Before we get started here, I have a strong recommendation for you guys. Amazon’s mp3 Deal of the Day is Sycamore Meadows by Butch Walker, which is a freaking masterpiece. And until midnight Seattle time (I presume) you can buy the entire album for just $2.99.
Do it! Do not hesitate. And don’t worry, I’d never heard of him, either… Rest assured, it’s nothing weird or experimental. It’s just straight-ahead pop/rock, done exceedingly well. The lyrics are great, there are plenty of laughs, and the songs will stick in your head until you feel like sawing the bitch off.
I’m serious, don’t let this one get past ya. Sycamore Meadows, along with this album, are my favorite semi-new releases. I recommend both, without hesitation, even at twice the everyday price.
After I posted today’s mockable, I went to Moe’s for a Nerf football sized burrito, and sat near a local celebrity. People were doing double-takes in there, and bumping into each other, but nobody approached him. They allowed the guy to ingest his 60 cents-worth of ingredients for $8.00, just like everybody else.
One thing worth noting: the dude was startlingly effeminate. I mean, seriously. I don’t think he has any muscles in his wrists, whatsoever.
There’s a guy who works at that Moe’s, with tattoos all over his arms. He built my lunch today… On one of my previous visits an old lady eyed him suspiciously, and finally said, “Are you a musician, or an artist of some kind?”
For some reason I find that to be hilarious.
It reminded me of my grandmother (one of the best humans who’s ever lived), at our wedding party. Toney and I were married by a judge in Atlanta, and had a kick-ass party at Swissotel in the evening.
My grandmother was starting to lose her marbles by that point, and was walking through the lobby with my Dad. There was an Asian man dusting there, and she zeroed in on the guy.
Then, after a few beats, she said LOUDLY, “John, I don’t think he’s our nationality!”
She meant no harm, I never heard her say a negative word, she was just making a statement of fact. Of course, it probably didn’t need to be shouted, like a person trying to communicate with someone trapped inside a collapsed coalmine. But, still…
A bit of advice: don’t listen to the George Noory radio show during a swine flu scare. By the time I got home last night I was near tears, and breathing through my shirt.
At first I was rolling my eyes and making snide remarks. More people have probably died from hot water tank explosions over the past two weeks… But as the doom and gloom started piling up, the blood drained from my face.
Yeah, many of the conspiracy theories contradicted each other, and a few were completely ludicrous, but I started thinking, “what if?” Sometimes the kookery starts to take its toll…
I was listening to Clive Bull talk about the same subject a couple of days ago, and his callers kept turning it into a joke. Clive was trying to be serious, but the listeners weren’t playing along.
One guy said he’s not worried about swine flu, because he has “oinkment.” Heh. Same subject, different perspective.
Have you noticed the gmail spam filter being overzealous lately? I think something got cranked-up a notch, because half my legitimate messages are going directly to the shitcan.
I think I might write a letter to someone about it.
My Dad told me that a man and woman showed up at their door a few days ago, and said they used to live in their house during the 1970s. They wanted to know if it would be OK if they had a look around.
Apparently their story was true, because some of the neighbors knew ’em, but I wouldn’t have let them inside. No way, in hell. I’m too suspicious, and imagine worst-case scenarios as the default setting.
But I guess they had a good time with these people, and heard a lot of semi-interesting stories about them raising kids in the house, etc.
What do you think? Would you be so trusting? Also, have you ever had an opportunity to return to a house or apartment where you lived many years before? I haven’t, but I bet it would be surreal. Like bumping into an old girlfriend who is completely familiar, but basically a stranger.
If you have anything on this subject, let’s hear it.
Also, have you ever worked somewhere that ruined a product for you? Toney used to work at the Dessert Place in Atlanta (are they still around?), back during a previous lifetime, and said she couldn’t stand the smell or taste of cheesecake for a full decade.
What about you? Have you had jobs that ruined an old favorite? I’ve got nothing, I’m afraid.
Finally, what’s your favorite food served on a stick? I like Fudgesicles an awful lot, but will have to cast my vote for corndogs. Man, I can’t get enough of breaded wieners on a spike!
And that pretty much zeroes out the ol’ notebook, boys and girls. I’m calling it a week.
Have a great weekend! I’ll see you on Monday.
categorically,undeniably the the ultimate and only worthy contender for the PERFECT food on a stick-which I just happen to be munching on- has to be………an olive!! lightly marinated in ice cold Tanqueray with a hint of vemouth:)
And here I thought I was the only Butch Walker fan in West Virginia! I’ve seen him live a gazillion times, he’s amazing.
Albatross on a stick is some fine eatin.
STEAK ON A STAKE IS THE BEST
Caramel apples are a good stick food. I like the ones caramel, chocolate, and crushed pecans.
Pagan – that’s the best “stick food” I’ve seen yet in the comments 🙂
Jason – oh, I forgot about caramel apples…I haven’t had one in ages. Yum!
Favorite food on a stick has to be drunk college girl with low morals. I bring my own stick. (Wishful thinking.)
Jeff: Was your local celebrity that Hazleton Mayor that hates Mexicans?
My mom and dad still live in the same house I grew up in, 40+ years ago and I like it that way.
Hooray! Hooray! The first of May! (Outdoor screwing starts today!)
I don’t know if this counts but…
I used to love to eat duck… I thought it was pretty darn tasty. Until I worked on a 1920’s era replica farm…
We had a duck and I just loved her. I even trained her to do little tricks…
I don’t eat duck anymore.
Ok Jeff…..I need to know who this local celebrity was at Moes.
Local and Celebrity are sort of an oxymoron though in reference to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area.lol
mmmmmmmmm, duck on a stick
Corn on a stick…. an ear about the size of the one in the bunker cam photo………. Now thats an ear of corn….muthrfuckr!
OK, all you infobitches with your facepage and mybook and ethersongs that download from nowhere. I bought Sycamore Meadows a couple months ago because Jeff’s recommendation is usually pretty good and because he couldn’t stop recommending this guy. By “I bought it” I mean that I purchased atoms formed into a cardboard cover and a plastic composition disc and slit the plastic and looked inside.
But I had broken my 4th personal DVD player this year (a $60 Sony DNS313F “unbreakable”) listening each night to audio books on my back porch, falling asleep, and crashing down the four cement steps that separate the porch from the patio. So I only had a couple old cassette players and plenty of cassette audio books and I listened to them whilst my 700 CDs slept on the shelf in my office/bedroom and Butch Walker remained in his sleeve.
So I bought a $15 Jensen CD player (probably not the original Jensen sound people; most likely Fred Jensen, a citizen of Taiwan and the World) and tried it out. It’s shit of course, and there’s no “carry time”. When you fart or burp, the music skips like the old days when the drunkest guy at the party fell across the turntable. But when I can stay perfectly still and not consume any gas-producing meals, I hear a sound.
And with Butch Walker, I hear a voice. He sings IN FRONT of the fuckin music like Bob Dylan used to do when he changed the world. I know it’s out of fashion, but it’s nice to hear the lyric, since somebody, in this case, Butch, went to some trouble to write it.
And it’s very, very nice, as is the music. Catchy buy still sufficiently complex, and hooky without being trivial. Now Jensen and I have been through the material a couple of times, and I want more, so I’ll tiptoe to the porch and hope for no earthquakes.
Thanks, Jeff. Butch really rocks.
johnthebasket