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The North Forklanding Blues
Friday was a blah day with really nothing to report. Work has been insane and so has the volume. So I unfortunately could not make it for the Musical Box performance for Friday night which would have been the Foxtrot tour from ’72. It also occurred to me that there would be no way for me to see Saturday’s show due to the radio broadcast. It would have been cool too, because it was the ’73 Selling England By The Pound tour…one of my favs. By the time I got out of work, I was spent. But I convinced myself to get out and head to the Jughandle Inn to see Standard Deviation….you know….that band I’ve been buzzin about. Anyway, I waited for Roger to arrive with Jack, and they couldn’t help but break my balls about Musical Box not doing Phil Collins music. (Sarcasm) …nonetheless 11/7/06 is d-day. So I get home, Roger and Jack pull up and the aroma of the jungle welcomed me. It was time to go to the Jug. I arrived after a sports update at Wawa with Kevin. I am always the bearer of bad news. The night was cold driving up Forklanding. Imagining what it must have been like a hundred years earlier. A bumpy ass road. Well, a dirt road. What a busy place this once was at one time. Back before roads were not straight. Forklanding winds all the way to the Jughandle and crosses route 73. It’s there that the settlement was first created. Right on the banks of the North and South branch of the Pennsauken Creek. I can only imagine in my head how the layout once was. Now, just a mere frame of what it used to be…littered with 500,000$ houses and baseball parks on the north side. Sad. No need to preserve anything here. Very sad. I pulled into the Jug to see the chickens at the entrance. Well, at least something still remains from this one time small farming community. (The chickens are added there by the owners). The chickens are in jeopardy of being extinct from here as well since the crows and hawks have caught on. So much like life. What irony. Once I walked in, I was comforted with the smell of stale beer and good music. Standard Deviation was already through their first set. Roger was nowhere to be found. Déjà vu. I sat down and ordered a beer from bartender Vince. Vince and I graduated together in 1991 and was always someone I admired in school. Vince was real, very direct, and wasn’t afraid to call ‘em the way he saw ‘em. He got the girl of his dreams in Barrie that also went to school with us and graduated the same year. Talking to him was made me realize that it’s not always a bad thing to look back. Vince has a baby now, and is happy with his life. He never knew what he wanted to do with his life for years. We would sit out back of his house, drink beers and ponder, ‘what do you think we will be doing in the year 2006?’ Well here it is Vince. You are married to a great girl, you have baby now, and work at the Jughandle Inn in Cinnaminson, and that's not a bad thing at all. I think it's cool. I am still working, doing radio, etc. The only difference between then and now is I have arthritis. We went down the paths we were supposed to go. But it’s nice to check in to see how your movie is going so far. We rapped for a while and it felt good. The beers set in, and so did Roger. I was curious to know if Standard Deviation did ‘The Theme From The Sparrow’. I know, how selfish of me. I asked this beautiful blonde that I see at their shows a lot if they played. Well I come to find out it’s Billy Corvino’s wife Cami. She said, “You must be Tom.” We chatted for a while, but it’s nearly impossible to understand anyone when a band is playing and you are sitting that close. It’s funny, Roger will ask me questions and it’s like “Dude, I can’t hear a fucking thing you are saying.” I just nod and go, “Ok.” So as he wandered, the band played. They did a lot of bar band stuff which I am not surprised….you have to, in this setting. But they would break into their original material which is always great. The band can be very funky, and cook. This is cool stuff live.Not to mention that Tim McKinstry and Bill are incredible together. The whole band is great, but seeing these two guys play together is great. They compliment each other in the sound of the band. Rarely do I get excited about 2 musicians, especially local ones. These guys have something to build on progressive rock wise. The smell is good from the kitchen. Garlic wings extraordinaire. The band plays, and a chick that could probably beat up any guy in the bar walks over to talk to me. I promised my friends I wouldn’t be cold or mean to any girl that approached me I did not know. So I gave a slight smile and started watching the band again. Roger comes back in after chasing chickens in the lot. He sits and orders a soda. The band’s set ends. Here comes the girl with chicken wing bones hanging out of her mouth walking towards me. Uh oh.
“Hi, how are ya?”
“Good, you?”
“I’m really pissed right now. My boyfriend left me here.”
“oh, I’m sorry to hear that. My name is Tom by the way, this is the keyboardist Tim.”
“Oh hi. My name is Kim.”
“Nice to meet ya Kim…I was just going to have a smoke, wanna go?”
It was just then as I walked out the door and she started acting weird. Cami, Bill’s wife, is outside smoking as well with the band.
“Hey guys, awesome set.”
I say hi and start chatting with Cami, only to have Kim give me the look like we had been dating for 5 years or something.
“Well I have to go. Bye.”
Poof! She stormed away. Wow. Now I know why I am single. Didn’t matter, I didn’t really care to be honest, but it was funny. We go back into the bar, and once again, Roger is nowhere to be found. At this point he’s outside wrestling chickens. I come back to my seat after speaking with f’d up George and Bill, who by the way, are loyal gagliarchives listeners and knew everything that I played. I loved that. I look at the bar and see they bought me a drink. Nice job. I rapped with Vince a little more behind the bar, and the next thing I know there is a 50 year old woman flirting with me. Ok, cool. What vibe am I giving off? This is getting too strange. Oh well. I need to go to Wawa. I left as the band finished, said my goodbyes, petted the chickens, and drove down lonely Forklanding Road back into town, a road that seemed larger than life to me at one time. I thought about the insight that Vince gave me, and how right he was. I was really happy that his life came together. I really was. You always wonder about classmates you were tight with....I am critical of everyone at times, but I had this fuzzy feeling looking at Vince’s life. He said, “Tom the question is, are YOU happy? Look at me; I never knew what I wanted. All the pressures of what everyone AROUND me wanted, made me crazy. Now look. I couldn’t be happier right now. That’s right, I work at the Jug and I have a child and a great wife with a great job. What more could I want?” As I drove home, the song on my CD summed it up.
High Hopes
Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young,
In a world of magnets and miracles.
Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary
The ringing of the division bell had begun
Along the long road and on down the causeway
Do they still meet there by the cut
There was a ragged band that followed in our footsteps
Running before time took our dreams away
Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground
To a life consumed by slow decay

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
With friends surrounded
The nights of wonder

Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide
At a higher altitude with flag unfurled
We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There's a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Go down this road we've been so many times

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river

Forever and ever

Out In The Sun
Saturday was a beautiful day. I ran some errands but more or less just moseyed on through some reading and driving. Then came prep time. Another blockbuster week of new music. Scott McGill gave me his new solo album titled Awareness. This features Ritchie Decarlo and bassist Chico Huff. This album is phenomenal. I’m partial because I am a big McGill fan. The CD features Scotty doing the ‘fretless’ thing. I didn’t know what to expect when I first heard it. Well now I am sold. Great disc and a totally different look on how Scott plays. Tonight I featured the new disc from multi instrumentalist Roger Powell titled Fossil Poets…this new disc comes to us from Inner Knot records who are part of Discipline Global Mobile. Very new age…lots of atmospheres…my listeners complained I should have featured it as the Fourth Hour Space Out spotlight. After the Strawbs show last Sunday, I was flattered to get the new disc from Chas Cronk of old tunes done acoustic called Painted Sky. Very nice. Response on the Strawbs is always good. The wackiness at 1am was a live concert recorded in 2004 from Gong in Tokyo, Japan. Gotta love the Gnomes. I’d say the disc that got the most response tonight was the long awaited new double CD from Rocket Scientists titled Revolution Road. Schiff and Norlander are very powerful on this. A late entry into tonight’s program was Clive Nolan and Agneiszka Swita titled closer. The noted composer/keyboardist Clive Nolan met Polish singer Agneiszka Swita some time ago, (Who is drop dead gorgeous by the way) and vowed to record together. This disc from what we understand is just an EP with a full length album to be done. Her voice is angelic. We'll also featured new music from the ProgQuebec label and the excellent 1977 and 1979 releases from L’engoulevent; I’ile Ou Vivent Les Loups and Etoifilan. With a special thanks to Anchor, I featured the new triple live disc from Dream Theater titled Score - 20th Anniversary World Tour. Quick side note. I remember when I was playing Dream Theater back in 1992 and thinking that these guys were the NEXT ones. And yeah, they have lived up to the expectations. They are one of the greatest Prog Metal bands of all time, if not the greatest. Oh by the way, I got this great email from Bob Garneau, one of my loyalist listeners who has been recording my shows for almost a decade. He sent this email about a show from 2000:
Hi Tom,

Attached you will find an updated, but still incomplete, tracklist for show 671.

This all begins with a broken TV...

Back at Christmastime (2005) my sister gave us a TV. I think it was a 20-inch.. it had a nice
indentation on top, pretty close to geometric center, in a hexagon shape. Turns out she left
a candle burning, and it got too hot and melted into the top of the TV. Didn't seem to affect
the TV, though. About a month ago my kids started complaining about the picture going funny.
For a while, it never did it while I was watching, then one day it did. Went widescreen mode,
except the picture was about 3 inches high. Not watchable at all. But turning off the TV and
waiting for a bit cured it, at least until last week. Then it just plain got stuck in that mode.
Well, since we needed a new TV, and the one in the livingroom was a 10 year old 27-inch job,
no way in heck are the kids getting a new one, so it's off the Best Buy. We picked up a very
nice 30-inch flat-screen TV (that's about 3 feet deep...) and weighs about 110 pounds. After
we finally get the thing in the house, we find out it will not fit into the space for a TV in our
entertainment center. The wife's idea is to get a table for it and stick my stereo equipment
out in the family room. That's fine, except in the family room I've got nowhere to run my
antenna to tune in WBZC. That's another story in itself.. some of which I am sure you
must remember as I've told bits of it over the years. Anyway, suffice to say I am ever
so close to WBZC in stereo that it hurts.. but I digress.. So, now we need a new entertainment
center that will hold a TV almost 32 inches wide, and 5 pieces of stereo equipment. Sauder
comes to the rescue yet again. While I have everything out of the previous cabinet, I find
a half dozen VCR tapes labeled "Gagliarchives". 4 of them have been recorded to my PC at
some point in the not to distant past and archived as MP3, but I run across 2 more that are not!
The one I am listening to as I type you this note is from December of 2000. I looked at the
tracklist on gagliarchives.com, and boy is your version of it messed up... So in the interest of
completeness, I have sent you an updated version of said show, although I am not sure
of all of it is correct. If you would like a CD of the show, let me know. The sound quality is
about a 6 of 10.. some hiss, a few static dropouts, and some "tunneling".. where a few bits
sound like it's in a tunnel.

BTW, it was a really good show. I especially liked the Kevin Gilbert Thud Live material.
Any chance of you getting some on in the next few weeks??? Please???

Bob Garneau.. getting close to 10 years as a loyal listener!!!
How cool is that?
I’ve Got Blisters On Mah Fingahs
Sunday I got up early to watch the Eagles game. Second week in a row we started like crap, came back, only to lose it in the 4th with 9 seconds left and a 62 yard field goal. Who does that? NOBODY. IT WAS THE SECOND LONGEST IN NFL HISTORY. WHO THE FRIG DOES THAT? Anyway, we are 4-3 now. We should be 7-0. Why you ask? Giants loss; we should have blown them out. Even Giants fans agree. New Orleans? We came back to take the lead only to lose it on a field goal after they held the ball for 4 hours. Tampa Bay? Come on. Who kicks a 62 yard field goal? The Eagles will win 9 in a row now. I was thoroughly disgusted and wanted nothing to do with football, although I have to say it again. 62 yards? Huh? Who? Anyway, my plan was to put in the new speakers that Jack gave me. I got home and started working. First, I took apart the front speakers to find that the new ones wouldn’t fit. I was very bummed. So, I decided to use a trick my dad taught me when I was a kid. Put cement glue around the rim of the dry rotted rubber on the paper and let it dry. Worked like a charm. Unfortunately the left front speaker had a bigger problem. The spider BEHIND the speaker itself was damaged. They separated. More or less meaning I would have to get it re-coned. That costs more than the speaker itself. So, I moved to the back speakers on the roll bar. Amidst taking out my old kicker box speakers, I cut my finger. Not bad, but enough where it was bleeding on my face. My neighbors stopped and asked,
“Hey are you ok?”
“Yeah I’m ok, just trying to get these in there.”
“What the hell happened with that Eagles game?” Ugh. Do I have to respond?
“Well, we didn’t win. 62 yard field goal will get you every time.” (blood dripping into my eyes)
“That’s why I am a Bears fan.”
“Bears fan? Oh come on.” I said disgustedly.
“Well, the Eagles haven’t been that good over the last few years.”
“uhh…they went to the superbowl in 2005.”
“Oh they did? I totally forgot.”
“Yeah, they also have been in every championship before that since 2001.”
“Are you sure?”
At this point I gave up. People just don’t think when they speak. At this point, the speakers in the roll bar worked, and the right front worked, while the other speaker was quiet with only the tweeter working. I was done and spent. Just as I was ready to run in and change for food shopping, my neighbor and his hot girlfriend come outside. She’s a HUGE NY sports fan.
“Heh heh heh…so, I see your Eagles blew it again eh?” she said sarcastically.
“Yeah, yeah I know.”
“So what happened to those losers huh?” With a shit eating grin on her face.
“Same thing that happened to the Mets. Only thing was, the Mets losing was so much sweeter.”
You would have thought I killed her pet or something. “Where ya goin? Ya got all quiet…”
She slammed the door and left while her boyfriend Bill just smirked. I was happy. Nothing in the world like telling a NY fan the truth. So I went to the supermarket in Cherry Hill and went food shopping. Food shopping is very therapeutic to me. People think I am crazy, but I really do love shopping at the store. So I got all my necessities and made it home by 11pm. including some great steaks I live for. Another weekend wrapped up. I am off this coming Friday to hang out with my buddy Pole. We are supposed to drink or something like that. In the meantime, I will be prepping all week for the ill fated Halloween show. Should be a spooky one! Speaking of spooky, time to make my prediction for this Saturday. The Eagles must win Sunday.
Eagles 17, Jaguars 9

Program 975 Ran 4 Hours.