorrow I've got another practice with the cover band, then Saturday I've got my first gig with them, down at Growler's Pub for a charity event.  Sunday I play in church again.  I'm really looking forward to that - I haven't gotten to play drums a lot lately, so it's nice to bang a little bit again!

So now it's time to draw a close to the big "Link-O-Rama", which really has nothing to do with this painting, other than that it inspired me to make a bright pink stroke in honor of Steve Vai's heart-shaped triple-neck guitar that he played on David Lee Roth's "Skyscraper" tour.  Now you have lots of music to listen to - enjoy!

Be good to me, I'll be good to you - we'll be together!

You know what today marks the anniversary of?  Really?  You don't know?  Well, I'll tell you then: on this date in 1989 something happened that completely changed life for all of us - "Baywatch" premiered on NBC.  Yes, that's right, Baywatch.  Don't tell me you've never seen it, because I know it's a lie.  And even if it's not a lie, you know you've at least seen footage of "The Hoff", or some of the lovely blonde scenery bouncing about on promos and such. 

I found out something interesting today in passing - and it just happened to be that today was the anniversary of the show's premiere: the show was going to be cancelled from NBC in 1991, but, seeing that it had great potential (or at least he hoped it did), David Hasselhoff (Mitch Buchannon from the series) fronted the money himself to put it into syndication.  And aren't we all better people for that. Right.  :-)

Well, besides the anniversary of a TV show about a bunch of pretty people bouncing around half-naked, today is also a date that holds so much more of a place in my heart.  It's probably (besides my birth date) the most important day in my life: the anniversary of my wedding to my lovely bride, Jenny.  It was such a beautiful day, too!  It was, I believe, in the low 80s and sunny the whole day - which was really nice for the first day of autumn!

We had our wedding, which, of course, went off without a hitch, and then the reception over at the Knights Of Columbus hall (which is now some computer company or something - you know times are tough with the KoC are knocked outta business!). 

Most of the day is a blur to me, actually - everything happened so quickly!  I do, however, remember the first couple of dances we had.  We didn't want to do the usual schmoopy-doopy love song slow dance, so we decided we'd learn a few swing dance moves from my best friend, Brian, and his wife, Jennifer.  Yeah, so we weren't so great at that, but we got the job done well enough.  We danced to The Spiral Starecase's one-hit-wonder, "More Today Than Yesterday".  I do believe we also danced to Al Green's song "Let's Stay Together".  Man, do I love those songs - especially the Al Green!  I defy you to *not* dance at all when you hear that song - even if it's just a little shimmy here and there!  You can't *not* dance!  He's just that awesome, kinda like Jenny!

Anyway, it's been 9 glorious, fun-filled, love-filled years with my best friend, my wife.  She's been so good to me, and for me - she makes me want to be a better person, and she also provides the means for me to do so. We've got so many items on our list of things we want to do, and I promise her that eventually I will make it possible for us to do those things! 

Today's stroke (and yes, if you look at the time stamp, it is actually after midnight - I had band practice tonight - yes, she's just that awesome to let me go to band practice on our anniversary!) is another nice little green, for the Right Reverend.  Happy Anniversary, baby!  Got you on my mi-i-i-i-i-i-i-ind!

21 September 2010

Take a look - it's in a book...

Folks, this "not having a job" stuff has got to come to an end!  We haven't been doing anything besides looking for jobs - can't afford to do much of anything else, even just taking a drive, so there's not a whole lot to talk about!  :-)

The highlight of our day today was going to the library.  We've actually been enjoying going there, not only for books, but for movies and music.  They've got quite a selection of both that you can check out for free!  They've even got pretty much brand-spanking new movies on DVD!  Today I picked up "The 39 Steps", "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas", two Stephen King films, "The Shining" (which Jenny completely refuses to watch - she saw it way back in college and it still creeps her out!), and "The Tommyknockers", and a PBS documentary called "The Secret Files of the Inquisition".  That one is divided into 4 hour-long programs.  We watched the first one as soon as we got home, and it looks like it will be very interesting. 

I didn't pick up any books today, because I'm already in the middle of two books here.  Shoot, I don't know if I'll even have time to watch all the movies I got!  Jenny picked up a whole huge stack of cook books - I guess we'll be eating really well!  Actually, I think a majority of them that she gets there are books about baking cupcakes, cakes, and other sweets.  She uses them to give her ideas for things she can make for her "Jennydoll" creations.   She also picked up the autobiography of Natalie Cole, one of her favorite performers.

Oh, so anyway, since that was pretty much all we did today, I decided to commemorate this wondrous event with a swatch of a rainbow.  Some might call it, oh, I don't know, a "Reading Rainbow".  No?  Oh, alright! 

20 September 2010

Ambrose Hsu > Brandon Walsh

We wanted to get so much more done today, but I guess things just don't always go as planned.  We wanted to go biking, run some errands, and get some other stuff done, but things changed:  we had to run out to the Westport area to pick up a key, then run out to Jenny's mom's house to let her in.  She had just gotten a brand new door, and thought she had put the new key on her chain, but had grabbed the wrong key.  Oops!

It was really no biggie, though.  We just kind of had a relaxing drive around the county, then ran some of the errands we needed to run, then came home. 

Jenny's going to have her first "showcase" of her baked goods, dresses, cards and invitations, as well as pictures of all of the events that she's planned and put together.  It will be over at Fontbonne University, our alma mater.  It will be during the annual reunion weekend (it will be my 15-year reunion).  They are having a whole section on Saturday dedicated to Fontbonne alums who own their own businesses, so Carrie, the director of alumni there contacted Jenny to invite her to "show off her wares", knowing that Jen did all of this creative stuff.  Woo hoo!

Anyway, some of the stationery Jenny is working on will use some of my artwork, too.  She asked if I would be so kind as to paint some nice little landscapes, maybe some flowers and such, and what was I gonna say - "no"?  Yeah, that would be the wrong answer.  :-)  You know I'll do it in a heartbeat - anything for my baby! It gives me a chance to work on my technique, and to work on a little-bitty canvas: only 2 1/2" X 3 1/2". 

Hey, look - it's actual size! :-)
So today I worked on a little "French Lavender Field" for the stationery.  Therefor today's stroke was a light green and lavender.  By the way - I never knew there was a Taiwanese television drama named "Lavender".  Huh.  It's probably better than any of the crap on the CW here!

I like doing these little things - Maybe I'll try to whip out another one tomorrow.  Actually, I guess I'll have to, if we're gonna get these done by Saturday!

19 September 2010

I like to be here when I can...

Folks, it's really good to be home!  I love to travel, I love to see the country, I love to be with family.  At the end of it, though, I love to be home!  After a long weekend of traveling, I just love to be home!

Jenny and I left early this morning - about 7:45, made a quick stop at the Mickey D's in Monett (brand spanking new one - the old one burned down a few months ago) and we were off.  Didn't have any major (or minor) problems, just seemed like a long drive because we were both tired.  Jenny was more tired, though, because she just plain didn't sleep well last night, the poor girl!  I drove until Rolla, then we made our usual stop at the gool ol' Motomart where she stocked up on caffeine (Mountain Dew Code Red and a Starbuck's mocha-whatever-chino) so she was ready to take the next driving shift.

I've got to do a little practicing on my bass for band practice, and then I'm off again, driving to north county.  Then I will come home and SLEEP!

Today's stroke is a light yellow.  It's roughly the color of our beautiful house.   It's good to be home!

Hey little sister, look what you've done...

So it's Sunday, and I'm finally back!  As you can see I didn't get to use a computer anywhere yesterday.  We were just way too busy working on Stephanie's wedding reception to do much of anything else.  Actually, Jenny did most of the work, I was just along to help any way I could. 

We got to the lodge around 1:15 and started putting all of the centerpieces together and making sure everything else was where it was supposed to be.  The guests started trickling in around 3:30, and we were off to the races. 

The reception dinner was barbecue!  How awesome is that?  I don't recall the name of the caterer (the gal may not have even told me, come to think of it), but whoever it was just won "Best Barbecue" at this year's Memphis In May festival.  Man, was it good, too!

A little while later, the Dock Ellis Band from St. Louis, who's lead guitarist is Stephanie's cousin, Justin, showed up and started setting up their equipment on the deck outside.  A few minutes after setting up, we looked down at Beaver Lake (the lodge is situated on the highest point in NW Arkansas) and saw that there was a line of rain swiftly coming right for us, so we then grabbed all of the equipment and moved it inside, where they commenced to twangin'.   Ironically, the rain switched directions about a quarter-mile out and we never got a drop. 

Anyway, Steph, of course, looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress, which prompted me to make yesterday's stroke a white one.   I chose white over the red, which would have represented the groom's cake, an Arkansas Razorback with a ball and chain.  Hilarious!

I don't think Jenny and I are ready to take any more trips for quite a while.  We're going to get used to being at home again! 

17 September 2010

Holy Painting Pachyderms, Batman!

So today (and it is actually today this time :-D) is day #248 in the project, so I thought it was nice that I happened to be in Cassville, MO, and I'll probably be making a trip out Missouri highway 248 later on today.  That's the road you take to go to where my Grandma and Grandpa's house was (well, it's still there, it just looks a lot different, and there's someone else living there).   We lived there for a couple of years, from 1980 to 1983 when we first moved to Missouri from Virginia Beach, too.  It's always really great to run by there an look around at the "old homestead"; the site where my grandfather was born and raised with his 13 siblings.  Yep, there were 14 kids and, of course, both great-grandparents living in that one small house!  Wow!

When we got down here last night (after the Mexican-feast-and-mariachi-show extravaganza), Ma showed us all of her pictures from her recent trip to Thailand, which she took with a group from her church.  There were some amazing pictures - beautiful people, beautiful scenery, etc.  The thing that amazed me most, though, was a painting that she bought while she was there.  I noticed it as soon as I walked into the house, and I thought it was really good - somewhat abstract, but I like abstract a lot - prefer it, actually.

Then she told me who painted it.  Or should I say "what" painted it?  This beautiful painting of a bunch of red tulips was done by a freakin' elephant!  I couldn't believe it!  There are all of these elephants in Thailand that have been trained to paint pictures!  I know that these elephants are, in fact, trained to do these actions - they're not just being that creative and doing it on their own, but come on - just the mere fact that they have that kind of control over the brush is amazing to me!


Some are completely abstract, but with many of them you can tell exactly what they are, and they're phenomenal!  If I'd thought of it I would have snapped a shot of it to put on here - maybe I'll do that tomorrow.  In the meantime, though, here's a red stroke (which doesn't look anywhere near as good as Dumbo's red flowers!) for your enjoyment.  Now I'm off to take a drive!

Losin' sleep!

So last night I was just nervous and upset all night because I had to miss doing this blog!  I wanted so badly to be able to keep up with it, but I just could not get to a computer yesterday at all.  I did do my stroke, though, and wrote myself a few notes about stuff to talk about, so it'll be a pretty quick entry today.

We got going in the morning, and picked up the flowers (about 300 zinnias) for the wedding of one of my little sister, Erica's, best friend.  Jenny hooked the bride-to-be up with a gal that she knew so she could get a good deal, and so we brought the flowers down, and will make the centerpieces for the wedding reception.  We finally hopped on I-44 west about 12:15 pm and we were on our way. 

Ran into a little bit of traffic outside of Washington (stupid construction!) and were stuck there for a good 1/2-hour, but after that made good time.  When we got off on the Friestatt exit, and all the way down to Cassville, I saw more cattle than I think I've ever seen down through there.  I guess it's been a big cattle year!

When we got to Ma's house we unloaded and then went over to a nice little Mexican restaurant called "El Mariachi", where, coincidentally, they had an actual mariachi band playing live.  They were phenomenal!  I had so much fun just listening to them and watching them interact with the crowd.  Oh, and I want one of those bass guitars (the proper name is a "guitarron") they use, too!  The band, although not the same one in the picture I linked above, were dressed very similarly, wearing the black pants with the silver medallions or buttons or whatever up the side of the legs.  To commemorate those awesome outfits, today's stroke (actually yesterday's stroke, but you get the idea) is jet black. 

Gotta get going to the next post now - I sure hope I can get in here again tomorrow, so as not to miss another day - I don't wanna lose anymore sleep! :-) Olé!

15 September 2010

Oh, Poppycock!

So I'm sitting here watching "America's Got Talent".  Why?  I really have no good answer for that, other than the fact that there's really nothing better on.  And that's sad.  We're supposed to be getting everything together and packed up for going down to Cassville tomorrow, but neither of us really feel like doing that, so we're sitting here watching the boob tube.

Granted, there have been a few decent acts on here, for instance the dance troupe, "Fighting Gravity", who are simply amazing - I would pay to see them live!  They are probably my favorite of all of the acts.

There's also a little girl named Jackie Evancho, who is only 10 years old, but her voice sounds so much bigger and older than that.  She truly will have a bright career, I believe. 

There are a few other ones that were good, and I really don't understand why they didn't make it to the top 4 for the finale.  I was under the impression that the act they were looking for was something you would see in Las Vegas - something outrageous, with lots of fireworks and lights and all of that, but they let a lot of those go in lieu of an act like Michael Grimm, who, while an tremendous talent with an amazing voice, isn't exactly the type of thing I would think they'd be clamoring for at the Bellagio.

Oh, well, this evening's stroke is a bright, almost neon yellow, for my pick (but not America's pick - they came in 3rd), "Fighting Gravity".  I'm sure they'll have quite a career ahead of them.  Ol' Michael Grimm, the country boy from Mississippi with the great soul voice ended up winning it all.  It's probably for the best, really - he wins the $1million which he gets to share with his grandma and grandpa, who raised him, and it saves Jackie, the little girl, from getting swallowed up in Vegas.  That's no city for a 10-year-old, I'm sure.  Not to be headlining a show at a casino, at least!  I'm sure Prince Poppycock will turn up in Vegas at some point, too.  He's too much of an entertainer to not do something big!
 ___________________________
By the way - we'll be down in Cassville this weekend helping out with a wedding.  Most likely I'll be able to get to a computer somehow, but just in case I can't, I will be at least doing my blog in Notepad or Word or something, and I'll upload them Sunday or Monday when we're back.  Fear not, loyal reader! :-)

14 September 2010

Plug it in, plug it in!

Today's entry is really nothing more than a shameless plug for my beautiful wife's fledgling company, Jennydoll.  She got the idea a few years ago and it's slowly coming around.  She does a little bit of everything creative, really.  She makes little girl's dresses, invitations, thank you cards and other stationary, floral designing, wedding/event planning or coordinating, and (most importantly - to me, at least)  baked goods, such as cupcakes, cookies, and full sized cakes.  Man, is she awesome!

She's going to have a table at the "Alumni-Owned Business Show" during Fontbonne University's Alumni Weekend coming up here at the end of the month, so hopefully that'll give her a boost - at least spread the word to a whole buncha people, if not sell a bunch of stuff, too!

I know that this is something she's wanted to do for a long time - it's something she just really enjoys doing.  Maybe one of these days she'll be able to do it full time and make a living at it.  I guess that's one silver lining on the dark cloud that is our unemployment: we have more time to work on the creative things we love to do.  It would be awesome if both of us could actually end up doing something we love for a living!  That, to me - not slaving away at some corporate job, or any other job just because it pays well and you can impress your neighbors - is the American Dream, my friends.  Be happy.


Anyway, today's stroke is for my Jennydoll.  It's a little swatch of pink and purple, the colors of her logo.  I love ya, baby!  Good luck with following your dreams!  :-)

13 September 2010

Hi, Coo!

Many, many moons ago my Uncle Mike had a pet dove.  I think it was my sisters, Katie and Jo Beth who named it "Coo" (named, of course, for the sound it made).  I'm pretty sure it had to be them - I can't see Mike, a big ol' grizzly of a man, and a Vietnam veteran naming anything "Coo".  I can't remember where he got the bird, but I know that the girls ended up "adopting" him.

I had pretty much forgotten about ol' Coo until Saturday when Jenny and I were on our way down to Jim and Kari's house.  I looked over to our left, and there was a bright white dove, just flying down to land in a parking lot.  Now there are a lot of birds here in St. Louis - mostly dirty old pigeons, but not a whole lot of doves, and definitely no bright white ones! 

Anyway, something today, again, reminded me of Coo, so I figured that was a sign that I should do a white - or at least an off-white stroke for the old bird.  It's been probably 20 years, but it seems like he was a really light grey.  I'm sure I'll hear otherwise from my sisters if I'm incorrect.  :-)

I also wrote a couple of verses of haiku for the occasion:

We saw a white dove
At Hampton and Chippewa
Landed at IHOP

Here comes a big car
Fly away fast, little dude
'Fore you get splattered

Ozzy was not there
Might have mistaken you for
Light chicken breakfast

Hey, no one ever said I was a poet!




12 September 2010

You're looking so good, everything's in place...

Yay!  It's the first Rams game today!  Let's see if they can actually pull off a win!  Arizona's looking really tough!  But enough about that - I've probably bored you to tears about football lately.  More importantly is that I've got an audition for a cover band this evening (by the way that particular link is for my baby:-D).  For those of you not "down with the lingo", a cover band plays other people's music, as opposed to playing "original music".  Not trying to sound condescending at all to anyone, but I do run across people occasionally who aren't familiar with that term. 

Anyway, this is an audition to play bass.  They do mostly old 60s and 70s soul/R&B-types stuff: (Sittin' On The) Dock Of The Bay, Ain't No Sunshine, Stand By Me, Soul Man, etc., with a smattering of classic rock: some old Rolling Stones, Sweet Home Alabama, etc.  They sent me a set list and immediately I knew 30 out of the 37 songs, so that's good.  I actually had to borrow a bass from my buddy Paul because mine's in the shop getting a tune-up.  I told the guy a while back that I didn't need it any time soon not knowing that I'd be doing any auditions. 

They are an established, working band, so I'm really hoping I can make a little money (actually I'd love to make a lot of money, but that may come later).  This will be the first cover band I've been in since about 1994, when I was in a classic rock band out of Washington, MO called "Shameless".  We had a pretty good time for a couple of years, but it was a good hour or so drive to practice every week, plus all of the gigs were down there - or farther!  Plus I was invited to play bass with Free Dirt.  That was the start of my love affair with playing original music.  I'd much rather be playing originals, but right now we need money, and you can't make any around here playing originals.  People here only want to hear what they already know, not take a chance on something else that they don't know, but might possibly enjoy (but don't get me started on that whole phenomenon). 

So now, I must study up a little more on some bass lines, plus watch the rest of the Rams game (which is 10-10 at the half, BTW), so I'll leave you today with a stroke in honor of the first song on the set list: "Green Onions".  Feel the groove, people!

11 September 2010

Getting there...with a little help from the churro lady...

So 5 a.m. came around this morning, and for some reason my body decided it should go into a coughing fit.  Great.  So I got up, went downstairs, and had a swallow of the Walgreens version of Robutussin to see if that might stop it.  It did, but after I got back upstairs I was just laying there, wide-eyed.  Once again, great.  I layed there for a little while and realized that there would be no more sleep, so I just got back up and went downstairs so as not to disturb Jenny's slumber.

I messed around on the Facebook for a little while, then did some painting, and then when I figured Jenny would be waking up, showered and shaved.  Yay for cleanliness!  I did feel a bit better, though.  "The Sickness" seems to have moved back north, though, from my chest to my head today.  I'm guessing a lot of it is due to the allergies and weather, though - it's just plain nasty out.  Right now my eyes are just burning!

After Jenny woke up we drove her brother and his wife down to Soulard for an event, then on the way back we had to stop by the big Hispanic Festival.  We go every year.  It's so much fun to just walk around, listening to the different Latin bands and looking at all of the really great handmade clothing.  Oh, and, of course the food!  The food is awesome!  I love food from south of the border to begin with.  El Maguey is one of my favorite restaurants of all time! 

Besides Mexican food, though, there is food from Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and other places in Central and South America.  Some of it is similar, but there are subtle differences in the way they're made, and it's all really great.  Especially this one place.  I can't remember the name of it, but it's run by the family of one of Jim and Kari's good friends, Adrian.  We make sure to go to their stand every year for their sopes.  Man, are they awesome!  We topped off the lunch with a churro.  That was just plain fantastic!  Then it started raining, and besides, I was just worn out - my body's just not over "The Sickness" just yet. 

Anyway, today's stroke is green, for [part of] the Mexican flag.  I thought about doing the whole green, white, and red, but I figured there was enough red on there for right now.   It actually ended up being darker than I thought, but that's okay.

10 September 2010

Amazing cause. Touching stories. Horrendous singing.

Just a quick note tonight.  I spent a good chunk of the day looking through the job listings and stuff, working a little bit on a painting I started a while back.  Then I started perusing the Craigslist for a cover band to possibly join - anything to make some money!  I'd much rather play original music, but at this point I'll play just about anything but Creed and Michael Buble, as long as it pays well!

Before I knew it the day was completely gone.  Jenny and I grabbed a quick bite to eat out of the stuff we had leftover in the fridge, and now we're just sitting here watching the "Stand Up To Cancer" special on TV.  There's really some powerful stuff on here!  We watched it last year and enjoyed it.  It is such a great cause, too - and it means so much more now, with all that we've been through this year with Jenny's dad.  By the way - Jim got his results from the last round of tests, and he is, indeed, completely cancer free now!  WOO HOO!!!

Tonight I decided to throw down just a little bit of red, orange, and yellow - the colors of the logo for "Stand Up To Cancer".  Here's hoping they soon find a cure!

09 September 2010

What was the deal with the safety pin/rubberband thing Capt. Lou had going on?

Hello, and welcome to Day 3 of "Operation:Try Not To Feel Like Crap Anymore".  I'm not sure if we're winning this one just yet.  My throat's not nearly as sore, though, so I've got that goin' for me

Since I was still feeling generally pretty crap-tacular, I decided that it was the "Comfort Movie" stage of "O:TNTFLCA".  I grabbed a few DVDs and crashed on the couch in the front room.  I started out with "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", which I hadn't seen in years.  I've owned it since '02, but I don't think I've watched the whole thing since my Aunt Phyllis took me to see it when it came out in 1988!  I still marvel at how amazing that movie is, and all of the technical things they were able to pull off merely using hand-drawn animation - no computers were used whatsoever!  And yes, I thought Jessica Rabbit was hot.  Not as hot as Daphne from Scooby Doo, mind you, but I digress (before I really creep anyone out). 

Next up was "The Goonies".  I was never a huge fan of this movie like some people were, but it's always been good fun.  Plus Cyndi Lauper did the theme song, with a video featuring the Iron friggin' Shiek!  C'mon, how could you not love that?

I never really realized how much of it was just unexplained, or just rushed through, just to be explained by simple exposition in the dialogue.  I can't stand that.  And they were always yelling over each other for no apparent reason.  Why did I like this movie again?  Oh, yeah.  Good, dumb fun.  Oh, and Kerri Green.  What can I say?  I have a thing for redheads.  At least she's not a cartoon! :-)

I think that's a good color for today.  Red.  Indeed.

08 September 2010

What we need here is a visit from Hank Jr.

Well, here we are.  The eve of NFL football season.  Tomorrow night the Minnesota Vikings will play the New Orleans Saints, and it'll be on like Donkey Kong.  The rest of the games will be played Sunday, with the exception of two games for Monday Night Football (A doubleheader?  Really?  On a school night?  Really, ESPN?).  Sunday, though, we finally get to see what a Sam Bradford-led St. Louis Rams is gonna be like in a real game.  They're playing the Arizona Cardinals.  I don't know what they'll be like, because their main man, Kurt Warner retired, apparently to join the cast of "Dancing With The Has-Beens", and they've had a heckuva time finding a replacement. 

I'm really excited for the season this year - I just hope we will actually be able to watch a few of the games!  If the tickets aren't sold out here for the home games, the game is also blacked out on TV.  That makes lots of sense, right?  Punish the people for not being able to afford your expensive friggin' tickets.  That'll boost the morale and want to make people spend money on your happy asses.  But I digress.

I figured since I did the old school Rams colors a while back, I'd throw down the new school colors tonight.  Dark Blue and Gold, baby!  Now I'm gonna go lay down some more.  The throat thing I talked about last night moved south, and is now in my lungs.  Hooray. 

07 September 2010

They fight and bite, and fight and fight and bite...

So here's a quickie for ya.  I've done nothing but lay around sucking on Chloraseptic sore throat drops and watching the 8th season of "Cheers" (probably my favorite show of all time - maybe even surpassing "The Simpsons").  Like I said yesterday I developed a bit of a scratchy throat, and I really wasn't sure what was going on with it - whether it was just allergies, or being run down, or what.  Today, however, it's just attacked me full on. 

Right now I just feel like I've been hit by a truck: head hurts, chest feels like there's all sortsa crap in it, throat is just absolutely raw, and has apparently gotten it's license to become a mucus factory.  Great.  I'm supposed to help out at the Clayton Arts Fair this weekend (which I'm really looking forward to!), but if I don't feel any better by tomorrow, I don't wanna give this crap to anyone else!  Stuff like this usually sticks with me for several days. 

Anyway, tonight's stroke represents a couple of things.  I picked the deep Alizarin Crimson because that's the color of the main part of a painting I'm doing for my sister, Katie.  I'm not really sure why I picked the white.  Maybe I'm getting delirious.  Where the two meet, though - the kind of deep pink/red is what I imagine my throat's looking like right about now. 

And now I will take my leave.  Beddy-bye is calling.  So is Benadryl. 

06 September 2010

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind...

Holy cats, folks, I'm absolutely plum tuckered!  We got up this morning after doing the whole reception thing last night, feeling a little rough - little scratchy throat going on, which hasn't subsided.  We drove down Addison St. to take some pics of Wrigley Field, but we weren't going to pay $30 to park just for a second to take some derned pictures, so we just slowed down a little bit and took some out the window.  We headed down Lake Shore Drive, shooting as we went, but we didn't stop downtown.  We just kept on driving and hit I-55 south and headed on home.

When we pulled in, around 3:45, we were both just drained.  We dragged everything into the house and then just crashed on the couch (at least I did - Jenny loaded up a buncha pics from the trip up onto Facebook).

It was a really great trip, and I'm so happy for Robert and Jo Beth!  Next time Jenny and I go up there, though, we're gonna make sure to have nothing on the calendar so we can just strictly see the sights!

Something I don't ever remember seeing while making that trip before is the big ol' windmill farms in between Springfield and, say, Bloomington/Normal.  Just huge fields of these big white windmills!  That's what today's stroke is about.  Yeah, it looks a little bit like a "schwa".  That's okay.  "Schwa"s are underappreciated in my opinion, and they don't get the attention they truly deserve.

Runnin' down this rocky road...

Well holy crap, I've run outta sisters to marry off!  Today was a great day.  We started it off (Katie, Atala, Erica, Keith, and myself) taking a little trip down to Chinatown here in Chicago.  As soon as the train pulled up to the stop I looked out at the surrounding area and immediately saw a restaurant called "Tasty City", and I knew I was in the right place. 

It was extremely cool, though - to get into "Chinatown Proper", you walked through a huge pagoda (which said "Welcome to Chinatown", just in case you didn't know where you were) and you were instantaneously transported to China!  I'd been to Chinatown in New York before, so I knew what to expect, but it still amazes me that it is literally this whole other culture right in the middle of the city!  It's almost as if Chicago doesn't exist! 

We went to a place simply called "China Cafe", which Keith had been to several times.  We knew it was a great place to get great food because we were the only non-Chinese people there! :-)  We ate our share of dim sum and then hit a couple of little trinket and art shops on the way back, seeing everything from beautiful silk dresses to little Bruce Lee statues (which I was eying very hard - who couldn't use a Bruce Lee statue on their kitchen counter?)

So we made our way back "home" and got ready for the main event: Jo Beth's wedding.  It was really a beautiful thing, despite how nervous I was about playing.  I had practiced quite a bit yesterday and this morning, and I was pretty comfortable playing the stuff, but then as I started playing I realized that the place was full of guitarists, and then I got really nervous, thinking that they'd be judging my every note, and so my hands were just shaking to beat the band!  Everyone said I did okay, though, so I can live with that. 

We got 'em all married off, and everyone seemed happy as a clam - even Grandpa.  We took him back to the house, turned on a baseball game, and fed him a couple of Jenny's cupcakes, and he was a happy man. 

Everything else seems to have gone off without a hitch for the most part and we've got a lot of happy people out there, so my work (and Jenny's) is done here.  We'll leave tomorrow, after seeing some of the sites around town.  I have to have my picture taken in front of Wrigley Field giving the "thumbs down" sign.  It's just something I have to do.  :-)

Today's stroke is for the colors in the big wedding: black and a burgundy-ish kinda red.  Jo Beth was going for an "old Hollywood" kinda vibe, and those particular colors were a big part.  Everyone looked absolutely stunning!

I would, however, like to take this opportunity to welcome the newest member of our family, Robert.  May you and Jo Beth live a long and loving life together.  Rawk. 

04 September 2010

Who knew Tupperware was art?

This morning I awoke to the sounds of my little 4-year-old niece, Atala, traipsing around, playing, just being her usual happy self.  She accidentally came in to our room while looking for something else, so I was up for good.  No problem - I hadn't seen her in a couple of months.  We had a great time just talking for a little while.  She showed me all of her new little princess dolls, etc.

After I got up and around, my brother-in-law Keith and I went on a little trek downtown.  I was thinking it was just a short little jaunt to Wrigley Field - it looked like a short jaunt on the map!  Turns out it was about a mile and a half one way!  So we walked all the way down there, through all of the Cubs fans (grrrrr!), not to mention Mets fans (grrrrrr) and Iowa Hawkeyes fans, who were in town for a game against Northwestern (also grrrrr - not a fan of Iowa in general!).  I really felt like I was in hostile territory! :-)  Of course no one knew I was a Cards fan, so I guess I was safe.

We hopped on the train and went downtown, getting off at Chicago Ave.  Keith, who has been here quite a bit, showed me around the immediate area, including the old Chicago Fire Tower, the only building that made it through the famous (or infamous) fire that burned Chicago down.  After that we walked over to the Museum of Contemporary Art.  That was really cool, and gave me a lot of inspiration for new pieces of art - not just painting.  There was a fun piece made up of all sorts of things: wood, plastic, pillows, even Tupperware!  Modern art rocks!  Who knew Jenny and I were sitting on a gold mine of art in our kitchen cabinets? :-D

There was a whole gallery dedicated to some really interesting pieces by an artist named Alexander Calder, who worked a lot with metals and other objects ( a lot of which literally came out of a trash dump during World War II, when he couldn't get any of the materials he wanted to work with).  What he mainly wanted to convey with his work was balance, and balance is exactly what he did!  There were absolutely astonishing pieces in which the piece, probably 10 feet tall or more, would literally sit and sway in the wind (even the small bit of wind made by people walking by), they were so balanced on each other! 

Anyway, my stroke tonight is a bright red, in honor of a really great red that I saw on one of Alexander Calder's pieces.

I'm just so glad that the picture thing finally worked!  Now I've gotta go back to see if I can put a picture on yesterday's blog!

03 September 2010

My kinda town...

So we got up this morning about 6 a.m. so we could leave for Chi-town.  We took our time - didn't really rush, as we didn't have a schedule of any sort.  Turned onto 55 north to start the trip at exactly 8:02 a.m. and we were on our way.  We packed all sortsa snacks and drinks and stuff so we didn't really even have to stop anywhere, except a couple of rest stops just to go potty and make a sammich.  The weather was absolutely amazing, too.  A little chillier than it had been, which suited Jenny just fine, but the sky was just so blue, with a few clouds just kinda hanging out down low.  It was really windy, too, though.  I guess that's good for all of the wind farms we saw!  That was pretty cool!

We made really good time despite all the friggin' work zones (what's up with that, Illinois?  You can't do all of this crap on a weekend other than Labor Day?) until we got right into town, turning onto I-90/94, otherwise known as the Dan Ryan Expressway.  Most people call it the Damn Ryan, and for good reason.  Man, is that a mess!

Jenny had the quote of the day, when some dude just jutted over across 3 lanes in some of the heaviest traffic I've ever seen.  She just looked over at me and said,"That dude had some balls!  There's a fine line between balls and stupidity!".  :-)  We got a good little chuckle over that!

Today, in honor of the beautiful sky here in Chicago I decided to do a nice light blue with a little white in it.  I haven't gotten a pic of it yet, because I'm over at Jo Beth's house writing this out - I promise you I'll get a pic soon, though!  No, really! :-)  Update: Yup, finally got that pic up today (Monday, 9-6).  That computer up there just wasn't working right for me, but I've got it all under control now!  Now back to your regularly scheduled reading.)

Now it's time to go see the town a little bit.  I'm gonna hang out with the soon-to-be brother-in-law (man, that's a lot of dashes!) and then we're going back to the house for some dinner.  Yum!

02 September 2010

WHIZZZZZZ!

I don't know if I'm seeing things, or if I have malaria, or what.  All I'm seeing right now is flashes of grey. Bam!  There it goes again!

Jenny and I are gathering things up and cleaning - getting ready for the big trip up to Chicago this weekend.  She loves to have the house all nice and spiffy so "we" don't have to worry about doing any cleaning when we get back.  Right.  Like I would be worried about that.  :-D  Nonetheless, we are cleaning.  It's early - well at least early as far as when I usually do my blog; we just got up a little while ago, so we're still doing the PJ thing, and her PJs happen to be grey, hence the flashes I've been seeing.  That girl works faster than anyone I've ever seen.  I swear sometimes she's got a vial of crack hidden somewhere!  Whooosh!  There she goes again!

I've been to Chicago 5 or 6 times, but I've never gotten to see anything; I've always gone up with bands, so I drove up there, played my show, and drove right back - sometimes literally being up for 24 hours straight just to do it.  I've driven down Lake Shore Drive at 3 a.m., and that is pretty, but I really want to see some stuff this time - all the things you've seen in the movies, Wrigley Field (as much as I hate the Cubbies, the field is a piece of history!) the Sears Tower (or whatever they're calling it these days), Navy Pier, etc.  Most of that stuff probably costs an arm and a leg, though, and you know we're broke, so what I'll most likely do is map out a list of places where John Hughes shot his teen movies (Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller, Sixteen Candles, etc.). 

Anyway, in honor of my lovely wife's choice of wardrobe, and the fact that it's still nasty and grey outside (I sure hope that goes away before we travel!), I give you GREY!

01 September 2010

I suddenly feel like shrieking,"IT'S LIKE RAY-EE-AAAAAYYYYNN!!!!"

It's a really good thing I did go out to mow the yard last night instead of waiting 'til this morning.  I woke up a little after 6 a.m., and the rain was just coming down!  I guess it had been for quite a while, too - it looked like the ground was pretty well soaked.  It really hasn't stopped at all the whole day, either.  I guess we needed it, though.  As long as there's no rain this weekend up there in Chicago I'll be fine!   We don't want any "Alanis Morissette" moments for Jo Beth's wedding!

As I was doing my usual search on the ol' YouTubes for fun stuff to link to I ran across a couple of interesting things that I'd never heard.  One was a song called "Rain" by Ryuichi Sakamoto.  It was an instrumental piece - a modern classical composition, if you will - and although there were no lyrics, you could close your eyes and just imagine that this could be the soundtrack if you were running around town in the rain trying to get some errands done.  Another "Rain" song was by Patty Griffin.  I had heard of her, and heard a few of her tunes, but definitely wasn't familiar with this song.  I think it's beautiful, but wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear right now. 

Another song that I thought of has nothing to do with rain.  I have the album, but I swear I heard it on a commercial on the teevee.  The commercial, for what I have no recollection whatsoever, showed a car driving down the street with the song in the background, and the windshield wipers were in time with the beat of the song.   Maybe it just happened in my mind.  Either way I think of driving in the rain every time I hear it. 

The last song I'll share with you today is probably the first one I should have posted in the first place.  It's by a little-known group from England, who, according to their guitar player, invented MTV (not sure if he'd be so proud of that fact if he were around today to see the crap they're playing!). 

Anyway, for today's stroke I put down a little swatch of the glass beads.  It may look kinda strange right now, because of the medium being white, but once it dries over the grey/blue, I'm hoping it looks like what I'm seeing outside my window right now.  And no, I don't mean the Bee Girl.  :-)