ManicRobThrill

Monday, May 28, 2007

Interesting enough to share

A relaxing weekend and sorely needed; I can't emphasize that enough. Nonetheless, a brief point of interest, which makes for interesting reportage.

While home Saturday night, a friend of mine called. He and I used to work together in the Atlantic days and a few months ago, I asked him to take over maintaining the MySpace page for The Punch Line. I figured there was nothing more nor less to be said or done on the topic--I don't even remember the last time the subject came up in this blog. Nonetheless, he called as he'd heard that myself, Marc and Carl (the original 2nd guitarist and bass player, respectively) had been planning on playing together again. I told him (and this is for the record) no, we are not; I have nothing but the greatest admiration, respect and affection for the Treboschi brothers but we are very different people from who we were in 1983. I have no intentions of playing with any permutation of The Punch Line again, nor do I have a desire to play in a band again. It was a friendly and warm conversation; please don't misconstrue my tone. I just found it interesting that such a subject would come up since I laid the band to rest nearly a year ago. How did he hear this? How would this come up?

Nevertheless, we talked about it for a while; why I finally pulled the plug and what the factors were leading up to the absolute ending (being owed money [even now]; the lack of musical freshness, the lack of interest by the principals and so on). Hopefully, it will leave this subject in the past tense and not crop up again. No negatives meant towards anyone who likes The Punch Line's music; it's just that I no longer am involved in that band; it's defunct and should remain just a happy memory of the '80's (I'll decline to dwell on the last go-round). As I said a paragraph ago; I don't remember the last time I mentioned the band in this blog. It's a past subject; why bring it up again? Of course there's business, but it's only of a people-ordering-CD's-nature and nothing else. I'm cautiously optimistic that I don't need to explain any of it again, or worse, sound like I'm taking a defensive tone. If anything, I think it's evidently clear that it's the same old story as many bands--someone tires of it and leaves or it ends. That's how I see this. It was tired; it wasn't fun and it wasn't rewarding musically or personally. It was only a local rock band.

Hope that shed some light.

In any event, been a great weekend. I think it sets a great tone for the week ahead. Planning on seeing friends at the end of the week and family on the weekend. At least I only have four days to leap through.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Anticipation

My favorite holiday weekend starts this afternoon; a shortened work day and a lot to do in the aftermath. Got to run down to Astor for the summer's first buzzcut, then home to do groceries and a quick stop at the gym to get some time in.

Looking forward to the down time, although nothing's really planned. That's what I love about this particular long weekend. Groceries tonight and then anything Liz and I want to do goes!

Have a great weekend.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Weekend rewind (where was I?)

Been busy--what more can I say? The last few weeks at work (as recent events can attest) have been a whirlwind grind. Between that and monitoring my father's progress, it's been a tiring period.

Nonetheless, the weekend started off on all the right notes--did our groceries Friday night on the way home from the train; Saturday grey skies meant a warm Starbucks run and then to bring my dad his groceries, etc. Dropped Liz off at the ferry (her day spent with the lovely C.B.) and a day to myself. Strummed the new guitar for a while, but the rain led me to concentrate lying on the floor to relax, not think and watch baseball.

Sunday stroll through Ikea, nice and early; over to the nearby outlet mall where I didn't spend any money (!) and home to do laundry and unwind.

So far so good this week. Two stunning days, weather-wise and no rattling of my cage. Hopefully, this long weekend will allow me some time to work on music again.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Frothing

I'll try to write this in as coherent a manner as possible.

The absolutely stunning act of stupidity, idiocy and gutlessness by XM in suspending Gregg Hughes and Anthony Cumia leaves me reeling. What is going on in this country? When a satellite radio network suspends their biggest "stars" and revenue-generators, it smells of one thing--that XM is trying (and I'm sure aided and abetted by Mel Karamazin of Sirius) to curry favor with the FCC so their merger will go through. This is no moral stance; this is posturing.

It's bad enough that JV & Elvis were fired last week as was Donnell Rawlings (a very good, funny comic) for terribly innocuous lines/comments or whatever you want to call it. Here's a fact--make a joke, you get fired. We live in a nation of ethnocentric pussies. That's bad enough. This is all post-Imus witchhunting.

BUT...

If you're going to put this kind of chokehold on free speech, don't you think Al Sharpton's radio show (or most of the shows on Air America, for that matter) should be called onto the carpet? Shouldn't Curtis & Kuby or Rush Limbaugh be immediately fired for the things they say?

This is a two-front war. One is the censoring of free speech. The other is the bullshit machinations of two companies desperate to try and win good will for a merger that many critics, skeptics and experts say has a slim chance of happening.

When my XM subscription runs out, I may not renew. Opie & Anthony are funny. If you don't like them, turn it off. That's why you have 200 channels.

Wake up, people. The comedy is funny. The rest isn't.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Favorite month

May has always been my favorite month for many reasons and emotions equated with it. My wife was born in May; I wrote "Train Of Thought" in May; I met my ex-fiancee in May (and had seven wonderful years with her); I saw The Jam play their final New York shows in May and so on. There is always a smell in the air; a feeling of hope and warmth that makes me glad to still be here at 42.

Driving around in the new machine is a great feeling; I became quite comfortable and used to driving a small truck pretty quickly. Handles like a dream. Great sound system; good mileage and going to the stores and to my dad is no longer filled with trepidation--no more "what was that sound?" and the like. Glad I finally made the move. If you're going to buy a car, buy what you really want and plan on having it for at least a decade.

Work has been extremely busy. So much so, it's left me feeling drained and tired. I'm not at my best right now. That and my father's recent health setback has had me without much of a vibe. Many thanks to everyone who has called and written about my dad; it's appreciated infinitely.

Did watch a wonderful documentary last night on "American Masters"--all about my late mentor, the great Ahmet Ertegun. Even after 6 years, Atlantic Records still stirs up the most amazing emotions in me.

Hopefully, once the crunch period subsides (even for a little while) I will be able to once again enjoy May as I always have.