Jesse

Great lunch meeting with a good man. Also saw Meat Loaf!

Odd Statue

A woman with a towel turban floating in a warm bath (she has sweat beads) on an inner tube. Odd.

Pro Photo from Dom's Dinner

We told "Doc" our happy news and, elated, he immediately launched in to stories of Jesus and the power one little baby has. Genius.

Guinness Oyster Fest

Our walkabout yields such bounty

And a street fair!

Gyro for Mom 2B

The Man

Dom Failla - my Philosophy / Religion professor from Loomis. The man who introduced me to (personal hero) Joseph Campbell. Had a tremendous evening in honor of his retirement. Thank you, good sir...

Former Headmaster John Ratte

Wow... Great to see him again & he delivered a wonderful speech.

Stevie!

My high school AP English teacher delivers the opening toast for a lovely evening honoring Dom Failla. Stevie remembered me fondly telling The Wyfe, "Guzo was one of my most brilliant students. Easily in the top 2-3,000." Nice.

President just rolled by

Walking home & the President just rolled on by!

GATORGRAM!

All progressing nicely!

Awesome

Elderly Japanese fan - "SENSEI"

Pats / Jets

These seats are AMAZING! 32 yard line. 11 rows from the field. (!!!)

Early Morning Diner Breakfast

Up super early for baby prep & registry. Want to be there as SOON as they open! A delicious breakfast, including "breakfast pie." A nice fresh piece of apple pie.

Super Mom-To-Be

Take 2.

One for Swayze

Thank you Patrick. From Dalton to Bodhi to keeping small-town America safe from the Reds, you were truly an American Male. Thanks for the entertainment.

Met him a couple times, with the airport and La Goulue standing out. Was one of those celebrities that didn't disappoint. Willing to shake hands & briefly chat and was just as nice as one would hope. And brave until the end.

Keep "the big roadhouse in the sky" safe... And, as always, "be nice."

Pool Frat Guys

DePalmix, DePalmix, DePalmix!

Frat Guy Pong

Ahh aging frat guys... Jasinski & I narrowly lost to JD & DePalma at Greg's DePoolma Party this weekend in Fairfield, CT. Great to see a good bunch of guys.

F School

Bets!

How was my day?

awesome. Pool party. and children with beer.

Best Pizzeria Name

"oh you're a naughty dolphin..."

Bar Car

En route to DePoolma

Kid Intro & Cowboy

Kid Showing Off

Kid Rock: " Every Day People"

From the files....

The Brothers are gearing up... I quote my brother... "No net, bitches!!!"

The Merry Widow

just met the lingerie designer who designed "The Merry Widow." (My favorite piece of lingerie....)

Roz.

She also does flower design

(Are you KIDDING ME! She RULES!) Heard a ton of stories about Brooklyn in the 20's & 30's. Someone should make a movie about this woman...

'Stay Out of Poland'

Not that you can read it here but... before the concert last night I met Josh & Lisa at the Russian Samovar for some pre-concert cocktails. The service was inattentive at best, surly at worst. As Josh & Lisa bought the concert tickets I insisted on buying the drinks. Josh then insisted on leaving the tip in cash.

Fine. Which prompted me to editorialize for our Russian hosts in the TIP: line of my receipt...

"Tip? I've got a tip for you. 'STAY OUT OF POLAND.'"

'Whorehouse Blues'

An encore featuring a very raw & stripped-down blues number.

Motörhead

There's "loud." And then there's Motörhead...

Yeesh... I attend a lot of live music, so I keep a set of earplugs on my keychain. I am pretty good about it, but for normal events I do sometimes forget to put them in. They were required at this show. And, even still, the "Ace of Spades" encore & whatever song followed sounded like I wasn't wearing them at all. Well done.

Reverend Horton Heat

Opened for Motörhead

Motörhead

With Josh & Lisa. Thanks again for the tickets - a lovely gift! Not your standard "early baby shower" gift... You guys rule!

We Broke Everything

Late night karaoke with Semester-at-Sea's Director of Alumni Giving. Broke almost everything in the room...

Eminence Front

Ahh... Karaoke.

Pandora's Box

As noted, my brother rules. He gave me a t-shirt this weekend that he had been working on for a while, with an artist friend's and his conceptualization of Pandora' Box. With all of the evils coming out on the back (below), and Hope as pictured here. Awesome. Even more awesome is what Chris wrote on his blog:

"In 2007, I worked with my friend Rob Logan to start an art project. It was conceptualized to demonstrate my belief that even as so many hard things were acting on me and my loved ones, I truly believed that love and hope could get everyone through them.

The theme, therefore, was Pandora’s Box."

My Brother Rules

As even the most casual reader of this blog knows, my brother rules.

This is an automatic first ballot addition to The T-Shirt Hall of Fame, but I feel karmically compelled to wear it until it falls in tattered rags off of my body. It is an amazing (& comfy!) shirt...

A genius & moving gift. Thank you Chris. From the bottom of my heart.

Skynyrd Style

Pickup, Budweiser cooler, Skynyrd. God bless America.

As my Mom said, "All you need is the gun rack, a rifle, and a dog and you could pass for a real redneck!" Thanks, Mom! Getting closer!

VIB

A Very Important Baby indeed... Li'l Gator's first Kid Rock show!

The Very Rare Double VIP

Yep... Please tell my unborn son / daughter that I was twice the VIP for a Kid Rock show...

Brooklyn Bowl

I am a convinced skeptic.

Toots & the Maytals

Live @ Brooklyn Bowl.

'Redneck Rock n Roll Son of Detroit'

So. Much. Awesome.

Pre-Kid Rock Warm-Up

On Terminal 5's roof deck. Thank you Jesse!

Wisdom

A while back, while driving in the car with The Wyfe, I spurted out this gem of (faux) wisdom:

"If the universe is infinite & expanding, then why should not our consciousness be?"

Something to think about. We are, after all, the stuff of stars... (At the time we both thought it profound...)

Fleur-de-Lee

"Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?" In a very New Orleans state of mind today, for a variety of reasons.

Read a terrific article by Chris Rose in the Times-Picayune HERE which discusses the meaning of the fleur-de-lis and has some great quotes including:

it was 1879 when the newspaper columnist Lafcadio Hearn took note of New Orleans' chronic states of decay, insolvency, lawlessness and prurience, yet still proclaimed: "It is better to live here in sackcloth and ashes than to own the whole state of Ohio."

and a reader posted a comment quoting The Master:

"In America, there is New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland."

- Mark Twain

Also, coincidentally, received a mass email about a music event that ended with this quote:

[from an] editorial from the July 20, 1918 New Orleans Times-Picayune:

"Why is jass music, and therefore, the jass band? As well ask why is the dime novel or the grease-dripping doughnut. All are manifestations of a low streak in man's tastes that has not yet come out in civilization's wash. Indeed, one might go further, and say that jass music is the indecent story syncopated and counter-pointed... On certain natures, sound loud and meaningless has an exciting, almost an intoxicating effect, like crude colors and strong perfumes, the sight of flesh or the sadistic pleasure in blood. To such as these the jass music is a delight, and a dance to the unstable bray of the sackbut gives a sensual delight more intense and quite different from the langour of a Viennese waltz or the refined sentiment and respectful emotion of an eighteenth-century minuet... Its musical value is nil, and its possibilities of harm are great."

Hallelujah!