Three More Weeks of Summer!

School's back in, some of the mornings lately have felt distinctly autumn-like, and yes, Halloween stuff has been in the stores for weeks now (argh)... but summer ain't over yet. Labor Day notwithstanding, fall and the equinox don't arrive until the night of the 22nd, astronomically speaking. And I love speaking astronomically. I don't know about you, but I need to get in at least one more trip down the shore.

I went to my first general admission, better-bring-earplugs show in too long last month to see the rock band Plush. The all-female trio rocked the hell out of Teaneck's Debonair Music Hall, as did their supporting acts Hunter Road and Major Moment. I partook of the VIP meet-and-greet with Plush before the show and got autographs and a photo with the band. I don't think I'll be returning to my old live-music schedule, but it was great to feel the energy of a performance like that again, and I'm sure I'll be doing it again before too long.

Ashley, Faith, Moriah, and me

Gina and I got away for a weekend down in Cape May and Wildwood this August, squeezing in visits to our beloved Harry's of Cape May and Willow Creek Winery, another incredible dinner at Tisha's Fine Dining, and a hearty lunch at Mermaids Restaurant. We walked the Washington Street Mall and the Wildwood boardwalk, did some antiquing, and got in some beach time, too.

In other news, I attended a state career fair last month, the first time I've gone to any kind of job fair. It was a little overwhelming, but a good experience, and I reached out to several departments within the state in hopes of employment. We shall see...

Sadly, we lost Hayden Panettiere, Frank Beard, Dolly Parton, and Tim Curry (among other notable and non-notable people) in August. Believe it or not, I'd never seen "Heroes" (beyond catching a few minutes while idly channel-surfing a long time ago) before deciding to check it out on Netflix this July. I finished the series finale the week before Hayden's passing, which made it that much more immediate and gut-wrenching. I never saw ZZ Top live, but love their music, and beardless Frank's drumming is as essential to their sound as Billy Gibbons' guitar. My dad listened to a lot of country music when I was growing up, which probably contributed to my early distaste of it, but I learned to appreciate a lot of it later in life (particularly the 'old-school' country of Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Waylon Jennings, etc.). While I probably couldn't have named more than half a dozen Dolly songs, while streaming some of her music last weekend, I was surprised to realize just how many tunes I recognized and remembered. She was a terrific human being in addition to an amazing songwriter and musician, so you don't have to be a fan of the music to feel the loss of the person. And of course Tim Curry was a fun and zany actor, first seen by many of us (myself included) as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", who went on to so many great roles in so many great (and some not so great) films. He, truly, did the rock.

I've got an anniversary and a birthday this month. Brazil will be celebrating 204 years of independence from Portugal on the 7th (Sete de Setembro). Apple's "Surprise and shine" event is on 9-9, and nein, I don't think I can skip upgrading my iPhone this year. My 12 Pro is going to be six years old next month, as will my Series 6 Apple Watch, and while they're both still working fine (though the phone does have two screen cracks, and the watch's battery doesn't always last me the whole day on one charge), I believe I'm finally ready to replace them. Happy birthday (month) to me... ♩

June

It's June 6th. Many years ago today ("It's been 84 years, and I can still smell the fresh paint..."), I was one of many young men in my Paterson, NJ high school protesting the dress code (no shorts for guys, despite the heat) by wearing a skirt in school. (We got the policy changed!) Even more years before that, over 150,000 Allied soldiers invaded Normandy to liberate France (and much of western Europe) from Nazi Germany. Civil rights activist James Meredith was shot on this day in 1966 during the Walk Against Fear; five years later, "The Ed Sullivan Show" broadcast its last episode (a rerun, and yes, it took place in the Ed Sullivan Theater where Stephen Colbert was hosting "The Late Show" until recently). In 1982, the second (!) Israeli invasion of Lebanon began on 6 June. And thirteen years ago today, my then-fiancée and I met with our intended officiant to discuss our impending nuptials (a month and a half later, we were no longer engaged, but I don't think it had anything to do with the reverend...).

The 37th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre just passed, too. I guess I'm trying to say that June is a hell of a month. It's Pride month, despite an awful lot of people (or is that a lot of awful people?) still not understanding that LGBTQIA+ people are still just people, deserving of the same unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness the rest of us feel entitled to. There's Flag Day on the 14th. Juneteenth happens this month. So does the solstice (the start of summer or winter, depending on whether you're north or south of the equator). Ashura falls on the 26th this year.

Preparem-se, o hexa está chegando! (Hopefully.) Yes, the World Cup starts this month. ⚽ I'm dreading what it's going to do to traffic (I live less than three miles from MetLife New York New Jersey Stadium as the corvid flies), and I'm not generally a fan of noisy, rambunctious (and inebriated) crowds, but I just might venture out to one of the local-ish events in June. We'll see. I'd have loved to have attended a match in person, and I wouldn't have even needed hotel accommodations, but the ticket prices are just astronomical, so... no.

I've been playing guitar regularly for the past several weeks, which is an awesome and much-needed feeling. (Bass, too, after finally restringing that thing.) A new song or two should result in June. Hopefully I can get back to the beach (or "down the shore") at least once or twice this month, too. Maybe to the Coney Island Mermaid Parade again...

OK, one thing that's not happening this month, though: Andersen Silva is not participating in UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn. Stop asking! I won't do it. Thppt!

Swingin' in the Park

A month and a half ago, I dusted off my righteous rage, put on the activist armband again, and joined the Nightwatchman and the Occupy Guitarmy in a march and some music in midtown Manhattan on May Day. The rest of the month involved quite a bit of marching, too, including a trip to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, two weddings, Mother's Day visits to both my mom and Laura's, and a rare Not An Exit jam/recording session with Jon Wardell.

Jon and Andy: this is Not An Exit!

At the beginning of this month, I stood by and watched Laura march instead.  Well, actually, I watched her run, in a 5K race, her first, and I was incredibly proud of her.  She's planning on doing the 2013 New York City Marathon, and I'll be there to watch her, too!  Last week, however, I slowed things down a bit, and the two of us headed to a Victorian bed and breakfast, the Hewitt Wellington, down the shore (yes, we say "down the shore" in Jersey) in Spring Lake for an overnight stay. There was a brief period of rain, much of which we escaped by ducking into a wine shop, but the weather was otherwise wonderful, as were both the lake and the beach, and we even got to commune with the squirrels (and ducks) and swing in the park, though it wasn't after dark. We had an amazing if puzzling dinner Thursday night at Café Artiste; we were never given menus or asked for our orders, and by the time we'd figured out that the chicken special mentioned outside was the only meal available, we'd already been served bread, lentil soup, and salad. After sausage and peppers and a side dish of peas, we finally got to the chicken dish, which certainly lived up to the hype by Cosimo, as did the incredible peach pie we barely managed to tuck away, too.  Dessert was plainly not optional, and I for one didn't mind.

I brought my acoustic/electric along, too, and Laura snapped some nice shots as I played a little on the beach early Friday morning. (Speaking of pictures, I know I haven't updated the Gallery... of Death! at all this year.  Since Apple is doing away with iWeb, I'm thinking of migrating my photos to Picasa and redoing the Gallery from there instead of iPhoto/iWeb; I just need to get around to doing it.)  She found a sand dollar among the tide's remains, which was a nice surprise, and we got quite a lot of walking done.  I know we did, because I finally have a Jawbone Up that seems to be lasting!  I got this one (I think it was the sixth replacement since Christmas, though honestly I've lost track) on May 2nd, and it's still going strong.  The longest that any of the others went before dying on me was three weeks, and that was the original one Laura bought me.  At least Jawbone's customer support has been very good about it, and each replacement was sent to me at no charge, not even shipping.  If this one goes the distance, I will be very happy indeed.

On the Beach at Spring Lake

A week from today, I'm lugging the Danelectro to Jackson Square at Greenwich and Eighth Avenues in Manhattan to play some tunes outdoors at 2 PM for this year's Make Music New York.  It's free, as are the hundreds of other performances taking place around New York all day, so you should come get an earful if you can!  I'm planning to add my newest song, "So Much Happy," to the set, and there's a new T-shirt design available ay my CafePress shop if you're interested; for the new free buttons and/or guitar picks, you'll have to come to the show.  ;-)  The shirts feature my two main axes on the front and Slime's Doug the Slug, plus his hedgehog and penguin buddies, on the back (thanks, Laura!).  You know you want one...

Some days, trying to find time for everything (including updating my personal social media accounts and 'blog - and now I'm adding RebelMouse, too?!? - in addition to the "music" and Slime social media accounts; writing the dialog, and scanning and prepping the artwork, for Slime; making the occasional YouTube video; playing guitar; and of course waiting hand and foot on the Chinchilla Princess, Meguilla) after spending a workday on Microwize Technology's user forum, 'blog, and to a lesser extent its social media and clients' data issues can feel overwhelming.  I need to record a medley of the Police's "Too Much Information" and Living Colour's "Information Overload" as my theme song... but where would I find the time?  Heh.  Then again, the minuscule interaction my "music fans" (102 on Facebook, 90 on ReverbNation, and 294 (!) on Jango, allegedly) provide can feel underwhelming; I still haven't gotten any responses to my query as to which artist(s) I sound like or remind listeners of, and I'm not holding out hope for many people I know showing up at Jackson Square next week, though of course my honey will be there supporting me.  Still, in spite of dwindling time resources and limited active interest on the part of the general public, I'm not ready to give it all up and live a "normal" life.  I want to revamp my Web sites, I want to come up with more creative outlets for the Slime characters, and certainly I want to write new music ("They Might Be Roses" is brewing in my head, and maybe I'll finally pen a song about the experience of playing live, for real people) as well as record some already-written songs that haven't been laid down yet ("I'll Live," "When Giant Giants Attack!" and "Occasionally Tormented Soul," I'm looking at you in particular).  I want to spend more time trying to interest people in that music, for while I'm neither trying nor expecting to become the "next big thing" in music, I do intend to keep at it, and input and criticism can only help.  I want to keep writing in general, and boy, did this 'blog post turn out to be longer than I'd planned.  I want to stop using so many parentheses and semicolons; no, wait, I don't (I really don't)...  Slouching back on the couch and watching the game and the latest reality show is too easy and not satisfying at all, and besides, there are way too many people doing that already.  Also, I can't really teach Laura to play tennis that way.

After all...  Better that your life be a blur than a blurb.  Happy Flag Day!  Got somethin' to say about any or all of this verbosity?  Leave a comment, then!