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They Love Me In Monaco
After recovering from the madness of a concert filled weekend, things were back to normal. We had the pleasure of world premiering the new Magenta limited edition 2 CD set titled Home/New York Suite. Excellent discs. I kicked off the show with the classic disc from Marillion titled Afraid Of Sunlight that will forever remind me of when we first went on the air at WBZC. The rest of the show I was focusing on some classic material from the vinyl vaults. Release Music Orchestra, and the most responded to album of the night in Italian band Nova, and the 1976 release Vimana. There were more calls on that album than anything all night. I get the phone call of the night from a listener in Bensalem, PA. Mike says to me, "I cannot believe you are playing this. I really can't. I have been listening for 5 years before I go to the bar at 12:30, and never call in. I can't believe you are playing this album. This is one of the greatest albums of all time. No one knows Vimana. Thank you so much, you made my night. You never cease to amaze me."
That conversation made my night. That will stop you from questioning if you make an impact.
Memory #46
I was going through some old tapes recently and unearthed the January 1999 performance of North Carolina band Ozone Quartet. This was an excellent performance cut short by a broken bass drum pedal. It was dissapointing, but this is what happens. Great live radio, though. I remember distinctly that the studio was warm that day, but the band acclimated themselves. Hollis was rockin, and Wayne handled most of the interview. But they were able to churn out 4 or 5 songs. All in all it was a great show. Despite the bass pedal problem. Sadly, not too long after, the band would split. They would reunite just recently to release the Cloud Nineology CD. All in all..it was another great memory over the last 15 years.
The Lawrence Boulevard Massacre
After the show Saturday, I stopped as always, at Big Bob’s to meet up with rest of the gang to see how their night went and get input on what they thought of the final product on the radio. Pete had been a little drunk but decided to follow me out of Eastampton. As I headed down westbound Route 38 into Hainesport, the unthinkable happened. With the light being red, I downshifted to second gear as I approached the light at the distance of a 300 yards away. Just as I did that, the light turned green and I popped the Jeep into third gear. Just as I did that, here comes gallopin’ Gertie jumping over the median on eastbound route 38 to the westbound side, and hitting the front of my jeep. I had no time to stop, think, or move out of the way. It was done. I heard and felt it. I panicked. I pulled my Jeep over to the shoulder while Pete pulled up beside me. “Dude, it’s not your fault, you didn’t do anything wrong, just go. Let’s leave.”
I couldn’t do it. I told Pete to go and that I would stay with deer until he died. Shit it's the least I can do. As Pete drove away I began my approach towards the deer. She was clearly young. Maybe a year and a half at the most. She struggled and suffered. I couldn’t help it, I wept. I called the state police dispatch and they assured me that they would send someone shortly. Within 10 minutes, she died. All I could do was apologize repeatedly. I then got angry. “WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING??!?!?” I have been in Wharton State, Lebanon, Bass River REPEATED times and never hit a deer. Where do I hit and kill one? In Hainesport next to the Shop Rite. Huh? How does that happen? The police arrived and did the ‘pseudo cross examination’ on me. My adrenaline was up. So up....I didn’t fall asleep till 730. The end result? Being called murderer by my friends, and a deer just pulled off into the weeds. That’s it? That’s all you can do? What the hell do I pay taxes for?
Ultimate Uno Championship
Sunday I decided to surprise Roger and show up at the Piccalilli in Tabernacle, NJ. After watching another no name, one person band…I was hungry. Wings were on my mind. Now for years, when I worked at the Go-Go bar in Eastampton, I went on morning treks with Salty Serlenga to pick up wings from the Pic to serve that day (Sunday was free wings day). I vowed I would never eat one again. Yeah..............that went out the window. I had one large order with celery and blue cheese, while Rohario went with the fried scallops. After noticing 10 dollars missing, we called Bob to see what he wanted to eat. He asked for an extra salad bar. Not a salad, but an extra salad bar. I only have the jeep so hot wings will have to do. We arrived at Big Bob’s South and Val pulled out a deck of Uno cards. Ever play this game? Well first, it was my first time. Then secondly, who could possibly take this game seriously? We started at 1am. By 4am, I was ready to kill Roger. When it came to him to pick a color to make everyone change to, he would always reply with, “BLUE”. That was it. The rest of the night. “BLUE”. At one point even Bob got disgusted. We played round one which lasted 20 minutes and I won the first match. Round two lasted 3 hours with me having the least amount of cards the whole game, but losing officially at 4:45AM. I drove home laughing with my Uncle Ang’s USMC blanket around me. Until I passed Lawrence Boulevard.

This Program Ran 3 Hours And 52 Minutes