IRONIC? FUNNY? IRONICALLY FUNNY??

Thought this was funny. With the Florida Strawberry Festival going on, today in the paper
there was a photo of the Strawberry Queen(quite pretty).
The funny thing is...her name is Summer Pippin.

Now think about it...

A season when strawberries don't grow in Florida...

and a variety of apple!!

Now tell me that's not funny...

ROCK AND ROLL MUST NEVER DIE

Unreleased Jimmy Page Guitar Riff To Be Retrieved From Secret Vault To Save Rock And Roll             GWYNEDD, WALES—Calling it the planet's last, best hope for saving rock music, the Guardians of the Protectorate of Rock announced Monday that they would take the extraordinary step of unleashing a never-before-heard Jimmy Page riff, hidden for decades in a mythic, impenetrable vault.   "We who believe in the immortality of rock took a vow 30 years ago that we would never release this incredibly powerful force unless we faced a Day of Reckoning—and that day has come," said Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, one of the chosen few who helped forge the Secret Vault to Save Rock and Roll, at a press conference in the Welsh highlands.  "Just look at the pop charts, and you shall know I speak the truth."  "Let's give rock and roll its fucking balls back," he added.  The Guardians said recent developments in the music world, such as the unaccountable popularity of the Dixie Chicks and Sufjan Stevens, have created a "perfect storm of lameness" from which rock might never recover. While Iommi refused to say when the vault would be opened, hard rock sources believe it will take place just prior to next month's Fall Out Boy–Honda Civic tour, which many fear will suck the remaining lifeblood from all that still rocks.  "Citizens of Rock, we refuse to stand idly by any longer," ZZ Top founder and Protectorate High Elder Billy Gibbons said. "When a puss like James Blunt is allowed to rule the airwaves, we must respond by exposing this monster riff, and blowing minds into the stratosphere."  The Protectorate, devoted to the preservation of badass jams and blistering guitar solos, was reportedly formed in the 1970s during the rise of adult contemporary music. According to legend, the riff, played only once by Page and recorded on a special cobalt record, contains the raw power, mind-blowing skill, and unbridled passion of all the Guardians combined. Recently translated parchments from the era describe it as a soul-searing power-chord progression faintly resembling a cross between "Smoke On The Water" and "Living Loving Maid," but "basically defying all description."  It is believed that, upon the riff's release, even those who claim that the genre is dead will have no choice but to pump their fists, bang their heads, and bow down to the gods of rock for all eternity.  "May God have mercy on our souls for what we are going to set loose upon the world," proclaimed Queen guitarist Brian May, dressed in druidic robes and bathed in the rising blue smoke of a nearby fog machine. "Will it save rock or destroy mankind? We have no way of knowing—yet we have no other choice."  Members of the Protectorate were each given only partial information about the location of the vault, which they were instructed to open in unison only in the event of a total Rockopalypse. While some believed the vault was buried in Boston, Chicago, Kansas, Europe, or Asia, others claimed it could be found in the Court of the Crimson King.  However, after piecing together clues hidden in Yes album covers and Pink Floyd liner notes, rock historians now believe the riff is locked away deep beneath the Welsh countryside house known as Bron-Yr-Aur, at rock-grid coordinates SH735026. British weather satellites have also photographed an enormous cloud, shaped like a hybrid of an upside-down question mark and cross, forming above these exact coordinates.  The vault's Key, regarded as too staggering a burden for any one man to bear, was divided in two parts, with half entrusted to Eddie Van Halen and half to David Lee Roth, shortly after Roth left the rock supergroup Van Halen. The two men, who have refused to work together for 20 years, recently announced plans for a historic reunion tour.  "Before we shake Heaven and Earth with the vicious power of this riff, we of the High Council of Elders of the Guardians of the Protectorate of Rock ask you: Are you about to rock?"  AC/DC guitarist Angus Young said. "If so, we salute you."  When asked to comment on the possible dangers of using the riff, Sir Paul McCartney seemed surprised.  "There's a secret vault to save rock and roll?" McCartney said. "This is the first I've heard of it."

VW BUS

Ahhh...the good old VW Bus, now a well-known icon of the 60s & 70s, but once a relatively unknown vehicle. Case in point...

In the 1956 English movie The Quatermass Xperiment (U.S.title:The Creeping Unknown) the government scientists drive a VW Bus to the sight of the crash landing site of the rocket. When they try to communicate with the survivors of the crash, the radio operator opens up the compartment in the back of the vehicle. That would be the engine compartment, but since no-one would know any different, it contained the radio set!

Pretty funny...but maybe you had to be there...

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

1985
David Byron, singer with hard rockers Uriah Heep, is found dead at his home in Reading, England. He was 38.

One of my favorite bands, saw `em live opening for Kiss (no shit!). Even though they've gone through quite a few singers since then, the quintessential Heep sound has got to have the voice of David Byron.

So raise your beer glass and sing along with me..."This is a place I've never seen before, it's called easy livin..."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

Yep, it's that time of year again, another rollover of the biological clock.
And coincidentally, it's also National Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday), because
of course, pancakes are one of my favorite foods, not just for breakfast.
The historical high point of my birthday was 1962 when John Glenn circled
the Earth 3 times.
The low point had to be 2003 when the R.I nightclub fire killed 100 people at a
Great White show. Back in the day I hung out at clubs much like that one, with
only 2 exits, 1 always next to the stage.

And driving in to work this morning, I heard Ian Hunter's "Bastard", which is
what I was when I was born...
...and some people say I still am...hahahaha...

HIPPIE FEST 2007

Well, it was lots of fun, but too damn cold for Florida, and of course no real
hippies in sight. Though lots of hippie wigs!! But a great line up of bands/musicians.
Here's who we listened to:
MCed by Country Joe and his sardonic sense of humor:
1)Denny Laine: original Moody Blue and member of Wings; very nice could have listened to more of him.
2)Terry Sylvester:from the Hollies, replacement for Graham Nash. Very nice performance.
3)Joey Molland:just about the last member of Badfinger still alive. Good songs, but seemed like
the performance was rote.
4)Country Joe:and his FISH cheer, yeah the original album one, and a new anti-Bush song (...gonna send him back to the farm, where he can shovel real bull shit). Something like that,
anyway, and well received.
5)Melanie:who actually looked and dressed like it was still the 60s. But found the performance
annoying with her son playing electric guitar behind her acoustic strumming, didn't fit
at all.
6)Felix Cavaliere:from the Rascals, seen him before and he always puts on a great show.
7)Eric Burdon:of the Animals, and a surprise guitarist - Hilton Valentine, the original
Animals guitarist. So that was cool. And he had some hot chick bass player as a bonus!
8)Iron Butterfly;which is down to Ron Bushy & Lee Dorman, original drummer and bass
player. But they had a good keyboard player and a great guitarist who really fit in well.
The funny part is, their whole set consisted of the long version Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida...
and that was it.

So we had a good time, except for the cold. Sort of hoped that some of the people
would have signed autographs, but probably too cold for them too. Hopefully
Cypress Gardens will do it again next year and the weather will be warmer.

MICHELADA, MICHELADA

Hot potato hot potato (or so go the Wiggles). Well, not a potato, but definitely
HOT. What's a Michelada anyway? Well, I've only seen it at one place, but
it's a spicy Mexican beer drink. From what I could tell, you take a beer glass
and put lime juice & hot sauce in the bottom, margarita salt on the rim, and then
pour in a dark beer, mine had Negro Modelo. Wow, is that good!! And hot! And
oddly enough, even Phyl liked it, though she hates any kind of beer.

So if you ever go to a Mexican restaurant (mine was Bronco's in Winter Haven FL)
and you see this on the menu, you have to try at least one...maybe 2...not sure if
you can handle 3, by then it's time to switch to Tecate to cool down your mouth.

So everybody now...hot potato hot potato - michelada michelada...

THE BIG BOOT

And it sure is big!! Had this taken at the FL State Fair.

Pretty cool,eh? Wish you had a boot in the ass

like that, doncha?

OFFICIALLY ENGLISH?

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- Even supporters acknowledged that the bill to make English the official language of Nashville was mostly a symbolic slap at illegal immigration.

But even that was too much for Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell. He vetoed the measure, saying it was unconstitutional, unnecessary and mean-spirited.

 

Besides, have you ever heard people from Nashville speak...now that's barely English...

 

Sorry, couldn't resist that...I'm sorry...no...really...I am...really...

RODIZIO (CHA CHA CHA)

 Went to this restaurant last night after spending the day at the FL state fair;

good time there, but the guy with the clearance books wasn't there this year.

Bummer. Anyway, went to dinner at a `churrascaria', which does not sell churros,

interestingly enough. What it is, is a Brazilian style steakhouse, but nothing like you've

ever seen unless you've actually been to one. For a single price meal, we got a soup

(Lobster bisque-ugh!), a salad with only olive oil (not very tasty)and a bunch of side dishes;

mashed potatoes, black beans, white & yellow rice,fried plantains (very yummy), fried yucca

(almost like a french fry, but not), some green chimichurri sauce (that Phyl said was the

best part of the meal) anda salsa and some other kind of sauce. Then, they put you in rotation,

and every coupleof minutes a carver with meat on a sword comes and slices you off one (Yes-1) piece

of various meats, probably 9 or 10 altogether,Two kinds of steak, 2 kinds of chicken, 2 kinds

of lamb, 2 kinds of ribs, a sausage, and possibly more. Very odd, you held the piece

with ice tongs as the slicer finished slicing. And you had a little coaster, red one one side,green

on the other; green meant slice away, red was time out to breathe. So an interesting concept,

but the flavors of much of the foods were strange; an altogether strange experience,

but at least we don't have to wonder what it is anymore. And the steak was rare and very tasty,

but not for Phyl, who likes charcoal steak. And of course, they had Brahma beer(Brazilian), so that

was nice. But just to piss me off, on the way out we picked up a copy of `tbt '(newspaper)

and as I looked at it today, there was a coupon for a free drink at the very place we'd eaten.

Go figure!!

 

So if you're feeling adventurous, try a churrascaria, but don't expect what you probably think

of when you think of steakhouse...

 

...And no churros...

 

ps:Rodizio is the style of meal, the preset dinner as explained above...

 

...And still no churros...