Friday, March 26, 2010

March Already?

Where does the time go? Last blog entry was on January 4??? Wow.... Well like I said in a previous post, I suck at this stuff, so take ot for what it is... No offense, but I do this for me, not you... So what's been going on since January 4th... Lets see... My sisters opened a Deli/Grill/Convenience store on Wanaque, New Jersey that is... So if you are in the area, stop in the Nu Moon Cafe for some breakfast or lunch... the French Fries are awesome!!!

I'm still doing the online Radio show on www.tonytradio.com every Wednesday night at 8pm EST... so check that out... I try to focus on independent, local, unsigned bands... the coolest part of what we do is getting the bands to perform live in studio! most bands that come, always give us positive feedback about it... its really cool because we stream the video and audio out on the page so anyone can watch from anywhere in the world! Cool innovative things tony is doing... it has potential to grow... think we just need someone big to come along and see it!

Bonnaroo is only 75 days away... I have to say, I am a little disappointed with the choice of headliners for this yea's festival... don't get me wrong, Stevie Wonder, Dave Matthews Band and Kings Of Leon are all great but come on... Stevie Wonder is legend ... I could understand him playing in the timeslot just before the headliner... and KOL, great band ... but not great enough to headline Bonnaroo... I don't see it... Dave Matthews badn... Ok... he''s huge... I get this... But where in the rock God? No Dead? No Neil Young? I expected some Paul McCartney or Paul Simon or U2 or The Who.... So Headliners I'm not too excited about, but ... WEEZER!!! WEEN !!!! John Fogerty!!! Jeff Beck!!!! The Flaming Lips!!!! Umphrey's McGee!!!! And so many others!! I am more excited for the "NON-HEADLINERS" this year... will be a good time regardless...

What else??? Cant think of anything else at the moment...

If i do I'll just add another post.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Old Year .... New Year.... Yea... And?

So here we are at the beginning of a new year.... Out with the old, in with the new... But Why? Is it really that big of a deal? Its not a new year, its just the next day, that's all, Right?

I don't know. I think that New Year's Eve is just an excuse for people to get shit faced... I call it Amateur night... I try to stay off the roads if possible, and if I do drive, I make sure to stay local and have (or be) a designated driver... DWI just isn't worth it to me... too much to lose if I get a DWI!

So why do people feel compelled to make Resolutions just because the year on the calendar increments up one? I get the whole "trying to make yourself a better person" and all, but why do you have to wait until January first to start? Example: Guy in the Cubicle next me said his Resolution was to quit smoking for the new year, his quit date is January 15... He told me this in late November!!! Having quit smoking 15 months ago, I understand the difficulty in quitting the habit, but this guy has already had 2 heart attacks like 5 years ago and he is still smoking now... we'll see what happens come the 15th...

So after reading My Bonnaroo friend Jen's Blog, I realized that I do the same thing as her! I don't really make resolutions but rather reflect on the past year and realize what I have learned and what I can get out of that... What did I learn this year... Sorry to disappoint, most of what I learned can't be aired out in a blog just because of the Nature of the topic... What are you thinking!?!? No, I didn't learn some new sexual position!...

The stuff that I can talk about:

(A) I learned that in the near future, I will no longer be able to live in New Jersey. I blame Obama, but don't ask me to elaborate cuz I don't want to get into it... we'll leave it at this: one of Obama's plans to help the people really Fucked me over and now, even though I would be considered Middle Class because of how much money I make, I am Broke as Hell!!! And tied into all this, I learned that I am more of a Republican than a democrat even though I Really has political views on both sides.

(B) I learned that Music is what I really want to do as a Job... I've said this before, but I've been doing an Online radio show {(ChrisMek Radio at www.tonytradio.com wednesday night from 8 to 11) <-- nothing like shameless promoting!!!} and Have been having so much fun doing it... I've met some really cool people in the business and some real assholes. Now I don't really want to be a Rock Star, even though that would be cool, I'm thinking more like a Concert promoter, or something along those lines... Looking to the future, I plan on making some contacts and really try to break into the industry, somehow... problem is I get lazy, nervous, and then I don't know how to do it.. Gotta press on.

(C) Another thing I learned, Is that my wife is totally on board with me and all my decisions (well, mostly)... I used to always remind her of my plans because I always thought she wasn't paying attention or she would forget... then she would get pissed at me... I realized this one day when I mentioned Bonnaroo in passing... then, months later she was the one that brought up going again in 2010... She totally knows that I want to go every year until I die! ... Bonnaroo is the place where I had a moment of clarity that changed my life the first year I went... sounds fucked up, but I can't really explain it... It happened again in 2009... I look forward to Bonnaroo 2010 and my wife knows it.. maybe that's not such a great example, but there are so many other ideas I have presented to her that most people might be like "You're fuckin' Crazy!" and she is like "Go for it!"

Anyway, There are tons more things but Maybe I'll vent about them in the future! But For now, Happy New year...

I just proof-read and while reading realized why I seem so grumpy about New Year... The 2 year anniversary of My Mom's death is January 27th... So I associate the month of January with "Bad Memories" ... there's something I can work on for 2010.

Peace! and Once again, Happy New Year

Thursday, October 15, 2009

PBA Cards

So i was reading someone Else's blog (Phil) about getting pulled over by a cop for speeding. He of course had "his ace in the deck", AKA a PBA card.

I've always heard of people using a PBA to help them get out of a ticket, and such...

But My question is this:

How do you present it to the cop that has pulled you over?

Do you just hand it to him/her with you License and Registration?

Do you "nonchalantly" let him see it and hope that he in fact does see it and ask you for it?

Just how does one go about using a PBA card?

I have had one in my wallet for the past 5 years, and have never known how to use it when the time comes... In fact, mine is a PCA card (Police Chief's Association) so that should be a bigger ace in the deck, right?

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

I Suck At This. Period!!!

So, holy shit, I suck at doing a blog... When was the last time i posted anything? I don't even know...

I'm gonna give it another go... probably on a weekly basis... I don't want to make any promises but I will try this again...

I have had a few things to say say so I'll start in the next day or so...

Friday, February 20, 2009

Lazy sack of shit!

Boy, am I a lazy sack of shit or what?!?

Noticed my last post was on February 3. That's like 2 and half weeks...

So here's the lowdown...

Nothing! Nothing has been going on...

Ever since I got sick the day of the Gig at the club house, I have not been good on the diet... I haven't gained any weight, but I notice that I feel bloated and full all the time... I still am not drinking any soda, but I've switched back to sugar in my coffee, and I ran out of lean cuisines so I am eating bigger lunches and dinners because of it... I need to grab some...

The only other thing is that Mathew is really not liking his new school situation... I don't know what the hell to do... he is really unhappy and says the teacher is mean. The next time he comes off the bus crying I'm going to explode... I don't know what I'll do but I need to do something... I think I need to do some more research on what we are entitled to. Thing is, he feels like he is being punished for something he did and he gets upset. but the truth is he is doing better academically in the new class.. but the teacher has that mean teacher look about her... and I think she has a lot less tolerance... and she has to be because all the other kids in the class are more "behaviorally challenged"... Mat isn't, he just has trouble in social situations, so a smaller class is better for him but not necessarily a class full of little fuckers that really just need a kick in the ass from their parents...

More research... that's what I need to do... and find out what we are legally entitled to... He HAS a diagnosis, it's not like he does the things he does because he's trying to be bad .....


frustrating...


anyway... I guess there is more on my mind than I thought.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Holy Shit!

Something Fucked up my whole post and I'm not about to re-type it... sorry but I'm either too busy or too lazy to fix it!

All I can say is "Holy Shit!" From Friday to today has been a blink in time! Friday night was the Pinewood Derby for Mat.. He was totally not into it, Just like the past years so I built the car and entered it as his... It didn't do that well... also as expected... after that, we went home and I went to bed fairly early for a Friday night. I was asleep by 11:30... I woke up when Tanya had to get up for work at 7:30.. she asked me to make coffee, like I normally do for her, but I just didn't feel right.... Uh oh! I run to the bathroom and make it there in the nick of time... I almost shit myself! and while I was sitting there, i felt puke building up..... this was not good!!!! I had a gig that night! So now what? I spent the next 8 hours running back and forth between the bathroom and my bed. I thought "How the hell am I going to play for 4 hours in this condition?" I got Tanya to pick me up some Nauzene, Pepto, and more Imodium. I started loading up on all 3 of them until about 4:00 then got in the shower ... at about 5:30 I was there set up, tuned up and ready to play... feeling like shit but I made it... all the drugs I took kept the puke down and the squirts in... all I had there was some rice and 4 bottles of vitamin water... Here are the set lists:


Set 1
1. Oasis – Wonderwall
2. Deep Blue Something – Breakfast at Tiffany’s
3. WC – Baby Hold Me Tight
4. CCR – Bad Moon Rising
5. SMB – The Joker
6. The Romantics – What I Like About You
7. Jack Johnson – If I Had Eyes
8. The Drifters – Save the Last Dance
9. Coldplay – Beautiful World
10. Grateful Dead – Touch of Grey
11. Neil Young – Down By the River
12. Semisonic – Closing Time

Set 2
13. Pornosonic – Laying Pipe
14. Radiohead – Creep
15. Mamas and the Papas – California Dreaming
16. Stone Temple Pilots – Plush
17. Maroon 5 – I Won’t Go Home Without You
18. CCR – Down on the Corner
19. Young Rascals – Good Loving
20. WC – Let Your Love Shine
21. The Foundations – Build Me Up
22. Oasis – Champagne Supernova
23. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under the Bridge
24. Neil Young – Rocking in the Free World

Set 3
25. Pink Floyd – Is There Anybody Out There?
26. Bob Dylan – All Along the Watchtower
27. Bob Seger – Turn the Page
28. CCR – Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
29. Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl
30. WC – Run Along
31. 4 Non Blondes – What’s Up
32. Bob Dylan - Tangled up in Blue
33. Tom Petty – Mary Jane’s Last Dance
34. Lynrd Skynrd – Simple Man



WC is Willy, and the songs are his originals. We ended up cutting Plush out because we never really got it together enough that I felt comfortable about playing it... and it's a bit too heavy for the crowd that we played for... all in all the gig went went... the other 3 guys got paid, and i had fun despite the sickness!!! anyway, I got home at about midnight and went straight to bed... never even unloaded the car besides my guitars....

So I slept until about 10:00 Sunday morning... I was feeling much better but was still a little light headed.... I went and got the kids from the In-Laws and did some food shopping and then just laid around... then at about 8:00 I made a couple burgers for the kids and Mat said he didn't want to eat cuz he had a stomach ache....

...... hour later........

Mat sprinting past me to hurl into the toilet!!!! I sent him to my room with a huge bowl... he puked once an hour for the 6 hours... poor kid... I slept on the couch so I could hear him... every time he puked, I got up with him and then emptied his bowl out and got him cleaned up... I got almost no sleep .... I took off on Monday for a few reasons.. one I was still a little sick, two I was up all night and three I had meetings with the kids' school....


Meeting #1:

Katie needs help... she is falling behind in areas that she cant.... language arts, spelling etc. She will now go to the resource room for extra help. This is good. She has an appointment at a neurologist next month to find out what is going on... the school is saying it's an ADD thing... I won;t accept anything they say because they told me Mathew had ADD and wanted us to put him on Ritalin and after his appointment at the neurologist he was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. Fuck them!... If the Neurologist tell us us it ADD then I will accept it....

Meeting #2:

Mathew has taken a step back.. he has now become defiant at school. He'll sit UNDER his desk and refuse to come out.... crazy stuff like that.... Weird thing is that he doesn't do this shit at home...... we figure its because he knows we won't put up with that shit. so he is now going to be place in a class with a really tough teacher that won't tolerate that crap.... In a way I feel like I'm throwing him into the lions den but after he pushes his luck just once, he will get it... and then Soar!

Today:


This morning, Bonnaroo.com announce the initial line up for the festival!!!! Headliners are Bruce Springsteen, Phish, Beastie Boys, Nine Inch Nails!!! Go to Bonnaroo.com and look at some of the other acts!!! I can't fuckin' wait!!!! So far they have 75 acts on the bill... last year there were 168 so they are going to add lots! Here is the initial line up:


Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Phish (2 shows)
Beastie Boys
Nine Inch Nails
David Byrne
Wilco
Al Green
Snoop Dogg
Elvis Costello Solo
Erykah Badu
Paul Oakenfold
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The Mars Volta
TV on the Radio
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Gov't Mule
Andrew Bird
Band of Horses
Merle Haggard
MGMT
moe.
The Decemberists
Girl Talk
Bon IverBéla Fleck & Toumani Diabate
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Galactic
The Del McCoury band of Montreal
Allen Toussaint
Coheed & Cambria
Booker T & the DBTs
David Grisman Quintet
Lucinda Williams
Animal Collective
Gomez
Neko Case
Down
Jenny Lewis
Santogold
Robert Earl Keen
Citizen Cope
Femi Kuti and the Positive Force
The Ting Tings
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Kaki King
Grizzly Bear
King Sunny Adé
Okkervil River
St. Vincent
Zac Brown Band
Raphael Saadiq
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Crystal Castles
Tift Merritt
Brett Dennen
Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue
Toubab Krewe
People Under The Stairs
Alejandro Escovedo
Vieux Farka Touré
Elvis Perkins in Dearland
Cherryholmes
Yeasayer
Todd Snider
Chairlift
Portugal. The Man.
The SteelDrivers
Midnite
The Knux
The Low Anthem
Delta Spirit
A.A. Bondy
The Lovell Sisters
Alberta Cross


I don't ever really say too much on the subject but I am friends with one the people in one of the headliners...I can't really say who except that I will be calling on this person to see if I can get hooked up!!! Maybe get backstage or even into to the VIP section... we'll see what happens he may not be able to do anything because it's such a huge festival.


Gonna be awesome!!!!!




Wednesday, January 28, 2009

A year already....

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of my Mother's death. She had stomach cancer for 2 years before it finally metastasized and spread to ... well every where.... Either way, yesterday my 2 sisters and i went to the cemetery and decorated her headstone for Valentine's day and just hung around and talked... it was good. It's kind of weird how close we've gotten since Mom passed... I like it. Not that we hated each other or anything, but we've just gotten closer.

Saturday night was Willy's gig at The Valley View Pub. This was his 3rd or 4th Gig there and was by far his best performance. That being said, there is always room for improvement. One of the things he needs to remember is that he is playing at a local bar filled with his family and friends. Because of that he gets a lot of applause and cheers. What will happen if he were to play for a bar of random people in NYC. Not saying he doesn't play well, just saying .... Anyway, I jumped in and played a couple songs with him. If I remember right, It was 3 songs. Was good for me, it will help with the butterflies for this Saturday.

Which brings me to this Saturday. The gig I have this Saturday, is 4 guys that haven't really played together, playing 3 hours worth of cover songs. So we need to practice together. we've had 2 weeks to get this done but it seems that one of us always has something else to do... Not me... only day I can't practice is Monday nights between 7:45 and 9:00. that's it...so I have been available the whole time. the gig is 3 days away and there are still songs that we have not played together. Seems crazy... but we are going to have to wing it at this point. I suggested that we get together on Saturday before the gig and run through all the songs that we think need practice but the drummer has band practice with another band. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for playing in several bands and stuff, but come on... this is a PAYING gig, and it is paying them well. These guys need to set some priorities. If I look like an ass because of these guys, I'm gonna be pissed. Either way, I'm pretty excited to play... I will have a good time regardless....