mr. blackandwhite

Don't Think Twice, it's a'right. Social D ruled as usual.

I went to see Social Distortion at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom last night. When I first saw the date and the location I was initially unsure if I wanted to go to this one. I hadn't been to Hampton Beach in a very long time and the thought of driving up there to see a show had me thinking twice about it. Thankfully I only thought twice about it and I'm glad I decided correctly and got my ticket to what turned out to be a sold out event.

Social D was their usual awesome and it turns out the Hampton Beach Casino is a great place to see a show. It is very spacious inside with plenty of room to move around but still not so large that you can't see the stage. We were nice and plenty close to see everybody in the band without having to be so close as to get crushed against the barricade. Interestingly and somewhat disappointingly, as I still enjoy a giving and taking a good shove occasionally, there was no pit at this show.. which I found to be rather unusual for a Social Distortion show, but it was a really mixed crowd. There were a lot of people my age (30's) and older who probably did not want to tweak a knee or an ankle (like I always do, ha) as well as a lot of younger people too. I saw several people there with young kids who did not look to be older than ten years old, and last but not least, the security there seemed to be pretty zealous about keeping people from getting out of hand so maybe there was a sign somewhere that said no moshing or something.. There were a few people that attempted to crowd surf and they met with a hasty exit courtesy of security, who would go into the crowd to get people and bring them out if they saw someone surfing.

In any case, the lack of a pit did not detract from the show in any way for me. I still had a great time and I was more than happy to stand in my spot, bob my head, watch the band perform and sing along with the songs. For the first time in years I actually had a friend of mine come with me to a rock show, my pal Brent. This was his first time seeing Social D and he had a great time as well. In addition to these multiple first time events, last night's show marked both me and Brent's first time drinking legally at Hampton Beach.. ha.

The band started out with 'Road Zombie', which is a great tune that I hope will make it onto the next album. Mike Ness came out on stage bearing roses and throwing them out to the crowd. For some reason he had his face masked with a blue bandana which I thought was kind of goofy / funny. I'm not really sure why he was doing that but I'm thinking maybe it's because the cover of Social D's new greatest hits record has a guy with a bandana mask pictured on the cover.. Just a guess. I don't know.

At the end of 'Road Zombie' Mike took off the mask and they started in with 'Reach For The Sky'.

Here is the rest of the set. It's not in order but I'm pretty sure I haven't forgotten any of the songs:
Road Zombie
Reach For The Sky
Highway 101
Under My Thumb
Bad Luck
Ball and Chain
Sick Boys
Far Behind
Sometimes I Do
Lude Boy
Nickels and Dimes
Mommy's Little Monster
Gotta Know the Rules
Six More Miles
Prison Bound
Ring of Fire

The crowd knew the words and sang along with every song which was pretty cool.

Towards the end of the show, Mike Ness brought a couple up onto the stage that he had noticed in the crowd. Apparently this couple had been married earlier that day and the woman was wearing a white dress and a veil. This had caught Mike's eye and he had them ushered through the crowd up onto the stage with the band. The security guys seemed to need some convincing about this idea and Mike nodded his head 'YES' emphatically while waving with his hands for them to come forward, up over the barricade.

He asked them, 'You guys got married this morning and you're here at Social D tonight?' He seemed to be pretty impressed by that and I have to say I thought it was very cool myself. Ah, romance. At that point Social Distortion ended the night with the appropriate, 'Ring of Fire'.

Towards the end of the song some of the people around me decided they were going to start shoving people, which I thought was a little late in the show, seeing as how it was the encore set at this point. That lasted about 30 seconds before the person who had started all this decided she had had enough. Apparently she broke her flip-flops while getting pushed around.
[/Rolls eyes..]

I have seen Social D several times and they sounded great last night. The band seemed to be really into it and they played with a lot of energy. I think they appreciated that the crowd was so into every song as well. Mike Ness seemed to be in a great mood and was happy about the show being a full house. He was pretty funny talking to the crowd in between songs, commenting on the surf at Hampton Beach among other things. 'You guys didn't see me out there surfing those 4 footers earlier today? Nobody ever notices when I do the cool shit..' Ha.

Quotes from Patriots Training Camp last week...

Last Friday I attended the long-awaited opening of Patriots Training camp. I took my Kids to the afternoon session of Camp. My Dad came along for the ride as well.

Here are a few of the exciting quotes that I got from Camp:

Son: I'm hungry.

Daughter: I'm thirsty.

Son / Daughter: I gotta go to the bathroom Daddy..

Me: Where did your Grandpa go?? [Under breath so kids can't hear: What the F... bleep bleep bleep]

Me: Guys!! Get back here and please stay with me! You can't just take off in different directions like that!

Son: I want [whatever thing is for sale in front of his face at the moment].

Crowd: OOOOOHH! Ahhh... Wow! Great catch!! Nice play!

Me: What happened? I missed it...

Although I spent a lot of the time monitoring my children (and their grandfather), I did get to see some of the action at camp and it was a lot of fun. The practice fields are set up with two football fields running parallel to each other and there are various drills taking place in each end zone. Coaches and misc other people hang out in the area between the two fields discussing who knows what. At one point Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli were engulfed in conversation there and I'm sure whatever they were talking about was extremely important.

There are bleachers running down the sideline of the right hand side field and there is a grass hill behind the end zone for spectators to sit on, as well as another set of bleachers a little farther down to the left on the other field's end zone section.

We sat on the grass hill and got to see a number of different drills including some passing drills featuring Tom Brady and Randy Moss, some punting drills, what looked to be some OL/DL blocking drills off in the far corner of the left hand field and some run blocking drills. It was all very exciting and it is great to see all of my favorite players such as Tom Brady, Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison and Kevin Faulk out on the field and getting ready for the season. Hard to believe it but the first pre-season game is only two weeks away!

Also along for the trip down to Pats Training Camp was Brent of The Patriot Act. He has a lot more informative details to offer you about what happened that day that actually involve The New England Patriots. Angela of Boston Brat was there during the morning's session and has an awesome photo gallery of all the action. Check it out when you get a chance.

GO PATS

Curtis (not my favorite) Martin to retire...

Former New England Patriot running back Curtis Martin is expected to announce his retirement from the NFL on Friday. (update: he officially announced his retirement today.)

Curtis will retire from the NFL as the league's 4th leading rusher on the all-time list, but the only hardware he will retire with is a Patriots AFC Championship ring from 1996-97.

Well Curtis, was it worth it? That 36 million dollar 'poison pill' contract that Bill Parcells gave you sure was nice, of that I have no doubt, but I wonder if you would have traded it for a Superbowl ring on your finger. Parcells lured you to The Jets, (screwing The Pats along the way) used you up and then left you behind, as he always seems to do.

Of course, The Patriots made their share of mistakes in that whole deal, not the least of which was squandering the horde of draft picks they landed between you and Parcells leaving for The Jets. If The Pats had only signed you when they should have, we probably would not even be talking about this, but some how things seemed to work out.

The Patriots went through a string of running backs over the years, continually searching for your replacement and never finding him but along the way guys like Antowain Smith, Kevin Faulk and Corey Dillon handled the load as The Pats won 3 Superbowl Championships and continue to contend for more. The closest you came with the Jets was an AFC Championship loss to Denver in 1998-99. Parcells abandoned you and The Jets after the '99 season. So how'd that move to the Jets work out for you, Curtis? Maybe 36 million fixes everything. I wouldn't know.

All I know is you taught me once and for all, above all else, always root for the laundry. Always.

Above is a picture of your jersey that hangs in my closet. It has been there untouched since the day you took the money and ran. And ran and ran and ran. And there it will remain untouched. I'll never put that fucking thing on again, that's for damn sure.

I'll give you your props Curtis, you sure as hell were a damn good running back. 4th place in the record book is nothing to be ashamed of. Enjoy your retirement and that Patriots AFC Championship ring Curtis.

Counting down to Pats Camp...

After one of the most exciting off-seasons in recent memory for The Patriots, I can't wait for Training Camp to kick in.

This Friday marks the start of what will be a long, difficult journey on the road to, hopefully, another Superbowl. It seems like all the NFL pundits and 'experts' have the Patriots already raising the Lombardi Trophy come February but teams don't win on paper, they win on the field, and starting Friday the process of making that happen gets into high gear.

Yes, this off-season has given me and my fellow Pats fans a lot of reasons to be enthused, and I always pick the team to go 19-0 anyway, even though I know it won't happen. Let's just say I like to take the same approach that Curt Shilling uses when he's pitching: start with the best possible scenario and take it from there.

Like many of the so called experts, at the start of training camp, without having played even a pre-season game, I'd rate the Pats chances at a Superbowl berth as good as any team in the league. But that's the thing about the NFL, any team in the league can win the Superbowl in any given year. The Patriots finished 5-11 in 2000 and won the Superbowl in 2001. The 'experts' pick does not always make it. In fact, it seems they rarely make it, since most of the time the 'experts' pick is The Colts... Phht. But I digress.

After being one first down away from another Superbowl and coming up short last season, the Patriots seem to be extremely focused on meeting that goal this year and unlike many of the 'expert' picks in the past, we know that the Patriots are not a team that just expects success to be handed to them. They know they have to work for it.

To be honest, I don't really like all these NFL pundits picking my team to win it all in February. It makes me uneasy because most of the time, their picks are completely wrong. Weren't The Miami Dolphins supposed to win the Superbowl last year?

The good thing is, in the case of The Patriots, I know that the Coaches and Players see all those pre-season predictions for what they are, a bunch of bull meant to sell papers. They are well aware that every week success is earned on the field, not given, one game at a time.

Now don't get me wrong, I am extremely stoked for The Patriots season this year, and barring an unmentionable disaster, I expect them to do well, but I am going to follow the team's mantra and take it one day, and one game, at a time. They don't give out trophies for the best off-season and they don't put your name on the Lombardi Trophy until the Superbowl is over. Time to get down to business.

I'll be heading down to Foxboro for the afternoon session of Camp this Friday, along with my friend Brent, who writes one of the best Pats blogs around, The Patriot Act. If you want to meet up and say hello, shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment and maybe we can set something up. We'd be more than happy to let you buy us a Grid-Iron Griller. Heh heh.

GO PATS

(image: Patriots.com)

Everybody... Sell your body to the night.

Turbonegro is coming to Boston in Sept.

YES.

I just ordered my ticket and I will be there.

Paradise Rock Club, get ready to get it on. Right. On.

Kick it Mr. Summers...

Overheard at the nut house...

I usually call home during the day to say hello to my Wife and see how things are going. Usually whenever I call there is some kind of ruckus going on in the background with the kids. There is usually a lot of yelling / screaming / crying / laughing / sounds of things crashing and I either can't understand what my Wife is trying to tell me or she'll cut me off mid-sentence with a terse, 'Ug. I have to go..' because all hell is breaking loose in one form or another.

The other day when I called they were in the middle of lunch. It was fairly calm since they were all eating and my Wife was telling me about her day so far when she suddenly stopped mid-sentence with an 'Ug. Hold on..'

She moved the phone away so as not to scream in my ear and yelled, 'THIS does not belong in your juice. This is not even YOUR toy!! Ok. I gotta go..'

I never found out what it was that had somehow ended up in someone's juice, but then again I didn't ask. Sometimes you're better off not knowing.

Just another day at the nut house.

A few minor complaints.. and some good news too.

Yesterday the place where I work got hit with some damn computer virus so I've been spending the last few days trying to clean up that mess. Fucking virus writers. Who are these people and why do they do this? What purpose does it possibly serve? None that I can tell, other than getting pleasure from making people's lives a little more difficult. I don't get it.

It's the same thing with spam. Are there really people out there that are dumb enough to fall for a Cialis or penis enlargement spam message?

Spammers and virus writers, you all suck.

After heating up my lunch I was walking back over to my desk while also holding a cup of water and the dang water slipped out of my hand and landed right on my foot, prompting a nice, loud, 'Awwww, fuckin-A!!' for all of my fellow cube-dwellers to hear and enjoy. So now my whole foot is soaked and I'll be walking around with a wet foot for the rest of the day. Rats. At least it was only water and not coffee...

There is some good news however thanks to Michele. Apparently today is National Hot Dog Day and that means hot dogs for dinner tonight. Yum!

I like my hot-dogs cooked on the grill but I also like them boiled, steamed or fried. There is no wrong way to cook a hot dog. I also like to spread a little butter on the rolls, New England style of course, and toast them in a fry pan. Throw on some mustard, ketchup and onions and we are set. Chili and cheese are also good additions. I'm not really a big fan of sauerkraut or relish but I've learned that some people put coleslaw on their dogs and that sounds like it could be pretty tasty.. My favorite brand of hot-dog is Fenway Franks (beef) but I'll take whatever I get.

The National Hot Dog Day article I linked to does bring up one important question about hot dogs though,

No matter what style hot dog you enjoy, the age-old question still remains — why do hot dogs come in packages of 10 and hot dog buns in packages of eight?

I have to say I have always wondered about that myself... Hmmmm...

It's official: Troy's back for year 15 with The Pats. Football Gods are pleased..

Now it can be said: Troy Brown is back with the Pats.

Although the story that he would be re-signing with the team came out last week, it's not officially official until it's posted in Patriots.com.

Now that that's out of the way, we can all breathe a little easier.

Since the news that Troy would be back first came out last week, I have read a few stories here and there that have questioned whether or not he would be able to make the team now that the Pats have a pile of talented receivers on the roster at the moment.

Is Troy still good enough to make the cut?

Dudes and ladies, come on. Nothing to worry about. If Troy were 'just' a receiver, maybe that question would be relavent, but Troy Brown is not 'just' a receiver. Troy Brown is a Football Player. Offense, Defense, Special Teams, Troy does it all (but you know that.)

There is no question in my mind that Brown will be on the Patriots roster come Kickoff Weekend.. No question what-so-eva.

Glad to have you back for another run, Troy. I'm sure the news that you'd be back put a smile on the faces of the mighty, powerful and totally buff and sexxy Football Gods.

GO PATS

(image: Boston.com)

Asante Samuel: He chose poorly.

Well unless you are a Patriots fan living under a rock or are trapped in some far away land where they don't have newspapers, televisions or the internet, you know by now that Pats corner-back Asante Samuel did not sign a long term contract with the Patriots yesterday.

Samuel made a dumb move if you ask me, but then again, it can't be all that bad to have a have a 7 million dollar safety net with the insultingly 'low' franchise offer the Patriots originally gave him.. Ug, ONLY 7.79 million dollars for a single year? If it were me I'd spit on that offer. (No I wouldn't.)

Meaningless indications out of the press are that Samuel will sign the franchise offer and play the season, in the hopes that next year, his big big pay-day will come. If Samuel can put up numbers like he did last year, he'll 'Get Paid' (I had to work that in somehow) next off-season.

Unless The Patriots franchise him again that is.

If you can't tell by the tone of this post, I find this Asante Samuel contract situation to be irritating, but then again, I generally feel that way whenever there is wrangling between players and my team (yeah, it's MINE) over money.

Obviously I'd rather see Samuel in Camp as a willing participant of The Patriots' Pre-Season work as they set out to achieve their goal of a successful season and a Superbowl victory. To me it would be a ridiculously stupid move for Samuel if he decides to sit out till week 10 as he had threatened to do at one point. Hopefully Samuel is not that dumb, but if it turns out that he actually is that dumb, well, I look at it this way: by week 10 The Pats' secondary is historically pretty banged up at that point in the season, so it will be good to have a fresh body available, if needed. That would allow Troy Brown to concentrate on just the offense.

Contract negotiations take the fun out of the game. That's why I'm glad this part is over and there's just Training Camp and the Pre-Season to look forward to. Hopefully Samuel will do the smart thing and be there for Camp, but if he's not, The Patriots will move forward, as they always do, and somehow I think they'll manage, as they always do.

In Bill We Trust.

GO PATS

Thank the f-ing spammers for making it more difficult to leave comments...

For some reason the site's been getting nailed with spam comments lately. It used to be that requiring an e-mail when commenting was enough to keep it out, but that no longer seems to be the case, so I had to enable that 'CAPTCHA' thing where you have to type in a phrase to leave a comment.

I am sorry to have to do this because getting comments and interacting with people is one of the fun things about the site, and I know trying to type some distorted, hard to read phrase every time you want to comment on something is a hassle, but I hope it won't dissuade people from leaving comments anyway.

And to those of you who really, really need to find some Cialis and other, ahem, 'services' online, well sorry you are out of luck I guess..

Fucking spammers...

Attack of the killer meme thingy... on a Friday! WOOP

Saw this at Cullen's and was inspired to post. I don't usually do these things but I thought this was an interesting meme thingy and since this site is all about linking to other people's content these days, let's keep it rollin!! OH YEAH!

I don't really know what the word meme means but apparently this is one. And I don't know the rules of this thing either but I did it anyway so there you go. Besides who needs rules. FUCK RULES that's what I say! This is the wild wild west of the internet so feel free to make up your own rules and take it and run with it if you want. Happy Friday!

The questions:
1. Happen ::
2. Terribly ::
3. History ::
4. Master ::
5. Petrified ::
6. Moan ::
7. Attack ::
8. Picture ::
9. Students ::
10. Potter ::

---------

The answers:
1. Happen :: ed last night
2. Terribly :: wrong
3. History :: happening daily
4. Master :: Master. Where's the Dreams that I've been after?
5. Petrified :: Forest
6. Moan :: Oh yeah baby
7. Attack :: of the stupid
8. Picture :: me at the beach
9. Students :: ah youth
10. Potter :: No interest in that book or movie

I'm in ur comptr, fixin ur wirez...

Have I ever mentioned how much I love LOLCats? Whenever I need a LOL I stop by for a visit.

LOL!

Michele always has the best links.

Mulcha, Mulcha, Mul-chaaa, Mulch!

That there is 9 yards of mulch.

Applicable uses of mulch:
- Helps to retain ground moisture and keeps the plants and flowers happy. When the plants are happy, my Wife is happy. When she is happy, I am happy.

- Helps to prevent weeds from growing

- Helps to prevent erosion

- Looks nice

My Wife and I spent most of the weekend spreading this around the yard. I would shovel it into a wheelbarrow using a snow-shovel, wheel it over to where she wanted it, dump it and then repeat.

Over and over and over and over.. and over.

Then she would spread the mulch around with a rake and make it all look nice-nice around the plants and flowers by hand.

As I've said before grunt work = Me. Details = Wife.

It came out good and looks great. I would have done a before / after thing but it started raining shortly after we finished getting it all done.

Misc errata:
This mulch, which I believe is hemlock, (I can't remember at the moment,) smells just like Copenhagen tastes.

Life can be so lonely when you're alone...

So I'm sitting around the house by myself because my Wife and Kids are off to visit her mother for a few days.. That means I'm bored. What'll I do about it? Think I'll knock some back and have it out with you..

Or instead, maybe post on the website. Yeah.

One good thing about having the house to myself, I can blare the tunes as loud as I want, as late as I want, and it's not going to bother anybody. Other than that, there's nothing good to be said about it. I don't like being here by myself and I miss having everybody around.

It's highly likely that I won't fall asleep till probably 2 AM or something because the house will be too quiet and I'll be alone in bed, so I'll sit around watching tv or maybe reading a book or something.

Obviously I would not do well on my own.

Besides sitting around looking at websites and blaring music this evening, I've also swept and vacuumed the entire house, washed out the bathtub so it's all nice and shiny again, done the dishes and clipped my fingernails. Thrilling eh? Oh yeah, you know it! You want to party with me, I can tell.

Ok I'm gonna go watch a few Miami Vice episodes now. TTL. (that means talk to you later. I just learned that and now I am fully internest savvy. Nice.)

(Image: TV.com)

In case you ever maybe wondered what I look like... (come on, you have)

Here I am! Along with my lovely Wife. BONUS FOR YOU because yeah she's a hottie..

Get your own Simpsons-ized version of yourself here.

Thanks to Angela for the link!

Extra Bonus: Here's me after a few brewski's at Moe's..

Esta undecision me molesta...

Taking MRhé's advice, I'm writing a post while things are slow in the office. In fact things are slower than slow. Things are dead around here. Slower than dead. It's zombie slow around here. In fact this office itself may possibly be zombified because i can feel it sucking the life out of me. If the zombie office gets me, do me a favor and put a bullet in my head because that's the only way to kill a zombie. And I don't want to spend eternity shuffling around the office decomposing and looking for people to bite. There are no bite-worthy people around here, even for a zombie. Maybe I'd feel differently if I worked in an office like Josh Harnett's in that flick 40 Days and 40 Nights, but I don't think an office like that exists anywhere in real life. So there you go.

This office is a ghost town. There are tumbleweeds rolling down the hallways and I think there are like two other people here besides me. My manager is out on vacay and a bunch of other people took the week off as well. I am saving my vacation for later in the month, thus, I am here watching the clock and trying to be somewhat productive. Time does not go by this slowly at home, that is for sure. Friday night seems to morph into Sunday night in the blink of an eye but 15 min of office time feels like an hour.

What does all this mean? Is there a point here?

Basically I'm trying to determine what the best time of escape might be that is as early as possible but is not too early. Frankly I'd like to leave now but I think that it is too soon. But what if I did? Would anybody even notice? Would anybody even care? What would happen? Would I get in trouble? I can hear car-keys getting picked up and office drawers closing around me as I write this.

Should I stay or should I go now? Come on and let me know because this indecision's bugging me.

Life is such a mystery at times...

I'm not really into stats but still...

Did you know that this site averages the same amount of hits per day regardless of whether I write anything here or not?

Something about that strikes me as kind of lame.

The fact is I've kind of lost interest in this site and I am often finding myself wondering why I even bother with it. When I think of all the time I have spent on this thing that I could have spent getting better at playing my guitar, reading a book or just hanging out with my kids, I feel a little stupid. Like what the hell was I thinking? I'm not saying this thing is a total waste but I'm feeling like it's pretty close.

Maybe it's just the weather. I mean it's too damn nice out right now to want to waste time sitting in front of the keyboard typing stuff. I'd much rather be on-line with a large-mouth bass this time of year.

Anyway the site is paid for and all that so it's not going away, but don't be surprised if the updates are sporadic over the summer. If something exciting or noteworthy happens I may become inspired to write about it. Then again maybe I won't. I know that's a killer way to decrease your site traffic, telling people you're not going to be around that much, but as the statistics prove, it doesn't really matter that much anyway.

In the meantime if anybody asks tell them I've gone fishin' or something.

(t-shirt at: Michael's Closet)