Snow

14'' in the last 24 hours and more coming. EPIC day on the hill today!

'Spring Gruv'

An afternoon concert at The Canyons

Frozen Grand Central

this is pretty cool...

Skynyrd Remains Underrated

My second favorite Skynyrd tune. But this one has a more interesting message (although "Gimme Back My Bullets" is a pretty interesting point to make... Who took them? Where are they? Why do I need them back?) Despite being sung by the "new" Skynyrd, this is a truly great song, and great message... "Don't forget, Son, there is someone up above..."

Skynyrd is VASTLY Underrated

My favorite Lynyrd Skynyrd song: "Gimme Back My Bullets":

"Liberace: Your Personal Fashion Consultant"

Our dear and generous friend Sully, who left us for Boston, still makes his presence felt. Every now and then a gift will arrive, always unexpectedly but this time... shockingly. Who knew there was a book entitled "Liberace: Your Personal Fashion Consultant"? Certainly not I. I had always credited Evel Knievel as a tremendous fashion influence but I am going to have to rethink this as Liberace was Polish, and everyone called him "Lee." Hmm... As Sully's note read, "Who knows fashion better than Liberace? I agree, not a soul. Thought perhaps this would help at Mardi Gras." Great stuff.

As Liberace himself said, "Excuse me a moment while I slip into something more spectacular."

Zombies Redux

Beloved brother-in-law John wrote in from San Diego to say he enjoyed several recent posts including the Zombie Food Pyramid. He wrote, "i bought this t shirt for [his wife] denise last year"

WOW! What an Easter!

WOW! That was some Easter...

For my Mom's Christmas present we got her tickets to see the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin at Radio City Music Hall. So Momma G. came down on Saturday and had a fantastic lunch at BLT Market. Then we wandered around, ending up at dinner at Osteria del Circo before getting to Radio City right on time. The concert was fantastic, a full retrospective of Aretha's career from her early days in gospel to the 2 hits "Respect" and "Chain of Fools." There was even a welcome guest in former Temptations lead singer Ollie Woodson and an indulged guest in her son who sang Christian hip-hop as many of the crowd went to refresh their drinks. Despite not having the polish I expected from a Radio City-level show, she is still Aretha Franklin and there were moments of transcendence. I particularly enjoyed all of the gospel numbers and the encore she sang and played on piano, "Easter Parade." Wow. (NY Times review here.)

On Sunday we went to Mass at our local church and then up to the U. Club to watch the Easter Parade itself on 5th Avenue through the Club windows, followed by an exquisite Easter brunch replete with SEVERAL bottles of champagne. (Momma had given up drinking for Lent so it only seemed appropriate we get her right back on that horse.) Had a blast and then came back to our apartment to relax, watch the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix, order in Italian food and then send Momma back Uptown in a cab.

Truly a great Easter. Family, fun, food and Aretha Franklin.

Times Square Star Wars ad

Rocking Russkies

In what can only be called a TRIUMPH of international relations, the Soviet Army Chorus jams with Finnish rock band "The Leningrad Cowboys" on Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic "Sweet Home Alabama." This has to be seen to be believed, and the REAL Soviet Army Chorus lends a certain terrifying gravitas to the end of the song...

New Yorker Caption Contest

My friend Christian & I are obsessed with the New Yorker's weekly Caption Contest. We submit entries frequently, but I thought that we had this week's LOCKED UP. You see, in high school, I had submitted an entry to the Bulwer-Lytton Contest which is a contest to write the best opening line to the worst piece of potential fiction:

Since 1982 the English Department at San Jose State University has sponsored the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton was the author of that line, made famous by Snoopy of "Peanuts" fame, "It was a dark and stormy night..."

"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

--Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830)

Dreadful. So they named a great contest after him to write a terrific / terrible opening line to a fictitious novel. Brilliant.

My entry, nearly 20 years ago, was "The vultures alit from their prey, their carrion luggage stowed away." So I get a call from Christian telling me that this week's New Yorker Caption Contest is PERFECT for a joke I made 2 decades ago. Naturally, I submitted a similar entry thinking that - at last - my time had arrived, destiny had come calling, and I would finally get national New Yorker-level recognition for my rapier wit...

Here's where I get angry. Christian & I had superior entries for this week's Caption Contest, neither one of which was chosen. So, I took it up on myself to write our friend Bruce, who is a film critic and editor at the New Yorker:

Bruce:

I apologize in advance for this rant, but I am afraid that I am really furious at your employer. As you know, Christian & I are obsessed with the Caption Contest. Now, of course we always think our submissions are superior, but this week it's no contest whatsoever and we are really angry that the three that were chosen were INFINITELY inferior to our submissions.

Here is the cartoon, and the 3 loser entries:

Drawing by Drew Dernavich

"Janice, hold all my calls. Indefinitely." Submitted by Peter Bruno Rutland, Vt. "Could you order me a B.L.T. on whole wheat with a side of carrion?" Submitted by Wayne Martorelli Lawrenceville, N.J. "Let me guess—the lab results aren't good." Submitted by Jacob Kono Jersey City, N.J.

Now here are ours:

Mine -- "No, no checked luggage. All carrion."
Christian's -- "No, I said we should adopt a corporate culture."

Obviously ours are better.

So, in short and in closing, you work for a bunch of communist-sympathizing whoremongers who wouldn't know good cartoon captions if they bit them in their pompous asses. Filthy animals...

Strong letter to follow,
LTG

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's day to one and all. We normally hunker down to avoid the drunken masses and are doing so again this year, shutting ourselves off from the red-eyed hordes who dress in, and vomit, green. I (correctly) lump St. Patrick's Day in with New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day -- Amateur Hour. For the hard-drinking, festive stalwarts among us there is no need for a manufactured holiday - the behavior exhibited by the multitudes today we just call "Tuesday". [As one of my hilarious yet less charitable (and French) friends said in college, "Happy be poor, eat potatoes and starve day."]

I, for one, happen to like the Irish. They share a lot in common with the Polish. Or as I have been known to say, "The Irish are the poor man's Pole." Both groups have bad cuisine, drink too much, tell stories, get in fights, are fiercely loyal and predominantly Catholic; but the Irish have that accent everyone loves and thieving little green men who horde gold and that seems to have given them an edge in the collective consciousness. What do we Poles have? Better looking women and a Pope. I'll take it...

All of that being said, here's a nice version of a traditional piece:

Had a good if subdued weekend up at Windham. Did some skiing on variable and, on Sunday, dangerously foggy conditions and enjoyed the last weekend of the season there, trying to get some turns in before we head to Utah in 2 weeks.

THE BLOG IS BACK!

Okay... My profound apologies. I have been ABSURDLY busy the last few weeks with work and haven't had time to update the blog. Very sorry and will endeavor to keep up with it more frequently. However, I have gone back and added more photos & events going back to last October, so feel free to peruse some of the older posts. There are some amusing things I just was not able to get to, until now. As an added bonus, the Zombie Food Pyramid:

Salon Opening

The Wife and her company organized a lovely party for the opening of a new salon on Wednesday and I swung by. Surprisingly fun and the client was very pleased with the event! Well done, Wife!

KB Evolution

Our boy's all grows up...

Late Night Shenanigans

Wine, cheese, beer, flatulence and funny photos...

KB & Ladies

Went to North Carolina to visit KB & Z. Had a truly stupendous time. Saw Maceo Parker & Booker T. and the MGs at Duke University's Page Auditorium. Kevin got tickets MONTHS ago and we were seated in the fourth row. Great show, and the first time K & Z had seen Maceo.

Went to an EPIC dinner at the "Second Empire" on Saturday, followed by late night shenanigans at their wonderfully decorated house. A very fun weekend...

Maceo Parker - "Pass the Peas"

Maceo plays his classic "Pass the Peas" as an encore:

Maceo Parker - "Gimme Some More"

Funk legend Maceo Parker lays it down... As Kevin noted on our way out, "Now THAT'S a bandleader. He plays THE BAND as an instrument."

Booker T. & The MG's - "Green Onions"

Video from the concert in North Carolina of the legendary Booker T. & the MG's performing their timeless classic, "Green Onions".

Maceo!

Maceo!
Originally uploaded by Guzilla.