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Welcome Dana Ruset...
My buddy Ben and his wife Laura have finally had their little baby girl, Dana. Welcome to planet Earth! Ben, who runs the NJPINEBARRENS.COM website has been wildly stressed in anticipation of this. He can say officially now, that he has crossed into the final phase of full fledged adult world. Scary. All jokes aside, I think this is the best thing that could have happened for people in some situations. The only drawback is now Ben won’t have the availability to go exploring like he used to in the Pines. I am slightly bummed, but then again know that sometimes things take precedent. In a rare occasion, we dedicated tonight's program to little Dana. I look at it as a whole new world. And a new learning experience. I was kinda lucky years ago to date someone who had just had a newborn. I learned real quickly about feeding times, changing, feeding again, changing again, holding, feeding again, being puked on, and changing. Oh and feeding again. I don’t know if I want to go through that again. Hey at least I was doing it by choice then. (shudders) Speaking of kids, how cool is Dr. Bob Blinebury’s son? He is like 3 and is into King Crimson. Bless his heart. I will leave my empire to him when he becomes a Jedi. His mother hates that shirt.
No Consent No Parade.
Guitarist Scott McGill called me the previous weekend to let me know he would be holding a clinic at the Marlton Guitar Gallery off of Route 70. It was such a great day, I decided to open the back window as well, along with the doors, and head to the clinic on a sun filled Saturday. It’s funny sometimes. You don’t realize how much attention you can get with a jeep. If I was driving a 1987 Hyundai, no girl would bat an eye. But a Black Jeep Wrangler with mud on it with 75 degree temps and clear skies? Oh yeah baby. (Good thing they don’t hear it backfire) I arrived at the new shopping center and was surprised to see my digital assistant Jack Webster there. We met up and watched Scott talk about his Koch gear while he played different styles of music on the guitar. One thing I noticed after not seeing Scott play for a while, was that he has improved his chops and sound depth considerably. This guy never ceases to amaze me. He plays with such flair that it’s a wonder he isn’t a household name yet. Scott and I have nailed down June 3rd as our date for the world premiere of the new McGill/Manring/Stevens CD titled What We Do on the Free Electric Sound Label. This new disc features all classic and modern jazz and fusion standards. This will be released Aug. 22nd, 2006. What’s even cooler is that the liner notes were done by world acclaimed jazz/fusion journalist and author Bill Milkowski while the album was mixed by soundscape genius and guitarist David Torn. The disc is excellent with Nefertitti being my favorite track.
Bas No An Bua!
3/27/99 – Memory number 49, (there is no sequence really to the 50 weeks to 1000 memories I have been featuring) was a night when I look back, was a classic in the making. This night featured a live in studio performance of Scott McGill, Chris Eike, and Tom Poitress….better known as the Hand Farm. This was right before Scott’s new evolution into his future work with bass legend Michael Manring and drummer extraordinaire Vic Stevens. It was a warm but great night of fusion. Finneus Gauge was still together, Nearfest was new and hadn’t happened yet, and I had my 1991 snow white Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Turbo with a 12 disc CD player, remote starter, and tinted windows. Sweet Moses. Where did the time go?

This Program Ran 3 Hours and 57 Minutes.