Wedding

In Nyack, NY

Poolside Beer with Grant

Worked all morning, taking a break now

"NOLA on a deserted Saturday Night"

the latest from Marvelous Matt S. who spent most of the night at the Spotted Cat:

"I'm wandering.  Jackson Square is all boarded up.  The museums are all claiming to reopen on Wednesday.  I'm alone on Pirate's Alley.

A lot of the hotels are closed and have booted their guests.  The Bourbon Orleans has a notice on its doors saying that as mandatory evacuation happens at 8am that all guests have to check out prior to that.

Just walked over to Frenchmen Street which is pretty much shut down with shows cancelled.

This town is creeping me out as I am pretty much alone on the streets.  Sticking to Bourbon on walk home."

The Latest from New Orleans

from our dear friend Lucy: 

"Hello everyone,

Just to let everyone know that Ivette and I are fine we are in the French Quarter and depending on what happens tomorrow we will make a decision whether we have to leave as of right now in Orleans Parish is not mandatory to leave but most likely a mandatory evacuation will be announced tomorrow, right now everything is fine in new orleans and the hurricane is not coming to new orleans it's headed west of us.  we are worried about the rain and the floods it will bring, though the French Quarter is the highest grounds, I'm going to work tonight and I'm staying upstairs at the bar, a lot of our friends are here: Bliss, JO, my bosses are here too so I think we'll be safe and fine in the Quarter.

so please don't worry about us if we have to go we'll keep you posted."

Not as thoroughly convincing as I would like, but a local report nonetheless...  Meanwhile the science says Gustav is at the upper reaches of Category 4 strength and could strengthen to a Cat 5 soon.  Although current models predict it will hit west of New Orleans at Cat 3 strength, thoughts & prayers please...

Gustav

This is profoundly not good... Gustav looks to be gathering strength and on a dangerous course. Marvelous Matt S. is in New Orleans right now and both he & Jeffrey have described the mood down there as tense, with Matt even scheduling an earlier return flight just in case. According to nola.com Governor Bobby Jindal has upped the timeline and phased evacuations could begin as early as Saturday. Thoughts & prayers, please, thoughts & prayers. Remember that Katrina was also a Category 3 when it hit and was also only a glancing blow to New Orleans. Plus, not all of the necessary repairs have been made...

We're at a great bar

The Annex in Asbury Park, New Jersey. It has to be said... they have sunk a TON of money in to Asbury Park and really done a great job in bringing it back. I was very impressed.

Back-to-Back Idol

At the Jersey Shore's legendary Stone Pony in Asbury Park. This makes Idol only the 4th artist I've seen back-to-back (if you ignore the New Orleans Jazz Fest): Maceo Parker, Galactic, Kid Rock and now Billy Idol.

Billy Idol

Live at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC.

Poland At Risk

I try to keep my blog light & frothy. It' s supposed to be for friends & family to keep abreast of our wacky misadventures and for the occasional musing. I figure there are enough sources of serious, depressing stuff out there and why should I waste time and energy when there are professional news sources?

But one recent news item has me really bothered and can't be ignored... Poland, land of my ancestors, was explicitly threatened with a nuclear strike by Russia for agreeing to host America's missile defense system. (A move they can hardly be blamed for given Russia's recent activity in Georgia and HISTORY.)

This is truly shocking. Poland has historically allied itself with the West despite the U.S & Britain shamefully leaving Poland to the Stalinist wolves after Polish aviators had saved London in WWII. Poland was & remains one of the most significant foreign contributors to the "Coalition of the Willing" in Iraq. ("He forgot Poland." - President Bush) And now they have, once again, laid themselves on the line and face NUCLEAR ANNIHILATION. From a recent issue of the Economist:

“We have crossed the Rubicon,” said the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, as the deal was done. Russia said any country involved in America’s missile defences made itself a legitimate target for nuclear attack. Condoleezza Rice, the American secretary of state, who went to Poland to sign the deal this week, retorted that such threatening language “isn’t tolerable”.

Terrifying. What year is this?

Spy Hunter

Among my many useless talents is the ability to walk in to any arcade, anywhere in the world, and on one quarter / token / play... get the high score at "Spy Hunter." I have proven it time and time again, year in and year out. And did so once again at "Flashbacks" - a great arcade that time forgot - on the Seaside Heights boardwalk.

Klein's

Ending the weekend on a respectable note at Klein's. Our favorite ending to a summer Sunday.

Mantoloking

Came back up to our regular beach for Sunday.

They do make big crab

Alaskan King @ the Crab's Claw Inn in NJ. Covered in Old Bay

Our hotel

Is so nice we put a chair under the doorknob. We are - quite literally - ON the boardwalk in Seaside Heights.

Shark Jack Wife

'Glory Days'

Indeed... Bar band playing Springsteen, on the Jersey Shore...

Sonny Landreth

Saw famed Louisiana slide guitar player Sonny Landreth last night on the "Rockin' the River" blues cruise around New York Harbor. A spectacular evening weather-wise and great music.

Martin & Lucinda were with us as well

We sailed by the Statue of Liberty

and saw the new waterfalls on the Brooklyn Bridge

and then met Matt & Alex late-night at one of the all-time great dive bars, Rudy's.

More photos HERE.

And on the Final Day...

He rested...

And Then... Late Night.

No words can adequately describe the sight of a fire-breathing Cajun:

Just Some Good Ol' Boys

And there was a terrific band. Many thanks to TJ & the guys for coming by and here's me sitting in with them. As The Wife astutely yells out, I did flub half a line. But I think that's okay as - as I TOLD HER - it was to be a medley and I really wanted the NEXT song recorded on video. So I guess we're even as she choked on the camera work.

However, I am pretty sure that we'll be performing again and some day we can get the now infamous "Dukes of Hazzard" / "Fall Guy" theme song medley on video... Real New England country.

There Was Even Cake!

A nice photo-cake Momma made from our photo calendar.

Day 3: The Actual Party

It was fantastic. THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING and a special thanks to Mom for hosting what was a thermonuclear explosion. The weather held, the band was great, and the food was UNREAL. Had a lot of people travel in from pretty far away, and I was thrilled:

There was boating:

and jet-skiing:

and water sports:

The Lesson Learned

From riding in any of the inflatable devices is... "Don't mess with The Admiral." He always wins...

Night 2: Raisin' Hell In Brattleboro

So we decided to go in to Brattleboro to see TJ's band the "Truckdrivin' Neighbors Downstairs" play my favorite southern Vermont dive, the Mole's Eye Cafe. The ladies showed up midway through so we ended up closing the place and dancing up a storm. There were several highlights but I enjoyed the lead singer asking over the mic during a Johnny Cash song, "Hey Lee, what happens next?" Happily, I provided a hint toward the forgotten lyrics. I then joined them onstage for the last song, where we rehearsed our medley to great acclaim.

We returned to the house where some peeled off to bed, while some stayed up playing throw pong. It has to be said, after well over a decade of my dominance, Sugarpants RULED the table. Well done Chris. The band ended up coming over and staying on the porch with us until 4:00am.

Day 2: The Storm Before The Storm

We woke up a little sluggish on Friday morning and started prepping the house for the weekend. The Admiral came and we started getting the boat ready. We put the boat in the water and I drove the truck & trailer back to the house, forgetting I was dressed like a total jackass in a black Captain's hat and Baton Rouge PD shirt. I slowed down to pull in to our driveway and let a bicyclist by who looked at me and nervously asked, "Uh... Are you slowing down to talk to me about something?" "Nope. Carry on."

In the event of rain, Mom wanted us to put a tarp up which is where Gano's talents really stood out (to this point). As Chris & Matt helped him he assembled a truly remarkable example of Cajuneering that kept everyone dry, replete with gutters. I had Lynyrd Skynyrd playing in the background and he remarked, "Southern music for a southern project."

That completed, we sat under the tarp and enjoyed tapping the brand new keg with Sugartex on his faithful horse, "Saw" (having hitched a life preserver saddle).

Birthday Recap - Day 1: The Odyssey

We have pretty well documented the first day previously on the blog. Gano & I had a meeting Wednesday night that ended late with us meeting some friends. Which also ended late. Missed our morning train and stranded poor Matt at Penn Station before getting another. Had a couple drinks on the train, startled some fellow passengers and got to Hartford where we took a taxi to Mom's house to pick up the Mustang. This Gano drove to Bradley airport to leave for Chris to pick up when he arrived from Texas. Then we repaired to the Cloud Nine lounge for lunch and more beers.

Mom got us and drove us up to NH, with a quick run through the Yankee Candle Company.

Got to Spofford, went out to dinner at The Pub, went to watch a little Patriots preseason football at Elm City Brewery and then home, where Chris / Sugarpants had arrived from Texas. Naturally more frivolity ensued, including a broken table, before we all limped off to bed.

2008 LTG Lake Birthday Recap

Will be forthcoming... Have been thrown back in to the meat grinder workwise and haven't had a spare moment. Will do a full recap of what was truly an incredible weekend shortly. Stay tuned...

Grant got the same haircut as me

Per The Big Guy: thisisthesamehairasyou

Special Birthday Dinner

The Wife made a delicious steak dinner...

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yay!

Dinner with good folks

Gano, Matt, Mom. Awesome. At The Pub in Keene, NH.

Cloud Nine Lounge

wow... Had to drop off the Mustang for Chris at Bradley Airport in Hartford, then repaired to the Cloud Nine Lounge for a few drinks.

Gano in motion

Well... The train is anyway... Gano is in death throes.

Fixin's Bar

Fixin' to miss our train...

Pierogis for Dinner!

Was supposed to meet up with JD but the day got away from me workwise & had to postpone so I was at home. The Wife made a surprise dinner!

Kluge Discusses "Dog Day Afternoon"

Late Night at Chez Matt

Great work post-Kluge

Dog Day Afternoon

Went to a really good theater production of "Dog Day Afternoon" where Kluge led a Q & A session afterwards as he wrote the original article that became the movie. A great evening, and we had dinner with Kluge & Pamela before and many drinks after, where we talked our normal trash to each other about Flash-o-matic.

Hold that Yiger!

Hold that Yiger!
Originally uploaded by Guzilla.

An Incredible Day

I had one hell of a day yesterday...

A lot of work - Reuben came over to G2G Galactic HQ (our apartment) & we banged out an agreement where he is going to help us raise money. Then had a few conference calls.

Then dinner at the Oyster Bar Saloon with Cumby. (Yet another lobster...)

Then met Milo Z for drinks & he played some new music for me. He told me, "Lee, you are the only one I trust to show my new stuff too." I then immediately copied it to my ipod... (With his permission.)

A great day all around. Productive, and fun as hell...