Laterz...

...heading to the land of evergreens and apples - whence arose the poobah and the Right Reverend Dave - for a much needed Jaycation. Please keep the place respectable while I'm away.

That Good Old Summer Slowdown

How I Spent My Summer Vacation Pt. 1

0 to 120 in less than ten seconds. Awesome.

New Orleans bound!

I'll be heading to the Big Easy tomorrow afternoon. I may end up staying and starting a new career as a Lucky Dog salesman. Wish me luck.

Pacific Northwest Vacation Time!

Caroline and I are leaving this afternoon for our swing through Washington, Vancouver B.C., and North Idaho. See ya!

Summer Plans Roundup

Where's everyone off to this summer? We'll be making our usual stops in Spokane and New York, with a jaunt to Vancouver, BC in between. After that, I'll just be sitting around waiting for Jay to come to North Carolina to record with me.

If You Need Me...

I'll be here scaring all the fish, drinking myself into oblivion by noon, and turning 40.

I'm Back!

Back home after a loooong stretch away. We were in WA, ID, and MT for a week visiting family and hanging out, and then up to NY to see Caroline's family. While there we took in a Yankee's game (an 18-7 drubbing of the Rangers with the 'Stache hitting a grand slam), checked out Arthur Ave. in the Bronx, spent a day at the Museum of Natural History and met up with a fellow Durhamite randomly at some restaurant in the East Village. The Hartleys threw a fantastic 4th of July pool party with four grilled tenderloins and a keg of Yeungling. Then Caroline and I tooled around New England, with stops in Providence, RI, Kittery, ME, Portsmouth, NH, Montpelier and Burlington, VT and Albany and Lake George, NY. Vermont must be one of the most beautiful places in the country. Photos will be showing up soon on Facebook. I hope you Bastards are having a good summer.

By the time I get to Phoenix

Here, from our friends at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends, is a pretty cool video of Noel Gallagher of Oasis performing his mega-hit Wonderwall, but covering the arrangment of the song that Ryan Adams featured on his album Love is Hell.



Here's Ryan's version. Not much to look at, but you'll be able to hear what Noel was going for.



And here's Oasis live, playing the more familiar version.



By the way, Noel has said that he doesn't want to perform the song anymore unless its the Ryan Adams version. Evidently he said that's the way the song needed to be. There's an mp3 of the Noel version at the Fuel blog.
I'm off to Phoenix for a few days of R and R with the folks. I'm putting Joe in charge of supervising Jay who in turn will mentor Lurker who will oversee Andrew.

An Immodest Proposal

Gentlemen, I think we should try to think of a way we could pull off the first annual Bastard Bash.

Some possible scenarios:

1) Dave and Joe drive to Washington D.C. together. Jay and Mike fly/drive/hitchhike. We get a cheap hotel in Silver Springs or something and count on Andy to put together an itinerary of fellowship, fun, and gin.

2) We congregate in Memphis, home of two esteemed members. Those of us traveling kick Lurker out of his own home and take over. Ribs are eaten, the P & H is visited and Huey's burgers are ingested. Perhaps a AAA ballgame is seen and Beale Street is scoffed at, but visited nonetheless.

3) Everyone travels to the Ryan Adams birthplace of Jacksonville, NC. Joe also happens to live there. We get a crappy beach hotel and admire beautiful sunsets while writing haiku on cocktail napkins.

So, all of those ideas are excellent you say? Then when shall we do this? I'm open to any and all suggestions. I'm free from May 20 to about June 15. Discuss.

New Orleans Bound

If I don't check in for the next few days its because we'll be in New Orleans for a wedding this weekend and a couple of days of play afterwards. Not that you bastards would have noticed anyway. I'm extra excited because its been a year (the longest stretch since Katrina) since I've been there. Looking forward to some crawfish, public drunkeness and sharing the streets with basketball players (look it up Jay).
Lurker, you're in charge while I'm gone.

Well, Jacksonville's a city with a hopeless streetlight

Sorry I've been an absentee bastardo lately, but here's the latest...

I applied for a job with a company called LSI (lisjax.com) for an Instructional Design position in Jacksonville, Florida. They got back to me rather promptly, set up a conference call which happened today, and got back, rather promptly again, and orfered me a job. It's a cool ass job doing CBT for the Marine's V22 Osprey - not sure what it all entails, but it would be a lot more interesting than working for an insurance company (the only other nibble I've gotten). Granted, it's not higher ed, but the well seems to have run dry on those types of jobs (JU has evidently lost my number). Anyway, everything about the job is great, except they filled the Florida position and offered me this one in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Which you of course know as the home of Camp LeJune and the birthplace of Ryan Adams.

Everything about the job is good - salary, bennies, relocation, all that. Only problem is it's up the coast a bit farther than I wanted. They're expecting an up or down vote by Monday. I foresee a bit of 'meditating' (read drinking) over the weekend. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

PS - By the time you read this, I'll be sucking on 39.

Lower East Side Tenement Museum

Checking in from NYC - we had the good pleasure of staying at a very inexpensive and very funky hotel in Midtown, The Gershwin. One of the many highlights of the past couple of days was visiting the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. A lovingly maintained building on Orchard Street and Delancy allows you to see the squalor and tight spaces of immigrant life in the mid ninteenth to mid twentieth centuries. You have to book your tour in advance as the groups are small, but it is well worth it if you are going to be in the city. Add the sidewalk shopping and the many bars and restaurants of the area and it makes for a great day in the city.

Alaskan Adventures

OK, I'm not as cool as Steve McQueen (who got a DUI in Alaska and subsequently took the mug shot you see here), but I did get pretty wasted in our 49th state.

After 24 hours of travel across four time zones, we finally arrived in Homer at midnight (felt like 4 am to us) and proceeded to go to a bar called Charakters. After several pints of a local brew and listening to Jewel's brother's band (!), Mike and I decided it would be a good idea to play guitar and drink whiskey and champagne for another hour or so. Did I mention it never gets dark? My body was in complete disarray. The next day, I puked here, here, and here. Good times. I will say that Homer is very beautiful- everywhere in town you are surrounded by gorgeous mountains and fresh, cold water.

Recover was slow but I rallied on the third day in time to start prepping for the wedding. Frog's boss donated 30 lbs. each of scallops, shrimp, halibut, salmon, and crab legs. Caroline and I helped our friend from New Orleans, Chef Rob, turn all of it into the best wedding food of all time. It involved lots of shopping, running around, and driving cars with no brakes down precipitous, winding hills. Everyone in Alaska seems to own three or four cars, none of which run very well, and all of which have the keys left in them at all times for anyone to use.

The wedding itself was a huge success. It rained quite a lot that afternoon, but after some logistical shuffling, Frog came down the aisle to Mike and I playing and singing the V.U.'s "I'm Sticking With You". Sadly, the ceremony was not filmed, although there are plenty of pics (which I'll post when we get 'em back). The ceremony was brief and I am now a 'Wedding Commissioner' in the state of Alaska. Bride and groom danced to AC/DC and a swell time was had by all.

We flew from Homer to Anchorage in an 8 seat plane that cruised at about 2500 feet. Talk abour unvarnished beauty. All around there were no signs of human life at all: no roads, power lines, boats, nada. Just glaciers, lakes, mountains, and greenery. Absolutely stunning. As for Alaska itself, I can completely understand its appeal for certain people or for anyone wanting to get away from something or wanting to start fresh. Still, the 50 degree highs in mid-June convinced me it was not a place for me to be long term. Also, Alaskanas, while friendly, definitely are part of an exclusive 'club' and seem to carry that designation like a badge of honor. Pride of place and all that, but eccentricity can turn into boorishness at a pretty quick clip.

North to Alaska

On Wednesday, our Summer Tour of Weddings begins with our sojourn to Homer, Alaska (located along the Kenai Peninsula, above, and also hometown of Jay's favorite poetess, Jewell). There I will be the officiant at the wedding of Mike Werts, longtime collaborator and would-be Bastard. Following, we will go to Spokane to be met by Caroline's parents and sister for a Meeting of the Tribes. We'll return to Durham on July 2. I will probably only be able to post sporadically during this time (do they even have the "Internet" in Alaska?). In the very likely event that I am mauled by a bear, overrun by a slowly creeping glacier, trampled by a moose, or kidnapped onto a Russian whaling/vodka boat, it has been a pleasure serving with you.