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I Kan't Spell



Friday, September 28, 2007

 
Weeks End

So in case you forgot and judging by the attendance you have - -

The book fair in Mt Vernon is this weekend.
We'll be in PA visiting my Mom and grandparents on my Mom's bday. There is a also a festival in town... so I'll be brining back knicknacks... lol - -

Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

 
Champagne Lasagna

They both sat on the couches and giggled and did those things that girls do that drive me up the wall. They look through their US Weekly to show me who the people on some doctor show are. They try to bring me up to speed on the relationship of Pam and Jim and while I hope that I never really care about Pam or Jim or Dr. So-and-So I hope that I always care about them.

The Champagne was 6$ a bottle and the lasagna, as always, had turkey sausage in it. It was nice having company. It was nice having people in your house lounging on your furniture that weren't smoking, drinking straight out of a whiskey bottle, playing a guitar, rolling dollars, playing cards, trying to buy porn, or fighting off the daylight in underwear but no bra. It was precious and nice.

When you are eating homemade lasagna and drinking cheap champagne you start to look around and realize that everyone has problems. Everyone that you have ever known in some way or another has problems; serious problems. They have scars that run really deep and can never be healed. They have tears behind eyes that look for other eyes to find comfort. They all have pain. They all want a clan, a nest, or a partner to come home to. They want to feel warm, loved, and protected. Even when I was a kid I never really had that feeling. I never had the feeling of unconditional love. I was loved but the pain in the family was too much to really let us focus on just being there for each other. Despite the fact that most people throw the term unconditional love around like it's something to believe, I find it to be very hard to practice and attain.

The sighs last a little longer and the couches may have some bigger dents. The sitcoms and the dramas are the same as they were in the 80's or 90's and the scars grow more sore and uglier as you get older but thankfully there are people to see them, rub them, and love them simply because they love your scars as well.



Wednesday, September 26, 2007

 
Big Day O' Bruce

It's been poor man's Dylan day today... and I thought I'd pass on some Bruce for ya...

I just want to fight him for some reason... and then get up and have a beer... and roll up a cig pack in our sleeves - -




Tuesday, September 25, 2007

 
Fall Ball

"Ya know..." I was talking to Erin the other night on the couch as we watched the beginning of Field of Dreams.
"No what...loon?"
"Ya know this movie was supposed to be called "Feel of the Grass" but they thought that had too many undertones."
and then I said the line where Shoeless Jackson says, "Did you ever hold a ball or a glove up to your nose and just smelled it. God I loved this game. I would have played it for nothing."
"You are absurd." as always follows...

It reminded me of something. The phrase "Feel of the Grass" reminded me of the fall and of baseball and of smells. Even in the city the world has that fall smell. It's crisper, and a little cold, and it almost smells like something was cleaned last night and today it is ready for you to use.

The fall is just about everyone's favorite season. Some people love the slowdown and the early falling nights. Some people love their jackets and jeans to be back on their bodies. Some people love that their kids go back to school and decent nighttime television starts all over again. I love it because it reminds me of fall baseball.

When I walk out of my house in the morning at about 8:15 and walk my 5 blocks to work down Charles, and passed the Belvedere Hotel I sometimes get this wafting flavor in my nose this time of year. They say that the sense of smell is the one closest attributed to memories and I would agree that completely. For me these smells bring back memories of about 3 years of my life. They were maybe the best smell years aside from Mirel's perfume that I often pick up or from the smell of my Grandfather's yard which I rarely pick up. The smells that envelope me are always the smells of two things.

The first is my high school hallway. Lacquered and waxed, windexed and dusted it was the smell of freshness mixed with years of men and volumes of stories and interactions. It was the smell of when life really started to be defined for me. Working in this old building I get the scent every now and then and it makes me stop and smile at the ceiling as if to say, “Thank you for that little memory."

The second smell is the dew on the trees and even the smell of the crisp air. It gets in your nose, lungs, and eventually your balls and back. It makes you think that you should have brought a coat, or maybe "God I wonder how cold it's going to be at 5 when I come back home?" But that smell doesn't remind me of school or women or even back yards on a Sunday morning after a house party when you are surveying the damage. It reminds of baseball, fall baseball to be precise.

You see in Maryland and most northern states, you have to be in the top 1% of everyone you play with in order to get any kind of scholarship or preferential consideration to play at the college level. We have maybe 3 school months per year when you can really play baseball and even those months are filled with rain, wind, and sometimes snow. This means that college and pro-scouts have a hard time coming to see you because they have their own teams to coach etc... So around here...what we had to do was play Fall Baseball.

It is a completely different feeling to play baseball in the early fall. It's cold at 7 am when you show up to the field. Players are tired from a long summer and the people on your team are like mercenaries. Sometimes they are there and sometimes not. Sometimes they play on other teams just to get more time in front of these scouts that can only really come out and watch kids from the North East during these times. These times when your hands sting from getting sawed off on an inside fastball and when your hamstrings and quads tend to pull a little easier and the jokes and seeds and tobacco on the benches don't get hoarded and passed around as treats as much as they get passed around as necessities to keep your mind from wondering.

But there is one great thing about fall baseball in Maryland. It is elite to play. You play with boys and young men who have given up their fall weekends instead of their Summer Tuesday night. They travel to Old Dominion, George Mason, Taney Town, Westminster, Maryland's Eastern Shore to sleep in hotels ... not with their parents like in the summer when you would travel like a family... but with other young men whom sometimes you didn't know their names. And you don't stay up late and play drinking games or cards. You don't go bowling on a lazy off day during the heat of August because you are in the bye-round of a round robin. You show up at 6 pm on a Friday night and play a double header until midnight and then play 3 games on Saturday and 2 on Sunday before going home to finish your homework for school. You give up on your soccer or football careers because you just can't do both. You play 60 games in 8 long weekends and you do it in the crisp mornings and cold nights of fall.

But, like all great teams, units, platoons you take pride in the awkward pain and sacrifices because you are there with each other. In this case you are there with future Major Leaguers and great college ball players. Your coaches aren't people you call Mr. Jerry like when you are 12...they are ex-ball professional players of whom you may have their baseball card. And the pride in you swells. That pride gets in your nose on fall mornings.

I loved fall ball. I loved the smell of a 40-degree Saturday morning field. The water on the grass would make you chill when you slid. The dirt on the base paths would cut your thighs when you dove. The bat in your hands was like a lead weight instead of like a wooden toothpick. And the smell that came from the batters box and the outfield and the hotel rooms is what I remember most when I breathe in the fall mornings. It gives me tingles in my hands like someone is going to ask me to play catch on my way to work. It sends a smile to my face every time I walk out the door. It makes me just want to feel and smell the grass one more time.



Monday, September 24, 2007

 
For My Girls

We'll get to sing it again soon - thanks for a great time on Sunday...



We are - btw - on a completely no more nudity policy.



Friday, September 21, 2007

 
Red Rubber Ball

"I'm sorry sir I don't think we have any red balls."
"You mean to tell me you don't have any like baseball sized red rubber balls? That's crazy."
"I mean... I haven't seen one."

The clerk and me were tangling. I wasn't old but I was old enough to remember red rubber balls in toy stores.

The street that I was walking down when I was thinking of this encounter with that clerk was cracked. The sidewalk's concrete was poking up out of the street from the roots of the trees. The just dying, but oddly and seemingly blooming, fall trees seemed to laugh at the concrete. They were toiled in it, and in retribution for their prison of concrete without other chlorophyll critters they told the streets of Baltimore that they can go break themselves.

The clerk kept looking at me as I shook my head. I was so confused at the lack of the red rubber balls that I just couldn't move.

I pictured my life without red rubber balls. It was oddly extremely empty. I can remember about 30 of them in my life as if they were cats or dogs; probably more like fish really.

"Twenty."
"What?"
"I want twenty red rubber balls ordered from some catalog that exists under some desk that reads at the top of it "This catalog has fun normal shit to play with."

It all seemed quite ironic when I got to the office and started typing this on a non-normal shit to play with apparatus. When did anything that I do cease to be normal? Then it dawned on me. The 80's were fucking weird and possibly may have been the anti-Christ of all decades. It was the death rattle of the red rubber ball.

The street again was talking to me. Reading the book that she had given me with an inscription that I had ripped out so as to appease some mad person, I pressed on over the treacherous tree root torn terrain. I moved in dashing little darts of unbelievable reading and walking agility that I think I even heard someone in their car say "Look at this motherfucker." I laughed internally. I laughed very loud and closed the book at the best line I had read in weeks:
    The bottom line is that (a) people are never perfect, but love can be, (b) that is the one and only way that the mediocre and vile can be transformed, and (c) doing that makes it that. We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.


"Irises" I thought to myself. I really would love to see an iris and think "That is an iris and I know it." I wish I could turn to her round loving face and just utter the words "I love irises and this one is for you." When did botany become part of licking life. They seem to go together so well. The tasting and the smelling of love, life, and plants seems so perfect. The sun plays a role though. Let's not forget him (but more likely a her).

In the office still typing this I tried to remember another detail about the sidewalk or the toy store or possibly even the look on Tom Robbin's face when he realized that he had just written an entire love story about Ralph Nader. I mean Ralph Nader is great and all but let's not kid ourselves, who wants to see Raph Nader with their panties around his neck? I'd assume no one...not even Mrs. Nader.

The time on my wrist said 8:37. It was 8 minutes since I left home and 30 minutes since she left. I texted her on my absurd apparatus, "I love you." It felt strange coming out but it felt amazing leaving my fingers and maybe even watching it somehow vapor glide through the air like it was my amazing way of saying that Tom was right and sometimes shadows lie the hardest.

"So this is the book of ordering shit?"
"Yeah."
"Look man I don't mean to give you a hard time and all but this has all of the sudden become very very important to me. Can you understand that?"
"No."
"Look I'm not on meds or anything, I just... you know... think I would sleep better at night if I knew that children today could still walk into a toy store and buy a red rubber ball."

 
2 Points of Note Before the Weekend

1. The greatest season is here in Fall and I can't wait to get out there and where jackets and better clothing etc... it's the most beautiful season.

2. Happy birthday Mom (tom.) and we can't wait to see you next weekend. Hopefully the leaves will be changing a little for the festival and maybe I can buy you some lawn ornaments... lol - -

Have a great weekend everyone!



Thursday, September 20, 2007

 
You know...

you work for a cool company when they put on concerts for ya... lol - - this place is nutsly awesome. . .


http://collect.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music.showDetails&Band_Show_ID=20198612&friendid=193835556

 
Best of Baltimore Party Tonight

Who is going to join us in the awesome??? LOL - This party is like a Community College 10 year reunion...but fun none-the-less. Bring on the piss!



Wednesday, September 19, 2007

 
Lord Don't Slow Me Down - Release Date

I was at 3 of the shows on this tour - and by-god - I hear that they have footage from those shows. So there will be purchasing...



Gimme!

 
Best of Baltimore: Agreement Edition
Best Kid-Friendly Restaurant - Joung Kak - the Korean place that everyone loves but nobody knows, gets a dap every year form the City Paper. I don't know about "best kid place to eat" considering there is an open pit of blazing charcoal burning at your fingertips - - but - I know you can smoke in there...so that seems kid friendly.

Best Pit Beef - Chaps - Chaps brings home the Pit Beef crown. That's only because my childhood pit beef stand - Porkies - has been relegated to a standing shack in front of a country-western discoteque.

Best Fries - Waterfront Hotel - The Waterfront gets best fries. Don't know if Doug is gonna wanna hang that one over the bar or not...


Best Bartender - Adam Thomas - Adam won Best Bartender... and honestly... rightfully deserved. He let's me DJ...

Best Gay Bar That's Not a Gay Bar - The Brewer's Art - I 100% concur with this. There are like 5 bears in there at all times. And... to be honest... I don't want to mess with a 300 pound gay man and get knocked the fuck out.

Best Live Band - Ponytail - My neighbor's band gets it's props. Go you crazy-ass Ponytail. If you want to see an insane person scream into a mic - and at the sorta end you just go... holy shit that was awesome.

Best Local Album - Spiderman of the Rings, by Dan Deacon - Hands down winner. It may be the Best Baltimore album ever made.

Best Label - Creative Capitalism - Again hands down - most of the other record labels like fledgling Beechfield and Reptile just seem to recycle the same old shit. Creative Capitalism is run by actual people that aren't on the 5th retread of a Whiskeytown cover, yet another Dactyl album, or Melissa Etheridge mixed with Joan Jett.


Best Rock Club - Floristree Space - Amen - and it's next to the Charles Theatre...sorta. You can hear it coming out the front door (green) on most given evenings.

Best Drag King - Justin Credible - I know this says "Best Drag Queen" but honestly - Justin Credible - also gets Best Name.


Best Art Gallery - Current Gallery - Way to go Hans on Best gallery

Best Reason We're Excited About 2008 - The smoking ban - I'll have to boo this one to the hilt. The smoking ban may be the worst thing that ever happens to me... for that month... and then I won't care.

Best Billboard - Mr. Boh proposing to the Utz Girl - Yet another hands down no-brainer. Best. Billboard. Ever.

Best Gifts for Baltimore-philes - A. Aubrey Bodine prints - This is the real gem that I found. I almost don't want to put it on here because I don't want other hording in on my stash... I was an only child... don't hate.

 
7th Best Day of the Year in Baltimore

No... that's not firewood littering your street corner. And Yes.... maybe they do it at this time of the year because it gets cold out aat night and the homeless people may need blankets - but odds are if you walked out of your house this morning you would have noticed that City Paper's Best of Baltimore is out.

It's quite the issue in Baltimore. Many people use it as a definitive guide to Best dog trainers, best place to buy fake vomit, best wig store, and yes...best burger. I personally think the City Paper uses it to get free shit but that's just me. I'll be back later in the day - - as cruise the issue to bring you some highlights. I already found one gem this morning about 50's and 60's prints of the old Baltimore. I can't wait to decorate my walls...

Stay tuned...



Tuesday, September 18, 2007

 
Kid Tazered by Kerry SS

THIS Is
A
W
E
S
O
M
E
!!!

I love this little kid - - - at the start he comes off kind fo smart alicky - and then at the end he goes into like pot head little squeeling bitch... its HILARIOUS.

If you haven't see the kid who got FUCKING TAZERED its AWESOME! Good for him - lay down the bong and pick up a job and then you can change the world. But I love you just the same...



"HELP! HELP! HELP! DUDE DON'T FUCKING TAZER ME???!?!?!? WHAT DID I DO?? DON'T TAZE ME BRO!!! Owwww owwww" (Little bitch action commences at 3:30"



Monday, September 17, 2007

 
Baltimore on the Map Mofo's

Baltimore is to the music scene what rats are to the restaurant world; annoying, dirty, stupid, boring, ugly, and relatively unimportant and ignorable. But - I gotta tell ya - - It's getting insane - - there are so many crazy good bands behind Wham City now that other bands like WZT hearts are starting to get noticed. And the good is coming back - - go see it before it leaves and all you are left with is another open mic at Fletchers with someone called Dutch and the Saddies... lol - - New Music is hear people - get on it!

Dan Deacon.... is doing this and it's only gonna get bigger. Maybe now he can move out of the apartment complex next door to mine...

September 14th - Boston, MA @ Avalon (SOLD OUT)*
September 15th - New York, NY @ Webster Hall (SOLD OUT)*
September 16th - Brooklyn, NY @ The Yard Todd P Festival
September 17th - Philadelphia, PA @ Starlite Ballroom (SOLD OUT)*
September 18th - Baltimore, MD @ 2640 St. Paul Street (7pm SHOW!!!)*
September 19th - Washington, DC @ Black Cat (SOLD OUT)*
September 20th - Charlottesville, VA @ Satellite Ballroom (SOLD OUT)*
September 21st - Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel*
September 22nd - Atlanta, GA @ MJQ Concourse (SOLD OUT)*
September 23rd - Hattiesburg, MS @ Thirsty Hippo
September 24th - Houston, TX @ Walters on Washington
September 25th - Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
September 27th - San Diego, CA @ Epicentre*
September 28th - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex (SOLD OUT)*
September 29th - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore (SOLD OUT)*
September 30th - Oakland, CA @ Lobot Gallery
October 1st - Brekeley, CA @ Lower Sproul Plaza*
October 4th - Oberlin, OH @ Dionysus Disco
October 5th - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue*
October 6th - Iowa City, IA @ The Picador*
October 11th - St. Louis, MO @ The Billiken Club
October 12th - Grinnell, IA @ Grinnell University Gardner Lounge
Ocotober 17th - New York, NY @ CMJ: Bowery Ballroom
October 19th - Bennington, VT @ Bennington University
October 20th - Alfred, NY @ Alfred University

 
Update

This Friday WZT Hearts is playing at the Talking Head. Be there! They just made Spin with a spread from Dan Deacon as well... he's getting annoyingly important... and they even threw in Santa Dads. So... if you want to see the guy with the two colored beard that works at Sound Garden finally put his face to mic - then hear ya go.

The wedding was an amazing time and even though it started at noon it seemed to go by way too quickly. The motown music, my date, my friends, and John and Suzanne's families were hospitable and genuine. We are getting a little older so - the stories weren't as crisp and even though I got out of the car whilst driving and danced on York rd. while singing Black Betty - I was still relatively under control. We all had a great time.

"What the fuck do you want from me? I'm stealing this hanger for my suit. I'm fucked up. It's 11 am and I'm wearing sunglasses in an elevator. I keeps it real!"

"What? Being 10% gay isn't all that off..."

"I like Jesus. I like cookies. I'm totally taking communion."

"There are a lot of black people in this elevator. Can I get a hug from someone?"

"Umm I'm giving this DJ one more minute...and then I'm pulling substitute Geraghty family rank on this mofo for the motown."

"Can you adopt me?" ---> Erin to the Bear

"You get 5 people that you totally trust. I have 3 here right now... the other 2 I've killed because you can always trust dead people....to be at least dead."



Friday, September 14, 2007

 
Your Happy of the Day

Belle and Sebastian: The Boy with the Arab Strap



I just feel like dancing today - I haven't been able to sit in my seat all day. Bring on the greatness!!!

    we all know you're soft becauce we've all seen you dancing
    we all know you're hard because we've all seen you drinking
    from noon until noon again...anything IS better than posh isolation


Strap it on!!! hahahahahahahahaha

 
Salt of the Earth


Tomorrow evening will have many a sing-a-longs - - this will be my request!!

I can't wait for the wedding that unites all the clans!!!
Cheers in the highest to John and Suzanne - two of my favorite people on this earth. Thank God for both of you!!!



Thursday, September 13, 2007

 
Cuz...well...I'm alive
There is a new life in the air these last few weeks and breathing is feeling amazing. Maybe it's because I haven't had a drink in a while. Maybe it's the company of the healing hands of caring. Who knows - - what I do know is that this song seemed to vibe with me today - - it's bad... but it's Jackson!




    I want to go where I will never hear your name
    I want to lose my sorrow and be free again
    And I know Ive been insane
    When I think of places I could have been

    And I was following though
    With my beautiful plans

    Yeah now I'm rolling down this canyon drive
    With your laughter in my head
    I'm gonna have to block it out somehow to survive
    'cause those dreams are dead
    And I'm alive
    ...

    Yeah thinking 'bout the time I've wasted
    And the pleasure we once tasted
    Looking up and down this road
    I've been here before
    Can't be here no more
    ...


I almost jogged to work I was so happy to start my day...



Wednesday, September 12, 2007

 
Someone sent me the cover of ESPN - it was neato



 
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

The greatest oriole website on earth wrote this up this morning.

www.orioleshangout.com - if you go to the message board section I'm bretholmes4 and usually in the soccer or music section.

    The Orioles lost the series opener to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 10-5, to clinch their 10th consecutive losing season. Victor Santos proved to be a dud in his O’s debut, coughing up five runs that were matched in kind by the bullpen. Every member of the Angels’ starting lineup reached base at least once, including a pair of homeruns by Bird-killer Vladimir Guerrero. On the offensive end, Kevin Millar (pic) went 3-for-4 with a homer on his T-shirt day, but the O’s wasted several scoring chances on their way to loss #82.


This marks 10 straight losing seasons for the Orioles. I don't even really think I know what to say about it. I remember the pride and love that the Orioles used to bring to this town.

It was mostly the pride that we cherished.

To be part of Baltimore you have to take the bad with the bad. You have to take the crime with the poverty. You have to take the lack of restaurants with the lack of art and music. You have to take the lack of jobs with the lack of fresh air. But when I was a kid we could always take pride in the Orioles. As a small city nestled in between the crux of the eastern seaboard giants we need things like the Orioles.

We have always been a city that prides itself on it's small things and values them way more than they are really worth... The Inner Harbor is nice - -but come on. Fells Point and Federal Hill are lovely but let's not kid ourselves on revival mode here. You have to really BE from here to want to live there. We love crabs - - enough said. Anyway - it's sad to see something that we took so much pride in take such a turn towards disgrace.

As always next year I'll come back with the same banner of "It's our year." And I will be at the games again and then at the end of the season I'll be cuddled and cradled by the bosom and arms of fellow fans - - but the bottom line... at some point it has to stop.



Tuesday, September 11, 2007

 
Cub Pride

I'm on the sidelines next to the dugout of a skin baseball field. I'm 37 and I've all but given up on my hair for weekend hats and short buzz cuts. I have a smile on my face as the sun beats down on my legs. My son is taking his first swing of a baseball bat in an actual game.

I refused to let him play t-ball as we would learn the game in our backyard. Hours of wrestling and giggling with me chasing him with a ball have lead to this moment.

His helmet is too big and his mother, with such joy doesn't know who to take a picture of; my son swinging the bat in the on-deck circle or my pensive crouch next to the dugout fence.

He looks over and smiles at me.

He doesn't know anything about who I am other than the last 6 years. And really only about 2 of that. Any indiscretion about my life is non-existent. All he knows is that he feels safe with me and that I love him.

He waves his little hand and his helmet gets jostled around his face blocking his eyes. The bat is too big for him I think to myself. I motion for him to take a practice swing. He does and his feet fly in a circle and he's clueless on how to really swing a bat yet. He's having fun. I motion for him to come over to me.

He runs over to me and hugs me just before he is about to be called up to the plate. Oddly enough I kneel down and grab him by the shoulders and look him sternly in the eyes and simply say "Do your best up there. Remember we worked on keeping both hands on the bat and don't be afraid of the ball." He is a little shocked to hear that, but as he is my son, he sternly buttons his chin up and nods his head. I nod my head in a man to son moment. A moment of pride and respect that can only happen between a father and his son.

He turns around in a small child way and twirls his body 3 times in a row while whipping the bat like a sword. I roll my eyes. He really is my son I think to myself.

"Hey! No! We don't treat the bat like it's a toy. You have a job to...I suggest you go do it." The other parents look at me as if I'm a tyrant. They look at me as if I have no compassion for a 6 year old just trying to have fun. I pity them because being good at something is fun, and excelling at something is what makes things like baseball fun. It's only suckers who sit around and tell you that. "As long as you have fun...it doesn't matter." I mumble under my breath, "If you are good at something. Then it's fun. You are training your children in apathy. Your kids will be disappointing you before you know it."

I don't really believe in the entire let a kid be a kid philosophy. There are times when he is with his friends playing at the pool or in the yard that he can carefreely move himself. There are times when he is snuggled between his mother and I as I read to him that he is allowed to be a fantasy child. He is allowed to roam in those moments.

Unfortunately, some things do not organically open themselves to everyone. Sometimes you need to want to do something that you didn't want to do before.

He digs his little size 7 child-size cleats into the dirt and wipes his hands on his pants. His mother is poised behind the backstop with her camera and she cheers his name. I don't reprimand her...it's her son. He'll have to learn to deal with his mother embarrassing him at every sporting event until he's about 18. Chanted calls of "RUN! RUN! RUN!" and loud almost obnoxious praise and pride when the boy does something well enough to receive a spotlight will surround him throughout his years. That's his mother. It's what she wants to do and it's what she is supposed to do.

I'm not nervous but I'm pensive. I'm pensive to see how he will react to another boy throwing a ball at him. I have been throwing him batting practice for weeks and whiffle balls since he was 4 but this was another child. I see his little foot dig in the way I told him. He grips the bat and looks out with determination. I had never been prouder of anything in my entire life. For the first time I had really done something right. I felt like I had a new best friend forever. I left so overcome with love that I almost engraved the meaning of life into my arm right there on that field.

On the way home in the car I let him sit up front so he can tell me all about the game. His eyes dart at mine with electric light and he can barely sit still in the seat. He still has his glove in his lap. I turn on the radio nice and low and I can hear Rocket Man by Elton John playing in the background. My son knows the words because well, he's my son and that's how his brain works. He takes his glove and makes rocket movements with it. I take off his hat and rub his blonde hair. He leans his head out the window and watches all the trees go by as we drive.

"...and I think it's gonna be a long long time. ...and I think it's gonna be a long long time." E.J.



Monday, September 10, 2007

 
The Talking Head...

Is back and open - - does anyone know what happened?

Thanks - bye - yay! lol - -

http://www.talkingheadclub.com/

Uhhhh - welcome the FUCK BACK! Thank christ! Check out the lineup for the first month - - -I'm curious as hell as how this got back on track.

 
Here you go...

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms - -

Bring it on sucka mc



This is a great song!

 
I love that you love Linda Ronstadt...

But... you should know that this song was by Little Feat originally...and you sorta almost don't maybe look like her... I wouldn't pride myself on it... lol

So... I'll let you have this moment for Linda but know that this wasn't her song.



"You give me weed, whites and wine...and I'll be willin' to be movin.."

This is a live Little Feat version - I gotta go with Lloyd's voice over hers... sorry



DALLAS ALICE!!!! HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA - - - fuckin unstoppable most days!

 
Randoms

#1 - Got a great suit this weekend for the wedding of the year!!! Howard at Joseph A Bank is the man - swing by and see him on Pratt St. He'll make you laugh. The wedding itself is already in decompression mode - - Towson may never be the same again after this crew gets done with it!

#2 - Jer Therapy - -

bretbliam (10:18:13 AM): what are you doing for the game?
Jer (10:18:22 AM): today is paige's 1 year birthday
Jer (10:18:25 AM): can you believe that
Jer (10:18:25 AM): ?
bretbliam (10:18:27 AM): wow
Jer (10:18:29 AM): we are going to dinner
bretbliam (10:18:33 AM): happy BDAY PAIGE!
Jer (10:18:35 AM): yeah
Jer (10:18:36 AM): man
Jer (10:18:40 AM): she is so effing cute
Jer (10:18:45 AM): really just amazing
Jer (10:18:52 AM): I got to spend the whole week with her
Jer (10:18:54 AM): and its weird
Jer (10:19:02 AM): she's been alive for a year
Jer (10:19:13 AM): and this was the first "real" time I have spent with her
Jer (10:19:19 AM): it's like we got to know each other
Jer (10:19:21 AM): weird
bretbliam (10:19:37 AM): Yeah Im happy for you. Im sort of starting to feel like in the next year I'd like to start to have a family.
bretbliam (10:19:40 AM): i dont know
Jer (10:19:51 AM): wow
Jer (10:19:56 AM): it's good man
bretbliam (10:19:58 AM): it ebbs and flows but - if I can calm down and get into a rythym -
bretbliam (10:20:03 AM): and keep making money
Jer (10:20:04 AM): but I am a grass is greener guy
bretbliam (10:20:07 AM): i think it could work
Jer (10:20:13 AM): I don't know that I could ever be really happy
Jer (10:20:18 AM): even with all the great things
Jer (10:20:24 AM): I always seem to want more
Jer (10:20:18 AM): even with all the great things
Jer (10:20:24 AM): I always seem to want more
Jer (10:20:29 AM): I don't know if that is natural
Jer (10:20:32 AM): but maybe it is
Jer (10:20:34 AM): I don't know
Jer (10:20:39 AM): you know what?
Jer (10:20:43 AM): in all seriousness
Jer (10:20:51 AM): I feel like our talks are therapuetic for me
Jer (10:21:06 AM): I always seem to work shit out in my head after chatting with you.
Jer (10:21:10 AM): you may not see it
Jer (10:21:14 AM): but I think you are a good man
Jer (10:21:17 AM): and a good friend
Jer (10:21:19 AM): so thanks
Jer (10:21:34 AM): *tear*
bretbliam (10:23:03 AM): lol
bretbliam (10:23:08 AM): im not really any of those things yet
bretbliam (10:23:10 AM): but you are
bretbliam (10:23:16 AM): im glad i can listen

#3 - Johnny and I should be at an undisclosed location (call) if anyone wants to come out and watch the game.



Thursday, September 06, 2007

 
Midnight Radio



"Nobody can do the hand dance!!"

Oh I can!

 
YES!!! Revisit it!! Hedwig - Origin of Love



Tuesday, September 04, 2007

 
Early Weekend Shots
I love both of these games and have for a long time. Chicago might not win 6 games this year and I thought they may have been one of the most overrated teams to play in a Superbowl in a long time. San Diego, at home, pissed off, -6 easy - This line has moved from 4 to 6 so... you may want to go -140 for 4 points. But I'm taking the 6 as I think they win by 20. I may triple up on this on the money line or the actual line depending on the rest of my week.

The Pats/Jets over under is just too juicy. No Harrison or Seymour and there is no way their other CB will be in game ready shape. NE is improved in every position and I don't think they have as much faith in Morency as most people think they do. I see Brady throwin 35 times and the Jets having to counter the entire game. Keep an eye on this as the weather looks like light rain... if it changes heavy I may have to buy back.

Straight Wager 09/04/07 11:17 ET
bet 500.00 to win 454.50 Result: Pending

Patriots(NewEngland)
Jets(NewYork) 09/09/07(13:05 ET)
Over 41



Straight Wager 09/04/07 10:54 ET
bet 600.00 to win 545.50 Result: Pending

Bears(Chicago)
Chargers(SanDiego) 09/09/07(16:20 ET)
Chargers(SanDiego) -6

 
Weekend Lines - -

Well it's that time of year again. Fall? no... Football season?...sorta... GAMBLING SEASON!!! I had a great weekend - I'll have my picks for the rest of the week and nightly up here now - - in case anyone is interested. Cheers! I would also like to declare that I am lord of ALL FAIR GAMES - The stuffed animals should have been given to children though -- *wink "COME ON WITH THIS 1 7 on the inside!!!"

I also saw Scott (dirty), Mauch, and old Pallette Billy. Good times...

MATCH
TEAM BET
TYPE
LINE
AMOUNT
RESULT

ORIOLES / DEVIL RAYS
ORIOLES
MONEY
115
150
-150

IOWA ST. / KENT
IOWA ST
POINTS
-3
450
-450

MISSISSIPPI ST / LSU
MISSISSIPPI ST
POINTS
18
200
-200

AUBURN / KSTATE
KSTATE
POINTS
13.5
400
360

GA TECH / ND
GA TECH
POINTS
2
600
540

LA GALAXY/PACHUCA
N/A
OVER
2.5
200
-200

MIAMI/MARSHALL
MIAMI
POINTS
-17
300
270

VIRGINIA TECH/EAST CAROLINA
VIRGINIA TECH
POINTS
-28
100
-100

(8) MONEY LINE PARLAY
N/A
PARLAY
N/A
100
-100

(2) MIXED PARLAY
N/A
PARLAY
N/A
200
370

(3) MONEY LINE PARLAY
N/A
PARLAY
N/A
500
650

WISCONSIN / WASHINGTON STATE
WISCONSIN
POINTS
-14.5
170
150

CALIFORNIA/TENNESSEE
CALIFORNIA
POINTS
-7
320
280

CALIFORNIA/TENNESSEE
N/A
OVER
54.5
250
220

AUBURN / KSTATE
N/A
UNDER
45.5
190
170

CALIFORNIA/TENNESSEE
CALIFORNIA
MONEY
-300
1270
420

MANCHESTER CITY/BLACKBURN
MANCHESTER CITY
MONEY
3
80
-80

CHELSEA / ASTON VILLA
CHELSEA
MONEY
1.66
400
-400

BOSTON / BALTIMORE
BOSTON
MONEY
-163
450
270

ST LOUIS/ CINCINNATI
ST LOUIS
MONEY
-119
650
540

SHARP AQUOS 500
DALE EARNHARDT
UNDER
9.5
250
210

(2) MONEY LINE PARLAY
N/A
PARLAY
N/A
250
-250

ANAHEIM/TEXAS
ANAHEIM
MONEY
160
250
-250

TEXAS TECH/ SMU
TEXAS TECH
OVER
59.5
330
-330

FLORIDA ST/CLEMSON
FLORIDA ST
MONEY
-140
800
-800

+1280$ for the weekend - - -




Favorites List
Pandora Song List
Amazon Wish List
Reading
Revolutionary Wealth - Tofflers
Brian Jones

Things Making Me Smile
The City
Newness
Listening - [out of 5]
Benjy Ferree - 4.8
The Thermals 3.1
David Gray 3.8

Quote(S)
Like the guy with the beard? YES - like the guy with the beers. What? Yep

Bands That I Check Schedules For
Badly Drawn Boy
Belle and Sebastian
Benjy Ferree
The Black Keys
Deerhoof
Drive By Truckers
The Eels
Enon
Kimya Dawson
Mark Hopkins Band
Oasis
Iron and Wine
Mates of State
Ted Leo
Travis
Two if By Sea
Ween

Places I Rock in the Flesh
9:30 Club
Black Cat
Electric Factory
Fletcher's
8x10
The Knitting Factory
The Otto Bar
Recher Theatre
Sonar

Places I Eat/Drink in the Flesh
Aldo's
Bishop's Collar
Boccacio's
Cross Street Market
Hull Street
Joun Gak
Mick O'Shea's
No Way Jose
Porter's
The Irish Pub
Turner's
The Waterfront Hotel

My Greatest Hits (that's so lame)

The time I almost killed a child
July 4th in Korea
Excerpts from Demian
Why I screen phone calls
Bret's Death Metal Report
A conversation at a cocktail party
A conversation at breakfast
So you think you are a Baltimorian
A conversation about a girl singer
Observations from a bar
Observations of strippers
Tech Language
Why I love Oasis
I would go to war
"You Son of a Bitch" An Open Letter to Tom Friend
Dance to Your Ocean
Dream Ranch
When men become pussies
Jason Whitlock is a racist propaganda promoter
Pitchfork takes music snobbery to new level
The Cosmic Clash of the Red Sox and Cubs
The Hatred that is Runts Candy
Starting corporate line-up
Google Bio
Do you know me? List 1 / List 2 / List 3
The Night I Burned Philly Down
So You Want to be a Booze Hound
She Said it was Free
Funniest Corporate Story Ever
Striped Shirts and the Fucks that Wear Them
Death Peddle
NEW!!!
Pieces of Morning
Oasis Album Revew
The Art of Tipping
Starting Fires With Grass Stains
Bret's Federal Hill Food Review
Sexcapades and your Picture on the Internet
Stupid Secrets
Stupid Secrets the Return


Contact Me

Stuff I Swing By From Time to Time

- MUSIC
Donewaiting.com
hive3.com
Indie Video Archive
Large Hearted Boy
Important Records
Oasis News
Pitch Fork Media
Reptilian Records
Scenestars MP3 Blogs
Sound Garden Baltimore

- BUY
Aloud.com
Pre-Shrunk
Shotgun Apparel
Warrior Clothing

- HUMOR
Angry Little Girls
Atom Films
Eye Envision
Homestar Runner
Kill Frog
Junior Varsity Meat Market

- PERSONAL
Baltimore City Paper
The Baltimore Sun
Calvert Hall
Degroen's Brewers
ESL Cafe
Fantasy Sports
Korean Herald
Villa Julie College Baseball
W3 Schools



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