Comes in 3's...

With all this Death talk I might as well mention a call from the Wanker yesterday. Earlier in the month he told me about a guy that used to play on our soccer team, Jon Howell. I only knew Jon thru soccer. When I moved to Charleston in 1998 he was on Wanker's team and I played 3 seasons, 18 months, on this team. 50% of the guys were our High School buddies so they knew all too well about how I played - my passion for playing, committment to winning and pure love for after game beers. Anyway, in our 2nd game I got taken out bigtime, some chucklehead took me out from behind and I got up raising hell and ready for a fight. This guy John gets in between me and this asshole and was ready to go in my stead. What??? John? Mr. Mild Manner... That's just how this guy was. Quiet, reserved, but loyal...
Billy called me about 2 weeks ago, said that John was playing in a Coed game in Mt. Pleasant and got tackled and sprained his ankle, he came out of the game, stood there for a minute and grabbed a teammate and said "I feel sick" got some water and said "I gonna puke, I gotta get out of here." and his teammate was walking with him to the parking lot and John drops to the ground and quits breathing. No oxygen to the brain for the 10-15 minutes it takes the ambulance to get there. They keep him on life support for about 14 days. Non-cancerous growth on the brain stem... Irreversible brain damage. Pull the plug.........
Nicest fucking guy in the world. Never intentionally hurt a fly without good damn reason. Excellent teammate and MAN.
There is NO rhyme or reason in life or in death.
Fucking sad...
One amazing thing I found was www.caringbridge.com. This is a website that families can add information to, pictures, guestbook, comments, blog, etc. for their loved ones. WOW... Really professional and really nice. Check Jon's out http://caringbridge.org/visit/jonhowell . In today's environment - this is how to do it. Shit, when I kick the bucket, do this for me and have my wake on YouTube....
Jon, the world is a worse place without you in it. I haven't seen the guy in 10 years but remember the impression he made on me. That was his mark. I wonder if he would have remembered me - most people do remember me but I am usually concerned (after the fact) of "what" they actually remember about me... Whether I am liked or loathed, I am normally remembered.
Jon left the same impression on everyone.... Heaven is an even better place now, everyone there will embrace Jon's spirit.

PS - I hope this is the LAST post I do on death for quite some time.

PPSS - Listening to Rush today an Auburn student said her Sr. Project was to describe, in great detail, her Funeral. Rush was totally taken aback at this assignment. His recommendation was not to detail the Funeral as if it were to happen tomorrow, write about the life you want and use it as a blueprint for how you want your life to go, then 60 years from now, detail whom will attend your funeral and how they are connected to your life. Interesting point. Dr. Wanda sent me a song by the (something) Allstars called "Keg on My Coffin" with the chorus of "Put a keg on my coffin, and think of me ever so often...." Great point... But that would be what I want tomorrow - what do I want 25 years from now...?

"Give the Governor a hurrrumph!"...

Sorry about last nights babbeling about death BUT let me continue... I wake up in Valdosta this morning and login and see that Harvey Korman has died...... Damn....

The death of actors and other public figures are different than family members and personal friends but it still has an effect on you.

I grew up watching the Carol Burnett Show and the skits with Harvey Korman and Tim Conway were EPIC... Korman was the first actor I ever saw actually break character and start laughing during a skit. There were times on the CB Show that I thought I would pee my pants from laughing so hard, and I look around at the family and Mom, Dad, and sis were all crying from the hysterical antics.

Korman was a legendary 2nd fiddle and straight man... He fit in perfectly in the Mel Brooks genre of films. Blazing Saddles and History of the World Part 1 are 2 of the funniest movies of ALL TIME.... "You look like the Piss Boy" ; "and you look like a Bucket of Shit!" High Anxiety had its moments...

He was underappreciated but I had no idea he was 81. What a legacy he has left us. Makes me want to hope for rain this weekend so I can slide these discs into the DVD player and pay my hommage...

Grieving..... Sucks..... and I have tips....

A guy I know, I consider a friend, whom is different than me but shares numerous same qualities - love of beer (me = PBR, him = bullet kegs of obscure micro brews), music (I prefer Alternative Rock but he prefers Broadway Musicals and the Modern Skirts) and college football (me= Clemson "Harvard of the South" University and him = U of Gay Leghumpers). Well, he just lost a Grandparent and is quite broken up. We are not "give me a call" kind of friends, but mainly communicate via the blogosphere. I gotta say I truely feel for this guy and know that he is going thru a ruff patch. He posted a blog video by Penn Gillette and Penn discussed his own loss of a parent and how he felt about it and how his friends responded and how he found solace in his Athiesm. Interesting viewpoint. Not that I condone or detract, just a different viewpoint than my own.
All I can say to my buddy is: Grieving Sucks. The feeling of loss is personal and indescribable since everyone is different. It's been 3 1/2 years since my Dad passed away and I think of it often. I was there, I watched him die and during the only 1 1/2 hours I left the house for 3 days (to pick up my aunt at the airport) is when he decided to die. All I can say is "What the Fuck?" and "Why".
My Faith and my friends got me through it. My Faith ( an interpersonal belief that there may be something bigger than me out there - yes I believe there is something out there that is bigger than me - and that there may be a better place than terestrial Earth) enabled me to comprehend the ashes to ashes piece of his death and my Friends enabled me to get through the day to day aspect of his death. My friends trumped the Preacher after the funeral - it was kinda crazy... The old ladies from the church showed up at my Mom's house with covered dishes and my friends showed up with 12packs...
I know he is hurting. There is nothing I can say to make that hurt go away. Penn says "it can never hurt any worse." I realize that it can... It never gets any better. I miss my Dad... I worked my ass off for years to gain his acceptance. I think I got it BUT I feel comfident that he would have approved of his "after funeral party" and toasts given in his honor back at the house. My friends helped me get thru Franks death and are currently helping me put perspective on my Mom's situation.
Russ, Grieving SUCKS. Tap that keg, call your established friend network, and work it out day after day. Just wanted you to know I was thinking of you and selfishly working this thru for myself and my own issues with death.

On of my favorite movie lines of all time.... Clevon Little speaking to Gene Wilder in the movie "Blazing Saddles": "A man that drinks like that is sure to die" and Gene Wilder says: "When?"
Awesome...

I often think of my own death, not really how I am going to die, but what I wan to happen when I die.... The Wife hates it when I speak like this. I say Fuck It and I want everyone to have fun. It may initially suck with me gone from the world but the world WILL continue to turn. Have a good time... Celebrate the lives of the ones who are lost.... Bubba Foster got killed when I was a Freshman in HS and for years we used to stop by his gravesite and drink beers, and I never really knew the guy - but he saved my ass at Hannahan HS when me, Rog and Wanker almost started a RIOT... Death sucks... but it is a part of life... (It's terrible when Forrest Gump makes sense.)

Feel the Crashing Steel....

It's late, what am I still doing up??? Finding kool shit that will cause me to lose even more sleep....

Bouncing around the web tonight I decided to check out NIN.com to see about the free download but before I did that I checked to see if there were any old videos from Pretty Hate Machine, or Broken, only to find some kool ass collaborations of Trent and Peter Murphy... (of Bauhaus infamy)

They did a rehearsal session of The Normals', "Warm Leatherette" and all I can say is WOW... Blew me away. 90% of the people I have ever played that song for Hate It. They just have no fucking idea how important that song was to the Industrial movement in the 80's. I remember seeing the 12" of Warm Leaterette/TV O.D. selling for $120 at Bleeker Bob's record store in Greenwich Village in 1989... It is very rare.

The YouTube menu to the right also had Warm Leatherette covers by Duran Duran and Grace Jones. Interesting company.

Trent and Peter Murphy did many other songs but Joy Division's Dead Souls stood out. Trent singing on Bella Legosi's Dead was kool too.

I have to say that the Peter Murphy show I saw in the early 90's was in my Top 10 shows of all time for a very, very long time but I have had to bump him as the years have passed. Still incredible voice from such as small guy...

...a tear of petrol; runs through my veins. Warm Leatherette.


(It is really going to be good to see Trent again, just me and the wife, in August. We may need to leave the house tomorrow since the show is in Gwinnette... I fucking HATE that venue.)

Morant was a Breaker....

Damn what a Movie.....
It's 11pm last night and I wasn't ready to go to bed. I skim thru the channels and end up on 69, Turner Classic Movies, and I see a Military Band and some close captioning for a movie that was coming on. The captioning spoke of the Boer War...

No way... This is "Breaker Morant"

It must be 15 years since I have seen this movie. This is a GREAT movie about Australian soldiers fighting in the British Army vs. the Boers in South Africa in 1900. This group of officers are charged with murdering POW's during war time, even after orders were given to do so. They were renowned as the Scapegoats for the Empire and were subsequently sacrificed to appease the Germans (to keep them out of the War) and the Boers, to show that the British could prosecute their own - even if their inexperienced lawyer put up an incredible defense.

Wow. If you haven't seen it - try and find it... All I could think of was our soldiers in Iraq that are supposed to follow orders and stay alive and can often be called on to do things in the field that are unimaginable.

After the movie some guy from TCM comes on and explains that this movie was not even supposed to be released in the US (It is an Independent film from Australia about one of their folk hero's) but a US movie was scheduled at all these theaters and suddenly went back into editing. The Studio's freaked out and had no product to show in the movies and one guy had a frind in Australia and heard about this really well acted movie about a war that the US had no allegiance to, and this guy decided to roll the dice.... Come to find out, Breaker Morant was nominated for an Oscar in 1980 for best adapted screenplay. Ya never can tell...

Breaker Morant - watch it.

Watch your Job...

I just saw on SportsCenter that Chelsea's Manager just got Fired... WHAT? His team just came in 2nd in the Champions League to Manchester United - the first time ever 2 English teams have played in the Champions League Final. (Chelsea missed many opportunities - it surely was not the Managers fault that the players missed point blank chances, and missed the crucial PK.) This Manager also led Chelsea to a 2nd place finish in the English Premeir League (to Manchester United).

I guess this would be like Lloyd Carr, not beating Ohio St., Lou Holtz going 1-4 vs. Clemson (and one loss was 63-17), soon to be Steve Spurrier for not being able to beat Clemson as well, Mike Schula not beating Auburn, and the like.

The Premeirship is a bunch of pompus assholes but this firing is very surprising - I do not profess to know the ins and outs of why they did it but on the surface, this is CRAZY.

PS> Watch out Premeirship, Nottingham Forrest just got promoted to the First Division, in a few years they will be back with the Big Boys....

Learn, Responsibly....

Money offered up some extra Braves Tix yesterday. He has been going thru some of his own Hell so I wanted to spend some time with him. This weekend though my sis, bro-in-law and youngest Nephew were in town and were staying with broinlaw's parents in Powder Springs/Dallas/Acworth and I felt bad for the kid having to hang with the grand parents so I asked if I could take him to the game. No problem.

I drove and on the way we had our traditional cooler of beer and Solo cups. (Just a few pops on the way down) Well, I say to the kid- "Want one?" "Uh, sure" was the response. Pssock, here you go kid. "one and only one and you don't mention this outside the car." "Got it".

We drive down, raise hell about a variety of subjects and the kid just soaked it up, added a few burbs, and generally understood that he was just hanging out with his Unk and buddy. I think he had a great time, great game and probably his first beer. I come home and get a rash for this. Why.? I trust I haven't created a monster here....

PS. Kid's Grandparents live off of 92/Dallas Hwy just West of Hwy 41. The new Alatoona High School is on the South side of 92 and their neighborhood is on the North side of 92. Hwy 92 is the county line between Cobb and Paulding. Why would the brilliant people of Cobb County build a new HS on the County Line??? THis makes NO sense... That means they can only pull kids from the south AND the people in Paulding are stuck with lower property values for having a HS in the front of the neighborhood. During the planning sessions the Cobb County Commissioners would not listen to the people from Paulding County (who live closeset to the school) because they did not live in Cobb Co. This is bullshit and government in action. So, these people in Paulding could NOT send their kids to a brand new HS right across the street because it is in a different County... CRAZY... Belive me, with my job, I rely on County Commissioners to pass my applications and potentially upset their constituents but I have never, intentionally, tried to put a tower in a place of controversy. (OK, maybe 1 time when I wanted to put a tower 200' in front of the Mayor's house in Centerville, AL - but my Land Owner said -FUCK him, I live in the next town over.)

Might be worth it....

I just saw that Sean Kingston is performing at the opening night of the Atlanta Dream. I say, go to Phillips, drink $9 beers thoughout the entire game and then go see Kingston perform.

PS. The Dream is dead before they even begin.

Guess what I drank in Athens?

nothing.

Freaking Sand Bar was closed at 3:30pm on a beautiful Saturday afternoon...
No Jack and Coke Icee's for me...
Dammit.

Tracking down FRANK THE BEER MAN...

I have Money on a quest to find FRANK THE BEER MAN, formerly of the Savannah Sand Gnats. (Google FRANK THE BEER on Youtube and you will like what you see) He originally stated he would be working for the Reading Phillies this summer - we shall see.
If he is - I am planning on going to see him in August... I have a wedding to go to in Norristown, about 40 miles away and this would be a KOOL surprise for me and him.

If he is there I will call the Food and Beverage Manager and see if I can find out what section Frank is working so I can sit in his section. I would also tell him that I am coming >500 miles just to see Frank, not the gd Reading Phillies.

Thinking about getting some t-shirts made "I (heart) Frank - He has Beer"

I will also have to try and go to Pat's and get a Steak Wit (with cheez-wiz) Sandwhich.

Sweetwater = Sweet Water

Went over to the wharehouse district today for Happy Hour. Girl from work organized Money and Money's girl and I called Corny, and Big Bob came and some other people.
The place was PACKED... I guess $8 brings out the coeds - and their dogs....

The new summer beer - Road Trip is a good lighter summer beer and I had quite a few.

Got home before the wife even knew I went. Cooked her dinner and when it was getting done and needed to come off the grill, the arguement over the countertops ensued... Jesus C. She changed it up on me, she told me she did, she probably made a better decision than me but dangit, I didn't want a brown sink. (Why do I care?- I do all the cooking)

I fully expected a fight tonight but I thought it was going to be over going to Athens tomorrow. I guess she beat me to the fight and now there is probably no way we are going. No Jack Daniels and Cola Icee's for me tomorrow... I was sooooo looking forward to getting drunk and an ice headache from drinking alcoholic Icee's

I left the house around 10:45 and thought about going to see one of my oldest favorite local Atlanta bands - Magnapop - at The Earl. Got in the car and started listening to the Braves postgame and they explained about the I-75 roadwork Nbound at the connector. Fuck that. I did a u-turn. Now pouring my guts out here.

I don't understand why everyone just doesnt want to be happy? I do, I really do. I love to have fun.

I "think" I got Elephant Tix... Clemson v. Al

After getting home from the GT Baseball game it was around 5:40 and spare Clemson v. Alabama tix went on sale at 5. I wasn't in a hurry to get them since I have almost ZERO seniority in IPTAY. (I have been a consistent Fan but not a consistent contributor since graduation).

Well, I log in and the website takes my order for 4 tix. They are upper deck tix but who cares.

After a couple phone calls I find out that I am not guaranteed these Tix. They will take the applications and then evaluate them on IPTAY points. That is bullshit. We'll see. Clemson will probably invest my $ for 3 months and then decline my application.

Irons are in the Fire for Tix, even if I get mine I am trying to upgrade to the Lower Level then sell mine... I fully intend to sell my tix to Alabama fans so that they can sit in the Clemson section and get harassed as we whip some Elephant Ass.

Whipe My Ass and Wash My Clothes all you Roll Tide people....

PS... Satan and Saban are only 1 letter apart...

Tigers beat the N. Ave Trade School - I hear "ting" in my sleep

Spent Mother's Day in downtown ATL. Picked up G and girl after 11am (late because of the wife) we wanted to go to Lunch. Had Mimosa's on the way downtown. Tried to hit The Highlander to get some "tots" and we thought that there wouldn't be alot of Mother's there. It did not open until 12:30 since you cannot sell alcohol until then. Ended up at Apres Diem. Lunch was good.

We head to Geek Squad headquarters down on Ferst Dr. (Only Ga. Tech could misspell First). What a beautiful day. Money put on the SPF5000 and he was the only smart one. We stayed for the whole game and the Tigers put an ole fashioned ass whooping on the Yaller Jackoffs. We scored more runs by the 2nd inning than we did in the previous 2 games vs Gt. Final was 16-6 with 20 Tiger hits. I swear I was hearing TING in my sleep (aluminum bats and all).

Once we got home - Oow... The tops of my thighs are burned. Oof. Pants will need to be baggy today....