Pretty sure the tires are officially "fallen off".

If you live in New England its pretty hard to escape the local sports teams. Even the casual of casual fans these days can name at least one player on the Red Sox for example.

As of late (hell all of August) the team has been in an epic of sorts downward spiral. The team has not even won 10 games in the month and they are riddled with injuries.

After yesterdays loss the tires have really fallen off the party wagon. The college girls are putting away their Wakefield shirts and pink Red Sox hats. Fans are now saying they won't go to the games, and if they do, they will boo.

Ahh Boston, way to go.

The first thing people like myself are saying about the losing streak: Now maybe I can get a ticket for a game. The Red Sox have sold out the last 250+ games. They also have the highest ticket prices in all of Baseball. Earlier this season you needed to know someone that knew someone just to get tickets for a game vs. Tampa Bay. Now ticket holders are scrambling just to sell for "face".

Its a game people. I like it when we win too, but I don't let it take over my life.

So as the season winds down and couch coaches get cramps in their fingers from pointing out all the flaws I sit and I smile out of the side of my mouth and I can finally say "Now you know what it is like to be a Bruins fan.

Holy cow/crap/shit *blushes* **EDIT**

Some of you may know (actually if you come here often I make you aware) that I have a second blog called Forgotten Disc Friday. Each Friday I go back (with the help of some readers even) to an older cd that for some reason I was reminded of, and I give it a listen front to back all over again.

Recently I went to see the Foo Fighters and I went on to "blog search" and keyed in a few words about the Foos show and I landed on a local blogger (now linked) Ryans Smashing Life he local to me, likes a lot of the same music and posts mp3's.

Today I was checking out his blog and came upon a post from a day ago. He mentions his site was "noticed" by Boston.com. Here is that post. In it, he references a list of other blogs that Boston.com deems worthy of a mention. Check out #7 on this list.

Wow. Guess I need to work on my spelling and grammar more.

Update:
Thanks to Brad who updated me with a link to the full article from the Boston Globe. It is here.

Weekend and stuff.

Saturday: Mrs March and the kids are headed out of town. They are going to see Mrs. Marches family for the week. Long story as to why I am not going and its not juicy (I actually like my in-laws). Call it "saving vacation time for the holidays" if you must. I dropped them at the airport and then began to run errands. I had to hit Target and Home Depot (Bed Bath and Beyond if there is time...). I went to Barnes and Noble to get my hockey fantasy guide, grabbed some new garage shelves at the Depot. Ran in to Newbury Comics and even though I had a gift card from my birthday I still managed somehow to drop over 60.00. Then it was to Best Buy to FINALLY get Sirius and so far I like it. I got the boombox and I am kinda not that impressed with the difficulty in getting a signal. Even though the antenna is 100 feet long. I just can't and don't want wires all over the place. Once its set in the car I am sure I will be good to go. When I worked in the garage this weekend I had it on. The little I have listened I really like. I was able to toss the kayak in the water for a quick paddle in the late afternoon.

Saturday night I went to a party. The party started at 8 and yes..I was there at 8:20 and I was the "first to arrive". I guess having kids you are ready to go an make sure you are on time. They were fine about it, we had a drink and started in on the snacks. The party got pretty good. It was cool out so there was more people inside but I tired to hang out on the porch and it was fine for me.

I was one of, if not the oldest guy there and its always fun to watch people party. They are good at it! My only issue is/was with the music. Its not my party etc and what have you but after a while rap/dance music gets REALLY old. It was getting to be 12:30am and the music was still f'ing too loud. I'd walk past the stereo and turn it down a scant. WTF people might have to go to work tomorrow? Dunno. Call me old. Music gets people going but come 12 where are the stoners and the bean bag chairs with Dark Side of the Moon playing? Time to mellow out folks! hahaha.

Sunday: I got up and was pretty clear headed. I made some coffee and read the paper (well the stuff I read). I realized I wanted to get the Kayak back in the water so I changed and headed out. I paddled a river not too far from me for close to 1 hr. My shoulders were feeling it and it really looked like it was going to rain. I got the boat out, up on the loser cruiser (aka the mini van) I closed the door and it started to open up..it rained HARD for a bit, but it rained off and on the rest of the day/night.

I came home and realized I needed to get to the recycle center to dump off yard waste and it closed at 2..so I needed to rush. Got home, showered and decided I'd do "nothing". I watched Wolf Creek. It was moderate at best. I was going to meet KK for dinner. KK is moving out of state so it was our last chance to hang. Few beers and food and I headed home. I cleaned up some and decided to watch my other horror flick High Tension. I liked this one better, some great gore. Hit the hay soon after.

Oh..i had my first hit to this blog from Africa. Now I need the North and South Poles!!

FDF back from vacation.

A new Forgotten Disc Friday segment is up. Fresh back from a few days off. Thank you as always for clicking over.

Too much fun.

Wanna make one? Sure you do..go here to do so. Drop a line in the comment if/when you do so we can check out yer handy work

The Foo Fighters w/Frank Black at the Wang Center, Boston MA

Foo Fighters w/Frank Black
The Wang Center, Boston MA
Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Last year the Foo Fighters released a double album called In Your Honor. Disc one was a full on electric affair while cd 2 was an acoustic record. The band toured for the "rock side" and then decided to do a tour of the acoustic stuff. The band has been on the road for about one month now and made their stop in Boston last night.

The Wang Center is the largest "theater" in Boston. Used mostly for the big "Broadway" shows its not very often a "rock show" comes. The venue is stunningly beautiful and the acoustics are top notch.

I arrived to the venue about 7:15 and just made my way in. I had front row balcony and was taken to my seat. It was right on the isle (Mezzanine RT Center Row A seat 26). I had nobody in front of me and a little "shelf" to lean forward on to take it all in. This is a tapers dream location. I wired up and was ready to capture it all.

The pre-show music was Johnny Cash, a mixture of his American Music series cds as well as some live cuts. Right at 730 the lights dimmed and out came Frank Black. Frank Black is/was the lead singer of the Boston band "The Pixies". He has a slew of solo albums as well and he settled right down to work. Dressed all in black he ripped thru a 35 minute set with only 2 very short "thank yous" thrown in. He was very effective and I think made some new fans. He walked off..the lights went up and we waited about 20 minutes for the Foo Fighters.

For an "acoustic tour" there was a lot of gear and a lot of people. The lights go down about 8:30 and Dave took the stage solo, said hi and "are you ready"? The crowd cheers and he responds "Good, cuz I'm not". He sat down under a single spot light and began "Razor". The theater was dead silent which is always a plus. You wonder how people will behave in settings like this. After a few verses the entire band joins in and the volume quickly goes up 10 fold. I love this whole quiet/loud stuff. The band just all comes in and starts rocking. After thunderous applause the band moves quietly in to Over and Out. The percussionist (drew) adds some nice touches with the vibes. After this Dave says "Its nice to have an audience that doesn't beat the shit out of each other for an hour and a half."

There are 8 people on stage total. Pat Smear, who was with the band for some time is back for this tour, then Chris Shifflet off to the right (facing the stage mind you) on guitars. Dave front and center. To his left is Petra she played violin and mandolin, sang some backing vocals as well as lead on "Floaty". Bassist Nate Mendell was next to her. Across the back was piano/organ/accordion player Rami then drummer Taylor Hawkins (who i swear hits the drums as hard as anyone) and finally percussionist Drew Hester.

He introduces "Marigold" and that is was "really fucking old". Dave loves the f word I came to find out..which is fine. They just kept rolling and hit "Walking after you" next. The violin adds a lot to this song. Without stopping they go right in to "My Hero". This song really works well in an acoustic setting. Drew adds some nice chimes into the chorus and punches the feel. The band swells as one unit and the song never lets up. We are five songs in and the band is beyond tight and they are firing on all cylinders.

"Next Year" follows after Dave tells a funny story about how the band took their time recording their third record because they had no record label. He said it took 5 months to make and was "mellow" because they sat on their asses and ate ribs. For some reason about 1 minute into the song every hair on my neck arms and legs stood up. My buddy Jeff said a long time ago about Dave "Imagine if Nirvana let him do more than drum". I am paraphrasing but when I have moments like that I am always compelled to think "what if". "Another Round" followed. It was pretty straightforward.

Dave is one of the funnier guys in all of music. His "stories" in and out of songs really add a nice touch and he left the place laughing loud and often. When he introduced Pat Smear he noted that Pat was wearing flip flops. He said "What do you think this is a Widespread Panic show dude?" After a few seconds Dave says "You have No Idea who Widespread Panic is do you?" Dave dedicates "See You" to Mark Katz who helped Nirvana from the get go in Boston. Dave said all the music execs were "NERDS" but Mark was cool and helped them a lot. Mark was in the audience and Dave spoke to him a few times.
When Rami did a piano solo he was up on the high keys and Dave says "We need to get you a bigger keyboard ...you ran out of notes but with a bigger keyboard you can solo for like half an hour". He then introduced Nate on the bass and the bass line was this walking "Pink Panther like shit" as Dave said. Nate botches the solo some and Dave says "Did I mess you up?" The piano comes back in with the theme to the Pink Panther and Dave responds "Dude..more with the piano?"!

When he is introducing Petra people are yelling stuff so Dave says "Let me tell you about acoustics in theaters..sound it meant to go THAT WAY (points to us)". "When it comes back towards us it sounds like Charlie Browns parents". "Floaty" is sung by Petra and its really beautiful. "Big Me" follows and is a quick and to the point version. Dave just said that with 11 years worth of song some of them just "work" in this forum.

"What if I do" made its live performance debut. Dave botched the intro twice but the rest went swimmingly.

When he introduces Taylor they talk about his "stick spinning skills" ala "ricki rocket" (poison). Taylor and Dave have some fun banter and Taylor takes lead on "Cold Day". This is a real foot stomper. Taylor just can't hit the drums lightly. Its acoustic driven but its a very rocking.

Dave talks about "Skin and Bones" as being his "Bon Jovis Wanted Dead or Alive", he said "we need a song like that..cuz those are massive!". "Miracle" is dedicate to his four month old daughter who is backstage and will "probably have nightmares after hearing this". "Times like These" wrapped up the main set. The the did not slow down and Dave just said "we have this one last one..thank you". In the end the audience that remained in their seats shot up with a thunderous roar.

For the encore Dave, once again was alone on stage. He did a long intro the song "Friend of a Friend". He talked about how he was in a hardcore band in D.C and they went out on tour and the bassist left so they were stuck. Dave said he met someone that told him a band in Seattle had seen him play and wanted him to audition. This band was Nirvana. Dave told the story of how he met the guys and one was over 6 feet tall, the other was really short and never spoke. He thought they were "weird". He also told how the town that Krist (bassist in Nirvana) lived in stunk so badly due to the paper mills. He said "boil broccoli in your house and then shit in the water and you get the idea of how bad it stinks". After this story goes on (which was really funny) he said this was the first song he wrote on an acoustic guitar and it was written about that time.

"Best of You" followed. Again Daves banter made this song all the better. He spoke of how "most of the time on the road I am screaming my head off, so this is kinda nice..but I miss screaming" so he does a pretty rocking version of the song. Again, he is totally solo on this.

"Everlong" ends up wrapping up the show. Dave starts it solo and the version is as perfect as one could imagine. About 1/2 way in to the song the whole band joins in for a massive collection of sound. It was mind blowing. They leave to a standing audience with smiles and waves. A hell of a show indeed.

Here is the Set list.
Razor
Over and Out
Marigold
Walking After You
My Hero
Next Year
Another Round
See You
Floaty
Big Me
What if I do
Cold Day
Skin and Bones
Miracle
Times like These
E: Friend of a Friend
Best of You
Everlong

An open letter to the media

*image Rob Rogers, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania

Hello.
My name is March to the Sea and I watch TV and listen to the radio. I'd like to ask that you stop covering this Jean Benet Ramsey story. You have nothing to tell us and have nothing to tell us since the "arrest" was made.

You have done nothing to sway the public that "suspect" is innocent. Correct me if I am wrong but don't folks get a trial? The images you choose to show make the dude flat out creepy. The fact he had wine on the plane angers folks. Guess what, people drink, some folks too much. In a 15 hr flight he had 3 drinks...and lets face it..Champagne really is not a drink.

Its a shame it has to take the murder of a child for you folks to care about the exploitation of children.

Its time to move on.

March

ps - i am not defending this guy at all. He looks guilty to me and crimes against kids go a mile up my arse. I am just tired of the constant coverage of what he ate and drank on a 15 hr flight..Seriously! I watched the late news and we had to get "expert commentary" on why he was fed. Ummmmmm cuz he was hungry?

end rant.

Random stuff..

8 out of 10 adults are so dependent on their cell phones they can't bear to turn them off during sex.

Northwest Airlines gave out a booklet to soon be laid off employees that included a line "don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash".

Some French guys wanted to roll the biggest joint ever. It got to 32 inches before they got arrested.

When Madonna tours one of her demands..a brand new hermetically sealed toilet seat. It must be suspected by a member of her staff before it is installed (wonder what that gig pays?)

The direct medical costs of obesity have reached 93 billion a year in the USA. That is 9% of the country's health care bills.

Median cost for a parking space averages $15.28 a day in major US Cities.

A Student at the University of Central Florida set fire to his dorm room. The reason: To meet girls while the dorm was being evacuated.

A British supermarket chain will start to sell square watermelon. They do this by growing them in wooden boxes.

Kim Jong II sent Fidel Castro a get well message...he wished him a speedy recovery so he can continue the Cuban Revolution.

Did you know..there is a floating trash "island" TWICE the size of Texas stuck between Hawaii and California? Its stuck there due to slow winds and current.

Toyota has passed Ford and the #2 car in America. They build more cars in the USA than they do in Japan.

The latest version of the New Orleans telephone book has 100,000 fewer people listed and 17 fewer pages of business listings. The dining guide has been replaced with evacuation maps. (New Orleans Times -Pucayune)

Since the US Army raised the age limit to 42 only 5 people have signed up. (Time)

The US House of Representatives is scheduled to meet only 241 days this year. (Harpers)

Some 30% of Americans are not sure in which year Sept 11, 2001 took place. (Washington Post)

The average credit card debit of 25-34 year olds...$5,200.00 (Business Week)_

And we wonder why the rest of the world hates America.....

A Tennessee man has legally changed his middle name to "none of the above" in hopes of appealing to voters who are not sure of who they want to vote for.

Mobility scooters are very popular with "lazy shoppers" often times leaving the folks that need them without.

A camper is suing the US government because he fell off a cliff while looking for a place to pee during the night. The plaintiff said it should have been marked. He is suing for mental anguish.

A Connecticut town has banned a teenager from selling earthworms. The 13 year old opened his "nightcrawler" business and at its peak he was making 5 to 10.00 a month but because he erected a home made sign, he violated zoning laws.

Vacation...

Taking a few days off. I am going to do my best and keep away from the dreaded PC for a few days.
* i am not going anyplace that looks like this sadly.

Oh man..what have I done?

**again kinda family content but you may laugh, or at least feel my pain**

If you have a child, or niece/nephew/neighbor (or if you teach on the elementary school level) chances are if I say "Get your head in the game..go WILDCATS" 80% of them will know this line is from the massive (its crazy trust me) Disney Channel original movie High School Musical. For those of you not in the know its pretty much a tamer/yet modern version of Grease. Its harmless, its got good values and the soundtrack has outsold rap albums this year.

Anyhow, the guy that directed HSM (thats High School Musical don't cha know) has completed his next project TheCheetah Girls 2. It will be on later this month. Little March is the perfect target demographic for this yet again and she is ready to explode with excitement. (remember when this is all it took, we should all be this excited!).

Sundays Paper rolls in and in the flyers are an Ad for the CG2 soundtrack. If you get it at Target you can get a pre-sale password to try and get tickets to see the Cheetah Girls in concert. To 99% of all grow-ups this is hell on earth I am sure, but lets remain focused...its NOT ABOUT YOU! So, on my way to work I run in to Target grab the cd and then settle in to work. I had checked yesterday and it seems that the concert will be in Providence on a Sunday afternoon in October. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

I get my password I get in to Ticketmaster and I hit refresh..then it pops up.

Requeted 2
Selected "Best Available"
Hit Enter.
Enter hieroglyphics technical security code.
searching....searching....searching..
results.

Section 2. Row B. Ho-lee-CRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAP. Its only gonna be half the Dunkin Donuts Center (really its the name) but I just landed 2nd freaking row.

Part of me wanted to avoid "floor" seats because if you are too far back they'd never be able to see. I was telling Dim my tale and how if this was something i wanted tickets to I'd be in the nosebleeds wrestling with a 9.50 per ticket handling fee. A few years ago Little March and I went to see an ice show, and without even asking/trying I got tickets basically on the ice. Little March shook Cinderllas hand for goodness sake. Its hard getting "decent seats" because as adults, we know that they are usually hard to get and a lot more money. I can only hope that as she gets older she understands that stuff like this usually is not the norm but for one rockin night in October she won't care.

As an added bonus, one of the "stars" of HSM is going to be the opening act. Man this is gonna be a scream fest!!!

Now, some of you may be saying "what are you doing?!" and that "You need her to get to listen to the important music". First, most of the American people like American Idol so none of you are allowed to tell me what is "good or not good"...My second response is only "Let them be kids". Hey if she wants to listen to Miles Davis, hell I'll be right there with her. Did you listen to what your parents listened to? Probably not. Sure, she may look back in 10-12 years and say "boy that was really bad". Let them be kids. Take them out of that Ramones t-shirt and let them wear Hello Kitty.

Mrs March and I are gonna have to play a rock paper scissors tournament to see who gets to go. (wish me luck!)

Stuff..with no clear direction.

**some cute kid stuff in here so you have been warned**

Thursday I went out with some co-workers to celebrate a woman transferring to another group. I had 2 drinks, chilled then headed home. When I got home at about 9:45 Mrs. March said that little march was still awake and wanted to talk to me. So I headed upstairs and we chatted. At about 10, which was way past her bed time, I said "I need to eat some dinner". Little March said "Did you eat dinner?"! I said "No, I just had 2 drinks". Her response "Well that was not a very good dinner dad".

The company I work for has this massive family picnic every summer (its so big they have to do it over 2 days). Nothing beats the look on your kids face when they seem "amusement rides" and they ask "how many tickets are these rides? and you can say "Zero tickets..you just keep riding". The look on the faces of the Marches makes it all worth it. Walk up to a popcorn vendor and just grab, same with Fried Dough, drinks, icecream. As an adult I lose control....

Littlest March has a b'day later this month but due to time we had 2 b'day parties for him this weekend. The first was a b'day with his buddies then later was one with my parents and brothers etc.

We got a moonbounce that I set up Friday evening and the kids bounced until 10pm. We busted out some glo-sticks a little after 9. The kids went wild. Saturday the kids bounced probably all told 6hrs+ over the 2 parties. Best 100.00 spend it a long LONG time.

Littlest March got a play weedwhacker for his b'day. If the thing really worked i'd have the trimiest of the trim lawns anywhere ever.

Sorry the post is lame..but I got nuttin really. I am on vacation too starting tomorrow at 6pm...so I'll try to "bring it" then.

everybody has their own opinion....

A new Forgotten Disc Friday segment is up. Thank you as always for clicking over.

I am not here to fight...

Last night I made it a point to watch .30 Days. This is the show from the guy that did Super Size Me(rent it asap if you have not). The idea for the show is the same, people doing things for 30 days. The season is only 6 episodes long and I have missed the first 2 so far so I really wanted to tune in.

Per then norm the topic will divide people almost right down the middle. Barring last night when the idea was to put a woman that was an atheist in to a devoutly Christian Family.

The biggest thing I took from this episode is there needs to be more tolerance. Both sides were very civil towards one another but you can see the Christian side getting a little more upset that this woman did not believe in a higher power. I have to give credit to the wife on the Christian side. I think she let the atheist woman speak and had the attitude of "whatever" but not in a pissy sense. I think she listened and (at least the way it was edited) seemed to listen and not judge her. In the end she said "She was a mom that loved her kids and husband and that is what is important to her, and she is good at it".

Religion is a tricky subject. Each person has their own choice and that is what makes America so great. Tolerance is what people need. If you want to believe in Jesus so be it. If you want to worship a dead alien, so be it. Why do I care? If people would just mind their own business on things like this we would be a whole lot better off.

Every major war has been over 2 things. Land and Religion. It makes no sense to me that you'd want to shoot someone because they don't believe in the same thing(s) you do. ZERO SENSE. Read what you want, listen to what you want, worship how you see fit just don't impose it on others when they are not asking.

I know I am treading dangerous ground here. That being said do NOT leave a comment trying to sway me one way or the other, cuz I don't care what you think and I am not forcing my views on you.. I challenge you to find a portion of this post where I said one way is better than the other.

FX is running a marathon of the series on Saturday starting at noon eastern.

And since we are talking about all this, I stumbled upon this. Take it for what it is. (bizzare?!)

I'm done..back to farts and stuff tomorrow.

few short things this fine morning..

1. Little March and I decided to go out for breakfast today. It was delish. During breakfast there was a story on the Fox News Channel about this mom/grandma team that had their 10 year olds rob a store while they distracted the clerks etc. One of them told the kids what to grab for example.

In what I come to expect from Fox they have a guy come on and say "Well for the first time ever kids in a mall are actually not running all over the place and they are listening to their parents so I guess that is a good thing".

2. Had to get to camp "early" today because all kids are getting screened for Lice. Yes you read that right..lice. All the councilors are at the curb w/rubber gloves. It was horrid..but this is one exam you MUST pass..and yes..she did.

3. On my way back home I was on my usual news channel and there was an ad for the Home Depot. Just so you are aware it is un-p.c. to say "snow blower" now I guess. The home depot wants to let you know they are stocking up on snow THROWERS.

So from this point on do men need to ask for a...ahh forget it.

Completely random post 81271241

Why am I the only one comfortable with my own nudity?

a revelation...

This past weekend KK came down for the afternoon with his daughter. KKs wife is out of town and Mrs March was working the evening shift so we both were looking for "something to do". KK and his daughter came down and we had a real good time. The 2 Marches played well with little K. We ordered pizza, rode bikes, had popsicles..you name it. good times.

After KK left I was outside just picking up and I realized how fun it was. It was very simple. The kids pretty much entertained themselves. Sure, we needed to be "alert" since we had the kiddie pool going but still the kids just were kids, we had a tad bit of "conversation" (KK and I) and we were outside.

I am guilty of always feeling that need to entertain my kids. It feels like we always need to be going some where and doing something, but days like this make you realize, you really don't.

I was only joking when I said I'd like to smash every tooth in your head

A new Forgotten Disc Friday segment is up. Thank you as always for clicking over.

Uh oh....another addictive site and "around the dial"

Was shown this(thank god late in the day yesterday). Just answer the question Way or No Way and check your "bluffers score". Its very addictive..so be warned.

On the radio the last 2 days.

1st the bad/stupid whatever - Two women are suing a Rum maker because the "flaming shots" they drank "burned them". The company that makes the Rum has clearly marked on their bottles "Do not set on fire".

2nd the cool - Yesterday a woman in New Hampshire put 36 uncooked cookies on trays on the dashboard of her car, closed it up tight and returned at 3pm for cookies. She has done this 4 times in the past. She claims all you need is a day that stays over 95 for an extended amount of time. Can you imagine how AMAZING that car must smell.

All Over the Place today....

I am ALL over the place today...sorry.

First - Okay its hot today..we get it. People need to stop saying "its 1000 degrees outside" or flat out bitching about it. Remember this come February when it hardly gets over 12. Shut your pie hole, turn on a fan and RELAX. Its okay to do NOTHING when it is hot. The media also has pointers like "Drink lots of water and don't re-asphalt your roof during the mid-day hours". Ho-lee-crap. STOP. Are people that dumb?

On to the next thing.

Last night I played hockey. Great game. Had 2 goals and 2 assists. Then a cold beer in the locker room after. Good times. Headed home and had a snack and flipped around w/the remote to unwind.

Stopped by Letterman first. Caught a segment by the guys that put Mentos in Diet coke and then came back to catch Broken Social Scene. They were great and I need to re-visit that cd. I think there were 11 people on stage as well. I then headed back up the channels and landed on Leno just in time to catch Wolfmother do "Woman". Not too bad. The end was a little better honestly. I flipped over to Jimmy Kimmel but for some reason that channel was going in and out. I still love his monologues tho. Finally I watched what I thought was going to be just the intro to Conan. His first guest was none other than Will Ferrell. I am not sure this will pop up on You Tube (since NBC patrols that site pretty well) but the highlights

1) Ferrell in an SNL "cheerleaders" shirt that he bought in the NBC Gift shop. He commented on how much $$ he gets for each shirt sold (Zero)

2) The Ninja attack. I am not sure if I was overtired or what..but three ninjas came out and attacked Will and Conan. They fought them and "killed them" and had to cut to commercial.

3) Will saying that his new 2 year old has introduced him to stuff like Barney and the Wiggles so he was going to become a childrens singer. The name of his band was Captain something and the banana pants. (Capt ?? it escapes me). HE did a song called Mac and Cheese with kids around him. He pretty much said
I love mac and cheese
I have to ask my mom please
I eat it on the seas

The kids boo...kick him in the shins and he calls them bastards. I need to find this as I am giggling like a fool right now.

Second to last - ever need a new outlook on things..take a 7 year old out for donuts and sit there and talk.

Finally. I can hear Dim and Hotwires heads explode right about now

Hey..you just might care

Folks that know me personally probably know the story of the time I went to see a taping of Saturday Night Live. The reason I am posting this is that today is August 1st and that means that you can submit a request for tickets to a taping this upcoming season. Figured I'd share what I wrote back in Nov of 2004.

Saturday Night Live Taping November 13, 2004

Well I had the chance to see a taping of Saturday Night Live this past weekend. I hope to answer some questions, chronicle the experience for my own sake and of course tell you about the show.

To request tickets for SNL you need to submit during the month of August. Per the norm, I submitted and forgot that I had. In the middle part of September I was informed via phone I had gotten a pair of tickets for the 11/13/04 DRESS Rehearsal taping of the show. The woman was very helpful in explaining what that all meant. Basically the cast runs through the whole show that will air live later that night. The biggest thing is the Dress is 30 minutes longer than what will air later that night. They use the Dress to see audience reaction to some skits as well. The show flows the same way..opening skit, monologue etc. You get the bands 2 songs, Weekend update, full costume etc.

They mailed me a confirmation letter I needed to bring with me and that had any of the other questions that needed to be answered. (what to bring, where to be at what time etc).

Saturday was the day and a good friend of mine and I made the trek from MA to NYC. The drive was pretty good and yahoo directions were pretty much dead on. We only slowed for some solar glare in the the later parts of CT. (The orginal plan was to go w/Mrs. March and stay in NYC for the night but that didn't work out so well).

We needed to be in line no later than 6:45. If we were later we could "wave" our right to be there. We had about 50 minutes to get from parking over to Rockefeller Center so we just headed over. We ended up being about 12th in line. We checked in and got our tickets and were told to just "stay here". The tickets were cool, what a great keepsake I thought.

About 7pm they go through the line and tell you to have your tickets out and on your person, turn off your phones and we'd be heading up to the studio. We went thru a metal detector and were shuffled on to elevators that took us up to the studio. Again asked at the metal detector and before we got on the elevator to show our tickets. As we got off the elevator we had to show tickets AGAIN and were given wrist bands that read SNL 11/13/04 and were told to put them on and get in "this" line.

That line finally moved and i had to show my ticket again two more times to the random checker..then we got to the threshold of the studio and we had to GIVE OUR TICKET AWAY! Drat.

You enter the studio in the balcony pretty much at the center of the room. I was surprised that it was as small as it was. It is big, but small if that makes sense. Across the front of the studio there are three rows of seats and then on the ends it goes up to four rows. There is no extra balcony..so what you see when the camera shoots the host from the stage is it for seats "upstairs". The floor seats I will get to in a minute.

The 3 rows run pretty much the length of the room, 100/150 feet or so then it turns "slightly" inwards almost as if it was making a "C". We were on one of the curves..2nd row about 4 seats in. We were in front of the "guest bands" stage..about 20 feet back or so.

The lay out of the studio (if you were facing it walking in that main door). Main stage in front of you (this is where the SNL band is and the host comes out to do the monologue. First interesting thing about this is that the band stays there all night, the front of it moves out to extend it..but all in all this stage is used for the monologue, the curtain call and weekend update..that is it (at least on this night). The guest band stage is then to the left. There are about 35/40 seats on the floor but honestly it would be cool for the monologue and that is it..people had to get up and move a few times for cameras and set changes etc. There are sets pretty much all over the place. One might be on the far side of the room, one almost directly below you. You had to look at the monitors for a lot of things as angles were cut off. Some people groaned they could not see things..but the experience made up for it in my opinion.

Pre-show: Horatio Sanz comes out in a Santa Costume and we are told we are the background for the SNL X-mas picture..so we need to smile. The SNL band has been playing are they are really VERY VERY good. After that was done Don Pardo (the guy that introduces everyone) tells us what he hopes we will do when he announces Liam Neeson and then he introduces a cast member who comes out and "warms us up some". Its about a 5 minute comedy routine with the "where are you from" kinda things.

Then the lights go down people start moving all around on the floor and you hear yelling "30 seconds to air". Suddenly, the show begins. We get the first skit which was Bush calling Kerry at the beach. That ends and as the intro takes place of the cast everything is moved and people run to change. Liam Neeson comes out, we go crazy, and he does his thing.

The studio lights come up when there would be a "commercial" and the show is run for time as well as content. It all runs in order as you see at home when its live, skits, band, weekend update, skits, band, skits, curtain call. The cool part is we get to see 30 minutes of material that nobody else will see.

Weekend update was great..it was about 15 minutes long (never this long live) and Tina Fey and Amy Pohler were really good.

Modest Mouse did Float On first then Ocean Breathes Salty second. I felt they were tight and loud (again we were pretty close to them).

Then the show comes to a close and you see them set up for the Live show that will go up 90 minutes later. Its amazing to see how quick and fast these people work. Some folks reading may have experience with this, but I do not so it was very cool to see.

I can easily say its something I would do again in a heartbeat..just very cool to see and its one of those things were even if you were "ehh" on the host and musical act you are one of less than 300 people witnessing what could be the next "waynes world" or what have you.

Sounds cool eh? If you want go here and be SURE TO FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. Good luck!

Oh, while you are here, take a second to check out my other blog Forgotten Disc Friday  where I "dust off" a record and give it a listen front to back, post tunes and just chat up records.  Hope you will check it out.