I know the lamestream media crucifies him. I know they paint him as a over-emotional right wing zealot. I know that every channel on TV except FOX News disses him. But somehow…someway… you need to go watch his show from Friday September 3rd. His Friday live audience show had three guests. Ex San Diego Charger Miles McPherson, Pastor of the Rock Church and author of DO Something!: Make Your Life Count
Dave Roever, founder of The Roever Foundation and decorated Vietnam Veteran, and Rabbi Daniel Lapin, President of The American Alliance of Jews and Christians.
All three men carry some incredible wisdom and faith. Miles McPherson has brought himself back from being a coke addict and lost soul to being a shepherd for so many other lost souls. Rabbi Lapin is someone who from the first words out of his mouth to the end of his sentences just captivates you with his tone, his accent and most importantly his perspective on things. And Dave Roever, a man who had a phosphorous grenade go off in his hand burning his face at 5000 degrees (half the temperature of the Sun) yet carries the joy of a child in his heart and words.
You will be moved.
You can see all three men speak at Glenn’s website if you are an “Extreme Insider”. They were part of his special event the night before his rally at The Washington Mall last Saturday.
Request. I would love to make a video like this with Canadian Forces homecomings. If anyone out there has video of a homecoming and the joy that they bring, please feel free to send me the clips via email to mulderATofficiallyscrewedDOTcom and if I get enough sent in, I will put my video hat back on.
68 Years ago today one of musics legendary figures was born. I really wanted to showcase the man so below you will see a clip that really gives you a good look at his fingers dancing across the frets. The song is “Deal” and the band behind him is the Jerry Garcia Band.
Very few outside of Deadheads ever put him up there in terms of guitar skill. Perhaps this clip will open a few more eyes. Hit the vid.
Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995)
This comes via an old fraternity brother of mine whom I have hooked up with again by way of Facebook. Thanks Paul. The sheer enjoyment that exudes from both of these musicians is clearly obvious and is reflected in the beauty of the jam.
This is Guitarist Tommy Emmanuel and Uke phenomenon Jake Shimabukuro playing George Harrison’s “While my guitar gently weeps” on stage together in Holland (we believe).
1986-03-24 – If you want to feel good, get ur foot tapping and the urge to have something Cajun or Mexican for dinner. Speaking of which, it’s TexMex back here on the ranch tonight.
Let us put men and women together, see which one is smarter,
Some say men, but I say no, women got the men like a puppet show.
Bizarro world collided with NeverNeverLand this past week for me. On Tuesday June 29th I received a very unexpected and very welcome invitation from the PMO to attend a special dinner in the presence of Her Majesty and His Royal Highness at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. At first I thought I was on an episode of Punk’d or that my kids had submitted something to Pranked. But as I quickly realized this was simply reality. So in a whirlwind I made sure I was black tied and Monday morning I hit the road for Toronto.
Arrival at the Royal York was a zoo with the power outage in that part of the city. Of more concern to me was the potential for a lack of air conditioning. Being a big man, I overheat quite easily. The cocktail room was quite spectacular and while mingling, I quickly ran into a couple of familiar faces. Three of them being past or present Blogging Tories. Matt from A Step To The Right, Dr. Roy from Dr. Roy’s Blog and Sean from The Politic.
The crowd was prepped on how the introductions to HM and HRH would go down. It still all seems a bit surreal to me but real enough none the less. As the crowd waited for the introductions the power came on (thank Goodness!!). We slowly made our way behind the white curtain to meet the Royals.
When my turn came up, the greeter was dressed in his finest military and as he checked my invitation card I thanked him for his service. He seemed pleasantly taken aback at my remark but seemed to appreciate it. The announcer confirmed the pronounciation of my name and proceeded to announce me to Her Majesty and His Royal Highness. I stepped forward first towards the Prime Minister who smiled and greeted me with a firm handshake. He said it was nice that I could make it . I then took a step to my right and Her Majesty held her gloved hand out, so as I took it, I bowed and greeted her as well. Similarly, the Duke of Edinburgh extended a hand to me. I was quite honoured to receive this formal of a greeting. Then in her usual friendly self, Mrs. Harper greeted me last and said it was a pleasure to see me again. The whole process seemed to be a blur to me but it was clear enough for me to know I was in the presence of a truly magnificent institution and heritage and one of the most magnificent monarchs our race will ever know.
Then as Her Majesty entered the whole group joined the singing of God Save The Queen. It was quite moving. The speeches and dinner were delightful and the unveiling of a new Hockey Hall of Fame exhibit was interesting to say the least.
As coffee and dessert were served, the group was serenaded by the Four Canadian Tenors who are world renowned already. I was especially moved by the second song which was not fully understood as it was mostly in French but I know it was about Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame and La Esmerelda.
Then shortly after this, the Four Tenors sang the National Anthem and once again the crowd joined in. After this the Royals left the dinner and the crowd mingled quite a bit taking photos in front of the exhibit. I snuck a couple of the roses from the table and am drying them for the shadowbox.
I did get a few moments to speak with Minister Jason Kenney about inroads into the Greek community, congratulate Minister Flaherty on holding the world at bay on a bank tax, and I got to let Senator Duffy know that a friend of ours is running for Ottawa City Council. I also got a chance to see Lois Brown again and I met Peter Kent for the first time. He was very charming. As was Michael Chong and his wife.
Some photos/items from the evening. (more to come I am sure)
The Four Canadian Tenors Invitation MenuMatt and I Minister Rona Ambrose and Me Blogging Tories After Dinner with Her MajestyBlogging Tories with Kara Johnson of National Council
While waiting for the second set the sun goes down and directly to our left and low in the sky is the bright Venus shining in the sky foreshadowing something. I point the planet out to Vlad and he nods not sure what I mean. He thinks it’s a star but it ain’t flickering so I know it’s Venus. The band comes out and starts playing. The early part of the set is new music for me. I have never heard the instrumental Sage and Spirit or Bob’s new tune. As the dig in the music really gets moving and when they cut Sugar Mags off before the Sunshine Daydream I was a bit disappointed but figured they would reprise it at the end of the jam and as they swing into Dark Star the crowd is really starting to dig it.
Then the foreshadowing came true. A lyric from Terrapin Station:
Counting stars by candlelight, all are dime but one is bright;
The spiral light of Venus, rising first and shining best.
Oh, from the northwest corner, of a brand new crescent moon,
They then proceeded to play the full Terrapin Station suite. The whole crowd singing along must have reverberated through the hills for miles and miles.
Near the end of Terrapin I turn to Vlad again and tell him that they need to play the Sunshine Daydream finish to Sugar Mags. He nods but I don’t think he realized what I was talking about.
For me the sweetest part of the night was Uncle John’s Band. It’s a favourite for me because I have an Uncle John who passed away far too early in life. Coincidentally, after this concert I would be driving the 60 or 70 miles back to Syracuse to stay in my late Uncle John’s home for the night.
Then the encore which was an easily predictable One More Saturday Night. Additionally what was predicted by me was the finish. They kicked in to the overdue Sunshine Daydream for a kick ass double ending. I was one happy man.
Set 2: Sage And Spirit>
*Seven Hills Of Gold> Althea
Magnolia Mountain> Sugar Magnolia>
No More Do I> Dark Star>
Terrapin Station Suite>
Stella Blue> Uncle John’s Band
E: One More Saturday Night>
Sunshine Daydream
*1st Time Played, New Bobby Song
That pretty much ended the show and night. Vlad and I walked back to the car and as we turned the corner into the field we saw the crescent moon so low in the sky (foreshadowed by the Terrapin lyrics). We escaped the traffic, and were briefly questioned at the Sobriety checkpoint and made our way back to the Cafe where my car was parked and off to Denny’s for a 2am breakfast before the trek back to Syracuse where I rolled in at 3am and crawled into bed.
It’s 720pm. Vlad’s still not here. He asked if we should meet at venue but chances of finding him are slim so he agrees to come to the cafe. At this point I am sitting in my truck surfing the web on my bb via a free wifi called collis (from some collision repair centre). Lucky me because roaming charges in the U.S.A. Are disgustingly unfair for canucks.
Ad shows up and I leave my truck at the cafe and after 2 missed turns, a closed road detour and some crazy sticky tar that made his car sound like it had a flat we get to the venue just a few minutes late. But it’s an open air show so we can hear the tunes.
Set 1: The Golden Road To Unlimited Devotion>
Born Cross-Eyed> Alligator> Truckin’>
Feelin’ Alright, New Potato Caboose>
Cream Puff War> Viola Lee Blues
But what was noticeable was the shortness of the set.
After grabbing a couple of pints we were in the thick of it about 20 or so people back from the stage.
I cruised down through Syracuse and across the 90. Vlad has the tickets so we agree to meet at 5pm at the Albany Street Cafe/Pub in Herkimer. I arrive at 430, park and know that I’ll be awhile because Vlad’s let me know he is way behind schedule. I grab a seat and order up a Magic Hat 9 (nice little apricot beer from Vermont), and a French onion soup. I really need to reiterate the beer is pretty darn good with the smell of berries.
While waiting, several other Deadheads come in. One who used to live in Montreal and Hawkesbury, (practically a neighbour) but now residing in Woodstock, NY, sees my tiedye and comes over to say hi. We chat about this iteration of the band for a bit and he let’s me know he has seen them with Warren and now with John Kadlecik and he is impressed with John. Having played with the DSO for 12 years, he is pretty ready to make an attempt at being Jerry 2.0 and 15 years after Jerry’s passing has probably left enough of a gap in fans minds for them to be pretty accepting of him doing Jerry’s part in the new band. I’m pretty stoked by this point.
The soup is piping hot and tasty, the stuffed porkchops even tastier. The Utica Club beer I swish it down with is nice but I go back to the Magic Hat 9 for my third. It’s now 6pm and the concert doors are open. No more tiedyed people are scattered around the place. At this point in time there is still no sign of Vlad and I am ticketless…waiting for a miracle.
To be continued…
Albany Street Cafe - Herkimer
(sorry about the mess that was here previously, It looks like this message was scattered in bits and pieces through the internet.)