A Break From The Sabbatical
I know, I know. I’ve read them all. “Dude, where are the blogs?” Another one said, “Hey Tom, are you still writing these things?” Close friends started asking me….”everything cool?” radio contacts, etc. I guess what got me the most was when my mother started asking me, “Are you still writing your blogs?” I finally decided it was time to write at ‘least’ one. Well let’s see. I guess I left off in January. There are a few reasons why you have seen the blogs slow up. First one being, I am writing a pseudo ‘book’ so to speak. Without getting into details, it’s about a guy and his dating life from his youth to his middle aged, pathetic life. The story is based on true events which is quite comical, intense, angry, shocking, and at times very saddening. The story begins when he sees Farrah Fawcett for the first time in the mid 1970’s. I know, it makes no sense, but when all is said and done, oh trust me it will. The story was inspired by my nightmare dating life in the last 20 years, with some stories mixed in from close friends. I never cared to write about it, but always threatened it because of how outlandish some of them were. I usually stuck to science fiction in my stories. But the more I told stories about the girls I dated, albeit crazy or normal, my family and friends thought they should be documented. I met some real doozies since my youth. So the story is still in the first few chapters, but nonetheless, it’s making ME laugh. I guess we’ll see what happens with it. There are still outlines for other stories that coincide with it in bizarre ways. Eat your heart our Martin Scorsese! (Just kidding, I love you.)
A Saintly Loss
I guess the darkness begins with a loss to New Orleans in round two of the NFL postseason. The Eagles were playing over their heads. Garcia was great. A perfect fit for the ‘West Coast’ offense we have been running since 1995. Look, Jeff was not Donovan by any stretch of the mind, BUT, he did a hell of a job running the offense the way it’s supposed to be. Not to mention that Brian Westbrook totally stepped up to the plate and became a vocal leader. I wanted to see this game so much that I aired the final top 10 of 2006 in the first hour and a half just so I could watch. It was a great game. 70 yard passes, back and forth in scoring, up field, down field, nail biting exciting. I have to be honest, I have a been a die hard since the late 80’s early 90’s, and in all the playoff losses I have ever experienced, this one hurt the least. Losing 27-24 is not bad at all. Hostile environment as well. The game could have gone either way. I won’t even blame it on a particular play or anything. The Eagles did well. If they would have beaten the Saints, the Eagles would have beaten the Bears 13-10 and lost in the superbowl to Indy 38-13. There I said it. Everything after Donovan went down was a bonus. Anyway, so, after that, I watched the Eagles lose, and shockingly life went on. Not the way I wanted to at first, but alas, it went on. On top of them losing, I lost again in the world of dating to a disappearing act. It was like 8th grade all over. Despite the negativity and disbelief of it all, it makes for even more interesting chapter for the book.
Dressing For A Thousand Islands
The guests so far have been great this year. We kicked off 2007 with an interview with guitarist Alan Morse of Spock’s Beard. Alan stopped off to chat with us about the band’s self titled release and upcoming tour. Apparently, Alan is heavily into bike riding. He will ride anywhere. Home, on tour, Europe, etc. Alan also has a great new release that is sure to please guitar fans called 4:00 and Hysteria. It’s a pleasant surprise to the recent releases for the year. I would say a must get. We also featured an interview with guitarist Joe DeCristopher of Fred fame. Joe joined us to talk about the legacy of the band. Fred was formed at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA. The band made three albums. The self titled debut is in a trippy, folk rock vein. Notes On A Picnic, the second album and radio show audience favorite, is more jazz rock, and fusion influenced. Live At The Bitter End, is the third and final album which captures an excellent picture of the group live. The German label World In Sound did a fine job as well, in documenting the legacy of Fred. This is a special interview for a band I have always been curious about. We also featured our old friend Steve Hackett as he chatted with us about the new CD titled Wild Orchids. Chad said something to me the weekend of our Nearfest radio show. “It seems like you guys know each other so well through years of interviews that it’s like two old friends talking.” I don’t know about that. But nonetheless upon playback, I realized Chad was right. The rapport was astonishing. Following Steve’s visit, and speaking of Chad, we had our 9th annual North East Art Rock Fest radio special which went off without a hitch. This year was different. Chad brought in 4 huge prize packages to give away and it was by far the most responded show caller wise of the year. Has it been a 11 years already? I digress. Then of course there was the Ken Golden masterpiece titled SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE. That’s the title. A four hour extravaganza of space rock, psychedelic, and stoner rock. Ken teased about doing this show for years. But it never happened. Ken’s worry was that he would only have a solid hour of space rock worth airing without sounding like Ozric Tentacles at every turn of the hat. So, I told Ken, “If you want to do something else, just let me know. It could be great either way. Fusion night, Progmetal night etc. But finally, Ken didn’t fail me. It was an awesome show. The only drawback was that we had a 15 minute public service program to air during the show. Not that it’s a problem, but it can be if you’ve pre recorded it. Surprisingly, it all worked out in the end. I even amaze myself at times. And my most recent guest was Jon Courtney Of Pure Reason Revolution. This was an interesting interview. Jon had just gotten back from watching a Reading Soccer match in the UK and was in good spirits. I think some of these more accessible bands (PRR, PT, TMV) get a bit nervous with the whole ‘prog’ moniker. Who knows. But Jon was a good sport and played along. I could tell he was excited about the upcoming Nearfest performance in June. So all in all, it’s been an exciting 1st quarter of the radio show in 2007. But what keeps me up at night, is the upcoming 1000th radio show. J-bird of Endless Boundaries from 6-10 has been an even better sport by giving me his show from 6-10 on 4/14/07. So the question is, what do I air in those 8 hours? I mean I already know what I am going to do, but seriously, how does it all fit without sounding sloppy? I can’t even begin to formulate 16 years into 8 hours. It just won’t happen. Maybe a show of highlights? Who knows. Come 4/14, its do or die. I hope it will be good. I will have a more rounded out idea come the end of this week. Gulp
The Return To The Emerald Kush Mountain Range (With Blueberries)
I haven’t been to the Khyber since I saw Echolyn last year. This time it would be The Mahavishnu Project playing live at the Khyber. It was a Friday night. I rarely get out to many shows, especially this year with all the excellent weather we have been dealing with. The night started out stressful as always, (no Rohario wasn’t with us, that’s later) where I just had a feeling something wasn’t right. Almost like impending doom. Well I was right. No less than 4 minutes into the city, I get sideswiped. Not to worry, I wasn’t driving the Jeep, I was driving the Hoopti. I was in Olde City however which made it more embarrassing for the perpetrator. She turns to look at me after the swiping jolt as if to say, “Oh, I’m sorry, maybe I couldn’t fit my car in there.” I guess I thought this because there was only 2 feet between my Hoopti and her battleship. Nonetheless, I was in a good mood, and let her go with a damaged mirror on her car, and no damage on mine. My partner in crime seemed blown away by all of this, but for those that know me, this is normal. On to the Khyber. We walk in to find an empty bar with refreshments waiting for us. I decided to text Gregg Bendian to let him know I was there. No response back, which didn’t bother me because I figured, they are all traveling with equipment and gear, and he is probably too busy to respond. You know how these things go. So I decided to visit the goose again. What a pleasant goose it was. 25 minutes later, and 3 drinks, I am wondering where the band is. So I decided to call Gregg. Left a message. Then out of the blue, I hear the band in the other room warming up. Hmmm….dam those drums sound familiar. Duh, Gregg and the rest of the gang are in the next room. At this point I was fairly buzzed, yet very excited. We walk in and I could feel the energy. Gregg asked me to bring them on. So I get up on the tiny stage that seemed like it was going to explode outward with all the people that were on it. So I start rambling about how the band, the radio show, and etc. Gregg turns to me and says, “Tom, why don’t you introduce the guys?” At this point, I blanked out. “Sorry man, ya got me on the spot, I don’t even know my own name right now.” Gregg smiled and the crowd cheered. The band set was incredible. Gregg Bendian was timeless, or timeful I should say, Dave Johnsen was perfect, Adam Holzman was hot as hell on keyboards, Glenn Alexander played all the nuances of Mahavishnu with ease, and Rob Thomas, who we were closest to on violin, would have given Didier Lockwood a run for his money. All in all, full of energy. People didn’t want it to end. Not to mention some of the audience members were so happy to see that it was #1 for so many weeks on our weekly top 20 (Return To The Emerald Beyond). After convincing Gregg that he needed to hear my vocal rendition of One To One from Jan Hammer Group’s Oh Yeah? It was off to Jim’s. I called Rohario and the order was in. Before a quick stop on 4th street, we were homebound. God that was great….
The Return To Epping Forest
As a child, I grew up on the border of Cherry Hill, Mount Laurel, and Maple Shade. My playgrounds were three sets of woods. There were Emma’s woods, which now has a pizza place and housing complex on top of it, and was our first successful attempt at building a clubhouse/fort. You see, the woods were ran by kids that were far older than us at the time. Mike and John, who were brothers 7 years older than us, built ALL the forts and traps in the area. When I say traps, I mean sticker bush traps. You know, you hit a string, and it pulls the wall of thorns into your face. Awesome invention, one I was always able to avoid. At any rate, as they grew up and discovered women, we discovered all their places, and rebuilt them. Emma’s woods were tough because ‘Emma’ used to listen to all of our walkie talkie conversations when we played our games. So she knew our every move. Not to mention, John, our neighborhood friend from Mount Laurel, had an older brother that with his gang, used to play these war games with us, which usually meant they would find our forts, and trash them. So then we decided to move to woods on the ‘other’ side of toe of Maple Shade’s southeast side, and christen them as our own. We called the woods Epping Forest. Obviously after Genesis Selling England By The Pound track titled, The Battle Of Epping Forest. It was me, my brother, John, Brian, Donny, and little Mike. We built a fort on the outskirt of the South Branch of the Pennsauken Creek, looking at the Cherry Hill side of Brandywoods. The fort lasted a whole summer in 1986. Until the great flood came. None of us had thought out that building a fort in a marsh could present a problem. Not just for overflowing creeks, but for Mosquitoes and oddly enough, Caterpillars. What a year that was. They were everywhere. So then, in my last hurrah, I decided to rebuild the fort, this time on BRICKS! They all thought I as nuts, but realized later, it was a genius idea. The only problem was, we were invaded. This time by warriors from the Cherry Hill side who exploited our trail system to their advantage. The fort was trashed, as was Paradise Cove. But then, we sparked a war with John’s brothers’ gang. This time I had an escape route in plan. I decided to steal one of those big metal grates that sat on the side of the Seven-11, and drag it over a mile through Pickwick, through Epping Forest, UP SQUIRRELL HILL, then down, then to Paradise Cove. Three of us dropped the new ‘dock’ in the water. Boards were tied around it, and John brought an inflatable raft to tie to it. We waited, knowing John’s brothers’ gang were coming through ‘Sauken trail to get us. We were ready this time. Sticker bushes and dug hole traps were set, which would buy us some time to get away. In the raft we went, and up the south branch of the Pennsauken Creek to the third set of woods, known as North Epping Forest (I named it that, and marked our flag on it in 1985 when I was exploring it) We had a ready made dock there with chairs and tables. The only drawback was, despite how high the vegetation was, you could still be seen if you made a fire by the surrounding apartments and houses. But, it was an evacuation fort site. But what memories. We later returned to Epping Forest to find our site was trashed. We would get revenge later, but still, our place was ruined. The fort was smashed up, my fence I built around the creek was demolished, and the ladder we made for the dock was cut. I was angry. Sad, but still very angry. I tried to rebuild the fort but two things kept it from going any further, my desire to rebuild, and my first ‘kissing’ girlfriend from the Cherry Hill side who watched us build those forts. I left my childhood in those woods in the summer of 1987, where they still reside. So I decided after a nightmarish afternoon with my brother shopping for clothes, that I would visit my mom, and just for the heck of it, walk those woods again. Just to see what I might find, or how much has changed. It was a great trip down memory lane. The trails that we made were a bit overgrown...parts of the creek had widened. Some of the banks of the creek had collapsed as well. As I walked, I was a bit dissapointed that so much had changed. But then, I stopped and found a piece of board from the first fort. I smiled. I turned to the creek and looked at the dock I dragged 20 years ago now looking like the undercarriage of the Titanic. It was funny how small those woods looked. I walked back to my Jeep and watched 3 kids head for those woods with stick branches they used as guns.
I smiled.