Exit Santa, Stage Left

I completed my run as Santa Claus at Santaland Saturday, December 16, with a 6-hour performance with barely an intermission, due to the large number of children and parents in attendance, apparently more than either of the two days I played Santa last week.
My last day as Santa was without Val, because she was back to her horrible overnight work shift and fast asleep during my final shift in the red suit and white hair and beard; I did receive the help of two elf/red and green-clad helpers from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., both females and seemingly high school students or college freshmen. They were very good with the children and parents, but barely spoke to Santa; this Santa was familiar with not being talked to by high school females about 30 years ago and knew the drill. Christa Vidaver of the Western New York Coalition for Progress acted as my helper for the second half of Saturday, and was much more friendly to me.
One of the funniest (to me) visits to Santa occurred this past Saturday. A girl sat on my lap and told me of a couple presents she wanted for Christmas, but seemed to be holding something back. After I twice asked her if there was anything else she wanted, she looked at me and in a hushed tone said, "there is one other present, Santa, but it is kind of an adult present and not a toy. I don't know if you know what it is." I had no idea what she was getting at, so I told her to ask me, because my elves could make anything. "It's a foosball table, Santa. Do you know what that is?"
Once again, the children's wear consisted of a lot of Buffalo Sabres clothing, from hats and jerseys to sweaters, sweatshirts and t-shirts, and more Buffalo Bills clothing than last week. Parents seemed to follow in the pattern of the children, except for one standout, a man who wore a black leather jacket with a large red "W" on the front that I immediately, and happily, recognized as the University of Wisconsin insignia; the back of his jacket bore the words "Wisconsin Badgers" with a large, striding Bucky Badger, the school mascot, in the middle. Being a Wisconsin fan, I remarked to him (his children had already dashed off, candy canes in hand) that I liked his jacket. "Thanks; you brought it to me last year," he replied with a smile.
It was kind of sad when the day ended and I took off the Santa Claus costume for the last time, with someone else (a surprise Santa I'm not certain the identity of who has been revealed to too many yet) portraying Santa Sunday. It was a lot of fun seeing how much so many of the children enjoyed visiting and taking to Santa, even with the occasional meltdown and the other times the children just refused to come up to talk to Santa. The approaches the children took, from very business like to fawning to nervous and innocent of the whole asking for gifts situation, were interesting, and even more interesting was how the children handled and approached these situations.
I thank Amy Maxwell and Revitalize Buffalo and Alan Bedenko and the Western New York Coalition for Progress for not only giving me the chance to be Santa and to feel a bit different and better about myself for a short time this holiday season, but for decisively and selflessly acting to take on a problem and turn it into not only an opportunity, but for giving children another reason to be just that, children, and to enjoy themselves this holiday season. I may have received a lot of attention in the Buffalo News and on various television stations and web sites during this event, but that is simply because I portrayed Santa and was in the limelight. Amy, Alan, Christa and all of the people they worked with and represent are the true heroes and really deserve a lot of credit.
But after this year, I can truly say, with new conviction, ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas, as well as Happy Holidays to all.

Walking the Dog With Company

I took Walker Evans on his daily walk at about 5 p.m. yesterday, and headed north on Norwood Avenue; at the first corner, who did we encounter but Prego and the Prego Pup; we waved, then joined forces as we realized we were heading in the same direction and that our dogs have met a few times and were friendly with each other.
Indeed, as Prego and I talked about hockey, wives, hockey, music, work, health and hockey, our dogs romped around, sniffed each other and everything else in reach, peed as if they each drank a gallon of water beforehand and, when two dogs were sighted across the street and about a half-block away, they joined forces standing between Prego and I and the other dogs and let loose with some serious barking.
As we parted, we spoke of getting together to watch some Sabres hockey, possibly last night, but it's a good thing I ended up too tired to move much of Saturday night/Sunday morning, due to the Sabres' 3-1 loss to Ottawa.

Where, Oh Where, Has Our Bfloblog Gone?

While the Buffalo Sabres were defeated by the Ottawa Senators Saturday night, 3-1, with the Sabres playing good at times and not so good at others, I and many other people in Buffalo and elsewhere have a larger concern.
There was no open live thread for the hockey game posted at Bfloblog, probably Western New York's best sports blog, as Kevin and Mark do every game. I hope that this was just due to being busy and other holiday time commitments, and that there is not a larger problem for the guys and their blog.
Tune in later today to see if they have an open live thread for the Buffalo Bills' game.

Beefcake, Buffalo Sabres Style

Readers here should remember that Val's favorite Buffalo Sabre is forward and co-captain Daniel Briere, one of the hardest working and most talented Sabres who is their leading scorer at this moment with 38 points (14 goals, 24 assists) and a good bet to go to this year's NHL All-Star game.
But Val is not shy about her admiration for, shall we say, Briere's apparent "good looks," and still fondly recalls an advertisement Briere did last year for Sabres' tickets in which he sat in front of his locker without a shirt on; other women have also commented on how much they enjoy this commercial. I do have to admit that Briere looked much more ripped/in shape than I expected.
This admiration continues; someone hit our blog on December 14 through the search "shirtless Daniel Briere." I can only imagine what the sales would be like if a shirtless Daniel Briere poster was for sale. And no, no one has hit our blog through the search "shirtless Kevin Hosey," a nod toward the intelligence of our readers.

One More Time into the Santa Breach

Santaland, brought to you by the fine efforts of Revitalize Buffalo, the Western New York Coalition for Progress, Amy Maxwell, Alan Bedenko and a host of volunteers, will be held again this weekend, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, December 16 and 17, at Chestnut Ridge Park in Orchard Park.
After portraying Santa Claus both days last week, I will get to play the jolly guy in the red suit and white hair one more time, Saturday; unfortunately, Val returns to work this weekend and will not get a chance to renew her role as Santa's cute helper. There will also be a surprise Santa Claus Sunday who deserves thanks and congratulations; I won't spoil the surprise.
Donations for the Western New York Foodbank, particularly of baby formula, are needed and will be gladly accepted, as well as cash donations.

Not a Nickname Fan, Sabres Edition

Nope, I've never been much of a fan of nicknames, neither for people (unless they always use it instead of their real name) nor of the contraction short names for offices, departments, sports teams, etc.
So, that statement leads me to this: Dear people who call the Buffalo Sabres "The Sabes." STOP IT NOW. You are only dropping one letter, r, one sound, "ur," and you are looking like lazy, Johnny-Come-Lately douche bags when you call the Sabres this.
Thank you, and please return to your regular blogging and reading.

More Musical Memories: The Ramrods

I recently wrote about coming across a cassette of music by the Moment, one of Buffalo's best original bands, and since I got a good response and because I do listen to older local material as well as more recent releases for reviewing, etc., I will mention another recording of a band from days ago I am enjoying.
The Ramrods were one of the hardest rocking bands in this area during the late 1980s and 1990s, and while the band, singer Bill Scott, guitarists Pat Neal and John Paa, bassist Norm Schwegler and drummer Craig Voigt, released a 12-inch 45 RPM record, the band's CD was never released, or at least not until about a year and a half or two years ago.
The Ramrods' ass-kicking, rock and roll meets punk rock meets MC5 meets flame throwing R&B and 1960s rock sound is captured about as well as one could imagine. Songs like "While the City Sleeps," "Totaled," "Rockroll," "Heavy Shakin' Mamas" and "Full Tank/I'm in Love with My Car," some recorded in the studio and others recorded live, still send that chill down my spine and sweat down my brow. Damn, this is a great CD, one Val and I got at the last Ramrods' reunion show at Mohawk Place about a year and a half ago. I'll check to see if any more are available.

Here Comes Santa Claus, Part 2

The second day of my portrayal of Santa Claus at Santaland, brought to you by several fine groups led by Revitalize Buffalo (Amy Maxwell) and the Western New York Coalition for Progress (Alan Bedenko) went a lot like the first day, with mostly great kids and several annoying parents.
The main difference was the major increase in children and families attending Santaland and giving me their Chirstmas/holiday gift lists. Not only did we have about double the number of children that attended Saturday come through on Sunday, but I noticed that many more came in packs, um, family groups.
Some families chose to come up one child at a time, something that made sense to me unless one of the children was very young and needed an older child or parent with them. But a good number walked up to me all at once; two or even three children is OK, but when it got to five and six children at a time, you almost always had some children fighting, one crying and pretty much none of them listening to you.
But you never get impatient, or at least show your impatience, and just keep remembering that Santaland, and for the most part Christmas aside from the actual religious component, is for the children, and for the kids to enjoy themselves. You learn quickly just how serious some children take Santa, or someone like me (very tall, etc.) playing Santa, and the general presence of someone who has so much power in granting them their gift wishes and how scared some children become. You also find out how stupid some parents are in forcing their children to go up when they are scared; this includes the occasional parent who actually starts yelling at their child when they are scared. Yeah; ho, ho, ho, you insensitive morons.
But these few bad parents don't stop you from performing your Santa duties, and the smiles you see in the children's faces make it more than worthwhile. Even the 10 or so meltdowns Val counted Sunday didn't get us down.
I will be playing Santa Claus one more day, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, December 14, with a special guest portraying Santa from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. One tip if you are attending Santaland Sunday; last week, the largest crowds of people started arriving in the late morning, possibly just after Mass around 11 a.m., and the attendance started waning after 3 p.m. With the Bills playing at home at 1 p.m. Sunday, this may complicate things.

Here Comes Santa Claus

For the second straight year, Santaland, which was previously run by Erie County, was saved from non-existence by volunteers, this year led by Alan Bedenko, head of the Western New York Coalition for Progress, and Amy Maxwell, the tireless Buffalo booster from Revitalize Buffalo.
I haven't really had the chance recently to give back to the community in ways I should (I have been very fortunate over the years and remain so), and when I heard that someone was needed to be Santa Claus this year, I volunteered to do so. Amy provided me with the costume, which fit much better than was expected for someone of my height, and with Val as Santa's helper, we headed down to Chestnut Ridge Park Saturday morning for the first day.
We got there just in time, and there were a couple of children ready as soon as I sat my red self down; I was fortunate to start the day with a brother-sister team who were considerate, well-mannered and spoken and intelligent. It may surprise some readers, and actually pleasantly surprised me, but the large majority of children were very well behaved, at times better behaved than some of the parents. A couple parents were, oh, shall we say, pushy in their setting up of photos of their children individually, then in teams and then with friends, but hey, Santa was there for the kids, and that always helps you get past the less friendly elders.
Indeed, we only had about five of what Val accurately called "meltdowns," children who just became inconsolable and bawled uncontrollably, We had a few more children who began to sniffle as they realized that their just moments ago loving parents had deposited them onto the lap of some strange, large, white-haired fellow in a red suit who started asking them questions. One of the meltdowns, albeit a slow one, was provided by Mia, the incredibly cute, brown-eyed daughter of WGRZ-TV reporter Stefan Mychajliw, who gave Santa and her father a serious "how dare you?" look after Stefan put her on my lap for about 5 seconds before the tears and removal started.
The gifts the children asked for were varied, but some trends developed; Diego dolls, all things Princess, Star Wars items, X Boxes, video games and PS3 games were the most asked for toys, while Buffalo Sabres jerseys were also very popular, the single most asked for clothing item. At least 10 children asked for Sabres jerseys, including two specific requests each for Max Afinogenov and Ryan Miller jerseys and one for a Daniel Briere jersey, as well as requests for Sabres hockey sticks.
One hockey jersey request raised some parental eyebrows. A brother and sister were brought up to Santa by their parents; the girl asked for a Sabres jersey among other items, and after her brother asked for a few toys, he asked for a hockey jersey. When his mother asked him to tell Santa which one, he said "The Senators," and repeated it when she asked him a second time. She then asked him which player, seeming to think that he would name a Sabre. "Ray Emery," he said with a smile, naming the Ottawa Senators' goalie.
One thing I am still learning, despite Val's repeated warnings/advice before we started and continued to tell me to watch for during my first day as Santa was to stay in my "Santa voice," and not just for the "ho, ho, ho" portion of being Santa. I tried and tried, and things got better as the first 6-hour session went on, but I still have to work on it, especially when a parent asks me a question. But at least none of the children caught me or corrected me.
Another concern that worked out better was drinking hot chocolate; Val got me a straw to use, and fortunately, my beard has an actual opening where one's mouth would be, between the mustache and beard portion, so I was able to drink the hot chocolate without lifting up the beard. I did have to lift the beard for the small half-bag of potato chips I ate, my only food, and really, the only food I could have eaten with all of the children visiting. Otherwise, the beard and wig are pains in the arse from which you have to clear stray hairs from your mouth and eyes all day long.
All told, I had a great time as Santa Claus on day one, with great help and support from Val as well as the Santaland volunteer staff, and hope to have more fun later today and at least one day next week. See you there, and, you guessed it, ho, ho, ho.

Outlyers at Nietzsche's Tonight

Join Val and I as we catch one of our favorote bands, the Outlyers, at 7 p.m. tonight, Friday, December 8, at Nietzsche's, 248 Allen Street.
Anyone curious about this rocking roots band can check various stories and reviews posted to our web site, Buffaloroots, or the Outlyer's web site.

Hoots and Boots

Val and I have introduced a new feature at our related web site, Buffaloroots, called Hoots and Boots. Because we receive more CDs than we are able to give full-length reviews to, we will now be able to review more CDs (and DVDs coming up soon) in slightly shorter fashion.
The first edition of Hoots and Boots features CDs by Nancy Apple and Rob McNurlin, Ed Bentley, Hayes Carll, the Fleshtones, the Missing Planes, Stephen Merritt, Whiskey Daredevils and Wilco. There will be many more CDs and DVDs to follow, with a few more reviews to come very soon.

23 Flavors of Annoyance

I am a big, big fan of Dr. Pepper; indeed, I am a fan of cola and/or cola style pop, or as some of you less refined people call it, soft drink or soda pop.
But I haven't had any Dr. Pepper in a long time, maybe a year or more; one reason was that, at my previous job, when I took the 20-ounce screw-off top bottles to work, I would have to leave the newsroom and either go to the men's room sink or the sink in the production area near our dark room, because it would always, without fail, fizz over and squirt as far as my careful opening would allow it. No other pop would do this with even general regularity, but Dr. Pepper ALWAYS fizzed over on me.
Well, Wegmans had 2-liter bottles of Dr. Pepper on sale yesterday, so I gave in and bought one. I could not recall the 2-liter bottles ever fizzing over on me. After Val let for work tonight, I got the dog's green chew bone out of the kitchen and, having put the Dr. Pepper in the refrigerator earlier today, I figured it was time to have a nice, big glass of it.
Well, you probably already guessed it; despite my slow turning of the cap, burping the bottle and letting some air out before closing it and then opening it again, the bottle fizzed over, and I spent a few minutes wiping Dr. Pepper off the kitchen table, bottle itself and a touch on the floor. Does anyone else have this problem with Dr. Pepper?
But damn, does it taste good.

Happy Birthday, Buffalo Pundit

Val and I want to extend our best birthday wishes to Alan Bedenko, best known as must-read blogger Buffalo Pundit and also the head of the Western New York Coalition for Progress
Due to a memorial Mass for my late father Edward and the fact that Val has to work tonight, we cannot attend the birthday party being held for Buffalo Pundit at one of his favorite/favorite Buffalo/Western New York pizza places, Zetti's Pizza and Pasta, 3500 Main Street, but we will make sure we catch up with the revelers this holiday season.

Good Bye, Home of the Hits

Word has just come in that one of the best independent record/music stores Buffalo has ever supported, Home of the Hits, 1105 Elmwood Avenue, will sadly close its doors for good by the end of December.
While we know that brick-and-mortar music stores, particularly independent ones, have been hit hard by mammoths such as Wal-Mart and Target and their sometimes ridiculously low prices, as well as the increasing popularity of digital music and downloads through outlets such as iTunes, good independent music stores such as Home of the Hits and New World Record, also on Elmwood Avenue, added the knowledge, fun, sense of community and occasional snarkiness (see "High Fidelity") that make music more than just listening, but a shared, vital experience. As a former employee of Cavages, I know how much better this certain audience was served by stores such as Home of the Hits.
Sadly, due to financial considerations, my music purchases have been rather limited these last few years, which reduced my recent visits to Home of the Hits to zero, but there was no single store or musical experience, with the exception of my time DJing at WBNY 91.3 FM, that helped me enjoy, appreciate and learn about music more. I first visited and bought music at Home of the Hits, an album no doubt, about 25 years ago, and I honestly cannot remember if it was Home of the Hits or Play It Again Sam. I cannot remember every clerk, associate, manager or whoever worked here over the years, but those who stand out in my mind include Marty Boratin, Jim Krawczyk, Phil Maltby, Rich Wall, Eric Van Rysdam (EVR), Chris Celeste and its owner for all of these years, Jennifer Preston.
While some might wrongly say that she was just a business owner, I thank Jennifer for keeping Home of the Hits open as a must-visit store for local music fans and visiting musicians and others interested in good music, independent and major label. Having lived across the street at 1094 Elmwood Avenue, as well as on nearby Potomac Avenue and Baynes Street, I spent what some would consider an excessive amount of time at the store. On Saturdays, laundry days, I would spend hours there, talking to the staff, other shoppers, friends and whoever on all aspects of music and life, and I would hate leaving without buying at least one recording or t-shirt. I got the best and largest part of my old punk/new wave button collection at Home of the Hits, as well as some great 45s.
I have no idea what the plans are for the building and property, owned by Jennifer, nor do I know about the future of the staff. I do know how much the store, its staff, owner, patrons and supporters meant to me and to Val, who also spent hours, days and weeks of her life at Home of the Hits. I do know it will always take up a large part of my formative years and memory.

Another Tearjerker

To continue a recent thread, while I listened to a CD from our wedding party marked "Slow," for relatively slower, softer songs than the others Val recorded, yesterday, I heard another song that sometimes makes me cry, but in a good way, "Lost Together" by Blue Rodeo, from the CD of the same name.
For those of you unfortunately not too familiar with Blue Rodeo's work (Val and I are just a wee bit; we've each caught Blue Rodeo live 10-15 times, including at the Stardust Picnic in Toronto, and have basically all but one or two of their CDs), the song is about two people who are a bit aimless and not sure what they have to live for who find these things in each other.
Again, your suggestions for songs that produce tears are welcome.

First Holiday Shopping Venture

Following a 9 a.m. work commitment, since I was out in Tonawanda, I went to the Boulevard Mall for some early holiday shopping this morning. I was using this session mainly as a reconnaissance, because Val and I concentrate our shopping in two places: the Elmwood Avenue area and the Internet.
This first shopping effort was being used for one main reason, to find out if, where and for how much stores in the mall had Buffalo Sabres hats, clothing, holiday ornaments and other merchandise. The second, ancillary mission, was to check on jeans prices for Val and I, and my main purchase was a pair of black denim jeans for myself, along with a couple pairs of heavy winter socks.
I discovered this: Laux Sporting Goods not only had a good amount of Buffalo Sabres' merchandise, it was overwhelmingly the new colors (which we like) and slug logo (which we still can't stand). The best discovery I made was that Laux had two hats Val and I have been looking for, the new colors with the Sabre going through the "B" with "Buffalo Sabres" underneath. It wasn't the "B," Sabre, words and stars hat you see on the players, but very close, apparently missing only the stars. The hat came in both dark blue and off white/cream, and cost $18.99.
Otherwise, it was interesting to observe that almost no Sabres' merchandise is available in the major department stores there, or no doubt elsewhere, including those stores which have carried Sabres' merchandise in the past.
Val and I wanted to check out the Sabres Store at HSBC and possibly the New Era Hat Company store in downtown Buffalo today after she woke up, but neither are open Saturdays, something that both surprises and disappoints me.

Giving Thanks for Family, Friends

Like most of us, Val and I were fortunate enough to spend Thanksgiving in a relatively quiet manner, with our family. Val and I picked my mother Sheila up and went to Val's sister Tricia's house, where she, her husband Brad and their son, Jack, almost 2, entertained us along with Val and Tricia's mother, Janice; the meal and company were wonderful.
My Thanksgiving started a bit earlier than expected with a nice surprise. Walker Evans, who is feeling much better, thank you, started barking around 9 a.m., which woke us up. I was wondering why he was barking more than he would if a dog or person walked by the house when Val said, "I think I heard the doorbell, hon." I hadn't heard the doorbell, but it made sense, so I headed downstairs to check and, if nothing/no one was there, to start the dog's food.
I looked out the front door as I got down the stairs; I saw nothing at first, then a bald head I immediately recognized. I went to the door and greeted Prego and Prego Pup from Rust Belt Ramblings. Apparently, Mrs. Prego was getting rather, er, intense about the Thanksgiving preparations (roast duck at their house), so Prego figured a little bit of air and company of a dog were good things. We ended up talking about a half hour in much warmer and sunnier than expected weather.
Today, Friday, while I was taking Walker Evans on his walk, the driver of a car driving past us on Bryant Street toward Richmond Avenue honked his horn; I turned to look and saw a friend of mine from college, Kurt Hartman, who pulled over and got out of his car to talk. I haven't had the chance to talk to Kurt in years (we knew each other mainly from Student Union Board at Buffalo State College, where he was a big wig and I was a volunteer concert security person and USG Senator/wanker), so we caught up on a lot of things.
It seems like the smaller, unspectacular events around Thanksgiving are the best, like the three above.

It's a Dog's, Dog's World, Even When Sick

Walker Evans Dunne Hosey, the canine resident of the Dunne-Hosey Estates, has a bit of a checkered past. He was a rescue dog, or a pup of the streets if you will, weighing 35 pounds full frame when he was found in the LaSalle Bus Station parking lot and 40 pounds when Val brought him home; he is now a healthy 76 pounds. But thanks in part to his bad eating habits while homeless, he developed bloat and almost died; his stomach is sewn to his chest cavity/rib cage wall, and he also has gastritis.
So, this means that every so often, but fortunately not very often in the last year or two, Walker gets this penchant to lick everything and eat grass, which is followed by throwing up his dinner and other stomach contents, then bringing up white foam for a bit before things slow down and eventually get back to as close to normal as he comes. Most often, this includes a visit to the veterinarian, Brighton-Eggert Animal Clinic, for us.
Well, as you may have guessed, it struck again last night/this morning. I actually got to bed at 1 a.m. (while Val was a work), and at 1:50 a.m., I was woken by lots of licking and gagging. By 2 a.m., there was a large, steaming pile of dog puke at the foot of the bed, which meant I had to go downstairs, get a plastic bag, paper towels and some Resolve rug cleaner (we have two kinds: the foaming spray and the two-into-one heavy duty stream, which kind of sounds like me after a pot of coffee). After the cleanup was done, I finally got back to sleep after calming down Walker as well; at 4:19 a.m., he was gagging and brought up some white foam, which took a while to clean up (hard to get it to stay on a paper towel). At 4:44 a.m., there was more gagging, but only a silver dollar size section of foam. Between the cleanup and my wake up at 6 a.m., I slept about 30 minutes total and pet and calmed down Walker again.
With Val due to get home from work at about 6:45 a.m., I switched my morning routine, difficult for someone as anal as me, and ate breakfast first, so Walker would not be left alone to puke, lick or whatever. So Val got home, I got into the shower and went to work while Val and Walker slept.
I left work a bit early (using some hours I had) to run a few errands, and when I got home, I was told that he was doing a lot of licking, although, fortunately, he had not thrown up the white rice I had cooked and fed him. This is the food our vets have told us to feed him when he gets this way. So, off we went to Brighton-Eggert. Fortunately, following a full exam, x-rays and so on, Walker is now much more calm and feeling better, and we are increasing the frequency he takes his metoclopramide to once a meal over once a day for preventative reasons. The veterinarian also said we could give Walker Pepsid, up to 20 milligrams at a time, if he needed it.
There is nothing we wouldn't do for Walker, but I am hoping to get a wee bit more sleep tonight.

Welcome, Young Man

While late, Val and I would like to congratulate Mr. and Mrs. Geek of BuffaloGeek upon the birth of their son, Cole, last week. It appears that Tracy Diina, who Val used to hang around with in CYO, is next to add to the population of the Buffalo Blogosphere.

A Dear Friend Says Goodbye to a Dear Pet

Val and I send our dearest, deepest sympathies to our good friend, singer/songwriter Alex Lynne (Manias), who lost her dear, close friend, confidante and pet, her cat Daisy, over the weekend.
Daisy spent her 19 years with Alex, and Alex was always proud of her and trading stories with Val and I about our pets and how they shared our lives. There is no way you can overestimate the closeness between Alex and Daisy, and Val and I empathize with Alex, being so close to our pup, Walker Evans.
As well as being a good friend, Alex was one of two people, along with Toby Sachsenmaier, who convinced Val and I to go beyond friends and start a romantic relationship.
Strength and love, Alex, and enjoy your new journey, Daisy.

Crying, Over a Song

Thank you, Roy Orbison, for the lead-in paraphrase (I was damn lucky to catch him in concert at Kleinhans Music Hall in the late 1980s, with the JackLords opening) for this sensitive post.
We all have them, many of us won't admit to them, but there are songs that make us cry every time we hear them. I was listening to a CD today when it happened: Richard Thompson's tale of love, death and robbery, "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," from his underrated "Rumor and Sigh" CD, always gets me weepy. Another song that gets me crying is "Thousands Are Sailing," on the Pogues' "If I Should Fall from Grace with God" CD; the story of immigration, including the journey itself, and the contributions of people of Irish descent on America, reminds me of my grandparents, particularly my late grandfather William Hosey, who came to America from the town of Stradbally in County Laois, Ireland.
I am interested in hearing what songs make you cry and, if you care to explain, the reasons why.

Television Promotional Annoyance

I realize that the title could include hundreds of current items, but the one that stands out in my mind is the "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" drive, slogan and commercials on NBC to promote its "Heroes" program.
I'll be short: I don't give a flying f@#* about the cheerleader, world as NBC sees it in this instance or the piece of crap program, and even more, I hate it when a network tries to pretend and/or get people to believe that an expression like this just happened to become popular or tripping off the tongues of people in a populist, groundswell movement instead of being a cloying, calculating promotional move with no real popular, of-the-people support. I know, this is what promotional campaigns can be, but I don't have to like them.

I'm an Ineffectual Pseudointellectual

Some of you may agree with that thought, but I'm actually referring to a lyric by one of my favorite Buffalo bands and I believe one of the best Buffalo bands from the 1980s-early 1990s, the Moment. I found a tape of theirs (later period) and was cranking it in my car the last few days, with the above lyric included.
The band was made up of Jim Redden on guitar and vocals, Jimmer Phillips on bass and vocals and Jimy Chambers on drums and vocals. While all went on to other bands of some success and renown (most notably Chambers as drummer, percussionist and other contributions to Mercury Rev), the Moment was an amazing blend of Mod, psychedelic, pop, rock and even shades of progressive rock at times. The band performed a wonderful reunion show 2-3 years ago at Mohawk Place, and I'd love to hear another some day.
Cry away ...