WITH SUGAR ON TOP
(Originally posted on the website Heron Flight)
We got our first bit of snow in New Jersey yesterday. More is on the way tonight… maybe 4 to 6 inches… maybe even 7. Cool.
Manville Street Fair
(Originally posted on the website Heron Flight)
There was a street fair in Manville today.
Vendors of high calorie foods.
Hawkers of trinkets.
Semi-talented musicians.
It seriously was a nice event. Main Street was blocked off starting at our street and south for several blocks. The weather was warm, blue and bright. The people were happy.
On September 11, a date that has forced tragic memories upon the American mind, it was peaceful, even healing, to eat zeppoles and listen to music in the sunshine.
GO ASK ALICE
(Originally posted on the website Heron Flight)
I’m still sick and there is nothing significant to report today.
So, I’ll tell you about something significant that happened last week.
Late Wednesday night, I got the chance to speak to…
That’s right! Alice Cooper!
Arissa and I were driving home from the Collective Soul concert in Red Bank. We turned on the radio and heard Alice on Rock Line, a live show. They were taking calls from people who wanted to talk to Alice. We were nearly home when they finally gave the phone number to call. After many tries, we were able to get through.
“Hello, this is Rock Line. Who would you like to speak to tonight?” asked the woman who answered.
“Who to I friggin’ want to talk to??? Alice of course!” I thought.
“Uh… Alice Cooper, please,” I said.
“Sure what would you like to ask Alice?”
“Well,” I started, “the very first rock album I ever bought was Alice’s record School’s Out. I was twelve years old. It was 1975. I just wanted to tell him that and let him know what an influence he was on me.”
“I’m sorry, sir. You have to ask a question for us to let you on the air with Alice. Can you think of a question?”
My mind went blank! I wasn’t prepared with a question! I didn’t know that was the rule!
“Give me a second! Hold on! Let me think!”
I was afraid she was going to hang up on me.
“Uh… uh…”
“Anything you can think of to ask, sir?”
“Uh… well… I know that Alice was somehow connected with Frank Zappa in his early days. How about if I ask him something about that?”
To my relief, she replied, “Okay. How about if you phrase the question like this. ‘What was your relationship with Frank Zappa in the 1970s and do you still keep in touch with the Zappa family?’”
“Can I still tell him that the first record I bought was his?”
“Sure!”
She told me to hold on the line until someone else directing the show came on and gave me instructions.
Eventually, a man came on the line. He screened my question and then gave me the instructions.
“When the host says, ‘Now let’s go to Sam in Manville,’ you say, ‘Hi,’ and immediately ask your question. Nothing else! Just the question!”
Yeah, right!
By this time we had arrived home. Due to the time delay in the radio broadcast, I couldn’t be near the radio while talking on the phone. So, I stood in the driveway with the cell phone while Arissa sat in the car and listened to the show. It felt like it took forever. Every now and then the man came on the line and told me I was coming up soon.
Finally, I heard the show on the line and heard the host say, “Now let’s go to Sam in Manville, NJ. Sam, you’re on the air with Alice Cooper.”
“Holy crap!” I thought.
But I nervously managed to say, “Hey, Alice! It’s an honor to speak with you!”
Alice said, “Oh, thank you!”
Did I go straight to my question? Nope!
“I wanted to let you know that the very first rock album I ever bought was School’s Out when I was 12 years old in 1975. I’ve been your biggest fan ever since!”
Alice again, “Oh, thank you for your kind words.”
“Okay, here’s my question… blah… blah… blah…”
Alice responded to the question. He told how his band came to Los Angeles in the late 1960s from Phoenix. They were the weirdest band anyone had ever seen. No record company wanted to produce their album. But Frank heard them and said, “You guys are weird! My band, the Mothers of Invention, play some weird stuff. But I don’t think I could even teach them how to play what you play. I will produce your record!”
I knew the general story behind that already. I knew that Frank helped him get started. I even knew that at one of Alice’s earliest shows the crowd hated the band so much that they walked out and only Frank and a few friends of the band were left. All I wanted was a chance to get on the air and pay my respects to the Coop!
And look what I have! A ticket to see Alice with Cheap Trick on Monday night! Oh yeah!
THE RED ROSE OF JERSEY DAILY PHOTO
(Originally posted on the website Heron Flight)
I’ve started a new daily photo project. This one is called “The Red Rose of Jersey.”
We recently moved, hence the reason for not having time to write much of anything for a while, and now have a nice front porch and sidewalk area that we do not have to share with obnoxious neighbors as the case was formerly. So we started a “bucket garden” with tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, sunflowers, marigolds, zinnias, bells of Ireland, love-lies-bleeding (Oooooooo!), and more.
I picked out a rose plant, American Beauty variety. As it is not much more than several stalks sticking out of the soil and a few bunches of leaves, it should show many changes as it grows. A perfect photographic subject!
This time I am using Arissa’s camera at a large pixel setting mounted to a tripod. This will give the photos a more consistent look and quality. I will post a small version of each photo on the site along with a link to the larger version for anyone who wants to see more detail.
My last daily photo project, A YEAR IN ONE PLACE, lasted for, uh, well… a year. I’m not sure how long this photo project will last. Maybe just for the season until the last leaf falls from the plant in autumn? Maybe through the winter and into the summer of next year? Until there is no longer enough server space on the internet to hold all the pictures? We’ll see…
So… with that little introduction, here begins the Red Rose of Jersey project.
I WENT TO MONTREAL OVER THE WEEKEND AND ALL I GOT WAS…
…bronchitis.
To be honest, the bronchitis started the night before leaving for Montreal. Despite feeling not completely well, I had a great time.
We flew to Montreal on Friday morning, arriving around 10 AM. The weather was perfect: clear skies and a slight chill in the air. This was just right for walking. Although, our backpacks did get rather weighty after a while. At least it wasn’t blazingly hot.
Hotel check in was not until 3 PM. So, we first headed for the tourist information center. There we purchased three day passes for the museums and the subway (aka – the Metro). The Metro lines were easy to figure out. The stops were announced in French. Not being French-speaking people, we got a chuckle out of the pronunciation of a few of the stops, especially “Pie IX,” which sounded like “peanuts” to us.
After being properly informed as tourists, we hopped on the Metro and went to the Botanical Gardens, which is next to the Olympic Park. It’s a beautiful place! It was a little early in the season for most outdoor flowers. The tulips were beautiful. There were several other flowers blooming in various sections of the outdoor gardens. The indoor gardens were very pretty. There were different greenhouses with different climates. We took a lot of flower photos inside.
The Insecterium at the Botanical Gardens was our next stop. Did you know that there are some insects that are so large they look like they could carry you away? There are some darn ugly bugs in the world! Most of the ones at the Insecterium were dead on display, thankfully. Just seeing them on display was enough to give you the creeps. The moths and butterflies were quite lovely. The beetles and the spiders were the nasty ones.
For dinner Friday night, we went to a Swiss restaurant. We started our meal with cheese fondue. Then we had filet mignon fondue with several dipping sauces. And for dessert… yes! chocolate fondue! Oh man! Soooo good!
On Saturday we went to the Fine Arts Museum. The Canadian arts section was especially interesting. There were several amazing walrus tusk carvings and other stone carvings. Many of the paintings captured the feel of Canada’s wilderness with it’s cold mountain and great northern expanses.
We explored Old Montreal on Saturday afternoon. We were able to find an outdoor cafe to eat lunch before we became overly cranky from walking and hunger. Then we had the best dessert (again). I don’t know if there is a name for this. We had balls of fried dough covered in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon with vanilla ice cream on top. Arissa added chocolate syrup to her’s and I had caramel. We were so stuffed! But I was tempted to eat another one. It was so good that I could probably keep eating it until I got sick all over myself… and not care!
We went to the Collective Soul concert at Metropolis Saturday night. They put on quite a show! Long too! They were much better than when we saw them in Asbury Park last month. The venue was much larger. The crowd in Montreal LOVED the band! After several songs, the applause went on so long and became so loud that the band couldn’t start the next song. All they could do was stand there and accept the crowd’s admiration. A few songs later and they crowd did again. This time they sang their approval. Collective Soul has not been on tour in several years. This kind of reception to their performance must have been so reassuring to them. One of the reasons for the length of time since their last album and tour is that the singer, Ed Roland, had been through a divorce and is now a single father. Since I can relate to that way of life and the struggles that it brings that when the crowd cheered with so much enthusiasm, I felt proud for Ed that he has found a way to get back to playing the music that he loves.
We didn’t have time for much on Sunday. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 2:55 PM. We did manage to tour the Montreal Biodrome though. The Biodrome is also near the Botanical Gardens at the Olympic Park. It consists of several sections representing different climates with live animals. The tour was very interesting. I wish we had more time to linger and watch for some of the more elusive birds. We got great photos of the penguins. That seemed to be the point of highest interest for most people. Everyone laughed as the penguins waddled along the rocks then plunged head first into the water. They look rather clumsy on land, but they are graceful in the water. I got a laugh out of a French-speaking couple sitting on the bench in front of me when one of the penguins, shall we say, “moved his bowels.” The woman rattled off something excitedly in French. Then she looked at her husband and blurted out, “He shit!” I laughed so hard to myself that I almost did!
Going through security at the Montreal airport, I was “selected” for a random search. I was surrounded by four security personnel, all speaking in French and pointing at me and my backpack. Now, it might be confusing when people are speaking a language which you don’t understand and they are speaking about you. But I have to say, it’s not very intimidating when it’s French. I mean, these were security people, responsible for protecting the public from international threats. Speak something tough sounding! Like German or Russian or some Slovak tongue. But then again, I doubt that they considered me much of a security threat as I stood there holding a box of Canadian Maple Cream cookies. I think the women just wanted to look through my luggage and take a peek at my undies!
The flight between Montreal and Newark took just over an hour. That was good as I really wasn’t feeling very well by Sunday afternoon. Arissa and I were both worn out by the time we sat in the plane. We both listened to music and napped on the way home.
I miss Montreal. It is definitely a place to keep on my list of places to visit. So they better keep the fondue fires burning and the security people ready. One day I’m going back!
(Originally posted on the website Heron Flight)