Sad State of P.E. in Schools....

Just watched a troubling segment on ESPN's Outside the Lines about childhood obesity and the lack of Physical Education in Elementary Schools. This was disturbing. It is showing that 1 in 5 children are considered obese to morbidly obese. AND, that PE classes and teachers are systematically being cut all across the US because of the focus on Academics for the No Child Left Behind. From what I heard I am not a big fan of NCLB but wish there was another form of "grading" schoold/teachers with real teeth to do away with bad schools and bad teachers but that is for another rant...

PE is such a fundamental part of schools - in my mind.... Every Parent in America has memories (good or bad) of growing up and being required to take PE class. I was traumatized by my Elementary School PE teacher - Sammy Simmons. Holy Shit, he may have only been 5'5" but to a 6 yr old he was a monster of a black man with arms like Tony Atlas. He would yell and scream and I hated PE because I was afraid of him - but guess what? I did what he said and always made A's. I always came in 3rd in races to pain in the ass K. Crowder and Chad Church (R.I.P.) and I did well in the classroom too.

My feeling is that fit kids perform better than fat kids in class.... Think about it... When I was in Elementary School we would have 1 fat boy and 1 fat girl in the class. They were always the class clown, sometimes the bully, but they were always the brunt of jokes. In H.S. I did have quite a few of the chubby boys/girls in my Advanced classes BUT they never got over their self consciousness and excelled. The kids that excelled were the smart athlete, that knew what it took to be competitive and could out will the others because they learned the killer instinct on the playing field and applied it to the classroom. Our Valedictorian and Salutatorian were not Athletes but were Geeky Nerds but at least they were not obese. Caroline and Stuart did the work, good for them.

I just hope that the US can change their mentality. Kids should go out and play. My neighborhood is full of pain in the ass kids running up and down the street - key is, are they going to be delinquints or are the becoming well rounded and in shape kids? Hmmmm.

It takes Guts NOT to Sing....

Last night was Flogging Molly at the Tabernacle and they absolutely rocked.... One of the best shows, of theirs, I have seen in a long time. We had a blast.

Interesting point of the evening was the opener for the opener.
The Dub Trio was the first band and they rocked the fucking house with their Rock n Roll New Age Jazz musicianship. NO VOCALS at all... No, thank you, No, this is jimbob on bass, nothing. These guys were as tight and all over the place a band as you will ever see - who knows how many rehearsal hours they put in to get this tight. Very SpazzJazz Metal RnRoll. They are almost indescrbable. I would never buy one of their albums because I would go insane in my car and either drive on the sidewalk or just stop in the middle of I-75 and run around the interstate. BUT, these guys kicked ass... You could tell that these guys were classically trained and tought it would be coold to be an ArtFartEclecticJazzMetal Band - that had no lyrics... Mom, Dad I want to be in a band that doesn't play songs.... is the impression I got...

The Aggro-Lites are a pussy Bosstoneesque reggae wannabe band that got on tour by being good drinking partners with the Molly. Hey, whatever works. They were just - eh! Nothing special. Reggae without a hook or killer chorus negates your importance. Thank God they played some covers.

Wish I could make another Molly date on this tour.

DERAILROADED...

Yesterday was busy but at lunch i turned the tv on. IFC channel has DocuMondays so they show documentaries all day Monday and I saw a GREAT one. DERAILROADED is the story of Larry "Wild Man" Fisher. This guy had a cult following in the very late 60' to the 80's for his off beat, wacky, crazy rants and unintelligible songs. He was so crazy, Frank Zappa wanted to record with him... Wow. Poor guy was suffering from Bi-Polar, Schitzophrenia, mania and every other defect out there.
The record producers and his friends tab him as a genius but it was kinda sad. Hard to work with someone who threatens your life.
It's a good watch if you can stand 90 minutes of terrible singing...