the blue sky

In the car with my father last weekend discussing various aspects of life, he through out another Spanish saying. Posting it here in my effort to one day collect many of them.

El que quiere celeste, que le cueste!

or translated, you want the blue sky? ... you got to pay for it! ;-)

I like this one! :-)

merry christmas

from the band!
 

shaken

started listening to jackie greene again today. his album is really phenomenal and i highly recommend it.

'california ... is the place to be, but I should warn ya 'bout the things I've seen'



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqY-gbj3MNc

bluebird

when you hear the bluebird's call you go.

sunday beat, bickford (with little persuasion) convinced me to do a 24 hr tahoe trip heading out sunday evening.

on little sleep from a long long weekend, we woke up at the crack of dawn and hit the mountain.

a little while later the sky opened and the deep blue of lake tahoe came shining through. after some quick, dirty and aggressive turns in shirly, we headed for the coveted KT22 line. avalanches all weekend from the 78" of snow they'd gotten in the last week had caused most of the mountain to be closed till this glorious day. when we got to the top of KT (first time they'd opened it all season) at roughly the 25th chair, we hit the west side known for being steep and deep. fresh fresh pow pow. as my buddy mikey b likes to say. face shots (that means it's kicking back up and hitting you in the face).

not many times you hear this guy riding down the mountain screaming profanities of joy. this was one of them. best first day of the season in 20 years of riding. this is gonna be monumental. twas a glorious day blessed by GG. get ready!

i reposted the quick pic taken in line here as the previous post didn't come through the tubez properly.

if you need a reason

to smile today. here you go. i'm yours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErMWX--UJZ4

very grateful

for the legacy my grandfather has left behind. rest in peace Pa Pa. thank you for everything you gave us. so sorry to see you leave the physical world one year ago today.

this photo was taken by my aunt today at Arlinginton National Cemetery.

the jouney

Continues

merry

Xmas

meghan

Makes a visit to the batcave.

miracle times two

sunday was ruff (with an f) with father christmas taking an early lead in the holiday season.

somehow the longest run i've ever done in my life, lead into church, lead into a sales pitch on tahoe, lead into a sales pitch on the black crowes lead into a sunday for the record books.

ticketless to the sold out 5th night of the crowes, we showed up in the cold rain with my famous last words to dan 'listen, if we find tickets it was meant to be and if we can't it wasn't'.

the back approach from steiner, we hadn't even made it to the stairs when i ran into the coolest person in san francisco. 'gotta ticket' i said. he looked at me thought for a second, then said, 'here you go'. what!!!!!!!!!!!!! 'dude u serious?' i asked as i stood there in amazement as i was willing to pay ~$75 in US green backs ... i wasn't twirling in the streets with my finger in the air looking for 'the miracle'. he said 'buy me a drink, remember this face'. i was like ... uhhh yeeeeaaaahhhhh!

2 minutes laters as he listed to dan proceed to tell me i should go in without him and i proceed to tell dan that we're going to find a second ticket, he turns to me again and says ... 'here you go!' ... again ... what!!!!!! 'bro you serious?'. he was. it was meant to be.

when we got in, it was 'on'. i hadn't been to the fillmore in awhile, but there was an unmistakeable energy in the room that the fillmore can bring out with the right people and band in attendance. when they opened covering joe cocker's 'feeling allright' it was crazy good. then followed with probably my favorite crowes song 'seeing things' ... i've always loved the esoteric nature of that song.

from there it got hot and it was clear that this was rock and roll. i mean real rock and roll. not any of that girly crap that some people think is rock and roll. this was deep. hard. and it should have been 1975 in that room.

when phil lesh came on for the encore to rock out 5 dead songs things just kept getting stronger. i thought phil's head was going to explode (for the millionth time probably) when chris robinson put his entire soul into 'turn on your love light'. somehow later the night ended at the boom boom room with me hugging one of the guys from the opening act from the back and the bassist from the opening act calling my friend and i nerds (which i affirmed) as we walked away in the pouring cold rain.

anyway it was amazing and i guess st. nicolas thought i'd done something right lately. i hadn't seen the crowes in 18 years!!! since they opened for either guns n roses or aerosmith at the cap center ... i can't remember which one. last time i tried to see them i didn't make the show because my father came into town. serendipitously we ended up playing golf with the drummer up at lincoln park where my father taught him and their tour manager the rite of hitting golf balls into the san francisco bay on hole #17 (i'll never forget that moment).

i haven't found a good video on the youtuber of the recent shows, but check out sister luck from last year and you'll get an idea.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tHLcoW7xuI

also you can read this article on jambase on some of the earlier shows that describe a similar sentiment.
http://www.jambase.com/Articles/20735/The-Black-Crowes-12.01-and-12.02-S.F

peace and love.

gratitude

decided i had to do a little sunday cleansing. felt good and picked up my first bridge run. a nice 9.5 mile out back. can't believe it took me 10 years to finally *run* over that thing, but i figured i'd capture it with an iphone snapshot. man i love this city.

here's the GPS route, cause i know you care
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/20168577

good

morning. My white elephant gift frm lst night.

this is kind

of how i feel.

i stole this picture from somewhere on the net that misha had linked to. people always ask what animal you'd be if i you were an animal and i think my answer is a panda. not exactly sure why? but this guy looks like he's having a good time and so am i.

new axe

i'm not big into material objects or buying things these days (especially since i'm traveling a lot and self-employed), but my brother Charles twisted my arm Saturday night (didn't take much) and we both picked up nearly matching guitars (we're getting the family band back together!). I'd sold my childhood electric (so I was without electric) post dot com blow up when I was out of work (or struggling for it) and didn't have much money. This time, I've taken it up a few notches for a gem I plan to have for the rest of my life.

This thing (er I mean Gibson Les Paul Stanardl plus) is really amazing. The tone is awesome and clean and cranking it up turns you into an instant rock star!

Below teaching my nephew Grant how much fun it is to Rock!

 

six deer

In the backyard is a clear sign that development in Northern VA has
made it so these animals have no where to go.

somedays

things are more civilized these daze ... at least for those with wife and children (me excluded).

with best friends from HS last night.

 

sunburbing it

sundays in va are a little different than my sundays in SF or LA.

church in the am with the fam followed by the playground. lazy sunday is a nice change of pace.

below with my newest niece Caroline. below that, Grant and Cameron chase each other down the slide.

 
 
 

thanksgiving jam

what thanksgiving would be complete without a family jam session? watch out for these up and coming rock stars.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwWKpdeMzjQ

 
 

thanksgiving

Serenade from my nieces!

happy screensaver

I was going through my old delicious links and I found this amazing screensaver page I'd forgotten about. I mean amazing.

Let's cut to the chase. If you have a Mac, simply click here to download, then install 'Hyperspace'. This will keep you entertained and wowed for hours. Hours!

Happy Screensaver day!