Cooking On Christmas Day (12/25/13)...

Well this will be a quiet Christmas holiday this year. H is here with me for the first time in many moons. Typically he goes up to see his Mom but seeing that she recently moved out to Regina, SK that put a damper on those plans. He gets to hang out with his Dad, the cats and his friends this holiday season.

Next year I am putting up a tree so that it looks a bit more festive in the house. Hopefully Jynx has gotten old enough that she is no longer interested in using the branches of the tree as various sleeping spots and using fragile Christmas ornaments as cat toys. I guess I will have to tempt the fates then.

I gave H the last of his gifts last night. Christmas Eve was always the night for the opening of the Christmas presents growing up. Typically right near midnight. I did it a bit earlier. LOL. Staying up past midnight requires a pre-planned afternoon nap which I didn't have yesterday.

It gets harder and harder to get him gifts as he gets older and I don't like the idea of just giving him money as it shows a lack of creativity. I know I work with numbers so creativity is not my forte. I do try to get some surprises though.

This year I got him some stuff off the NHL.com website to continue to encourage his recent like of all things Canadiens. He got those gifts early as the box was delivered when he was home and I was at work. So the inquisitive type that he is opened up the box to find a Habs t-shirt, key chain and a chillsner that keeps the beverage of choice nice and cold.

I gave him a gift card to Mac's Speed Shop which he can use with his friends as well as a nice bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label. Maybe next year I will surprise him with Johnny Walker Blue. He and his friends fancy themselves as good scotch and bourbon drinkers all of a sudden. It is interesting to hear them discuss the merits of this brand next to the brand. It's a guy thing!

I also got him the requisite underwear and socks as it would not be Christmas without those products. It's like having orange, mandarin or tangerine in the Christmas stocking. It's a must! When my siblings and I were kids we always had a soft package of socks under the tree.

The last thing that Santa delivered to him was the result of my using up the last finite amounts of patience that I had yesterday and braving the traffic on Fairview Rd. Suffice to say that many French Canadian swear words escaped my lips right around noon yesterday. There is a good reason why I don't use that road much and yesterday only served to back that argument up.

Anyways I ended up going to Belk's and getting him a nice Calvin Klein fragrance gift set so now he can then use his own good stuff rather than raid my stash. LOL. I am a man with a plan.

So as the title implies I have already started cooking on this cold for SC Christmas Day. The temperature outside is right at freezing and it won't be getting much warmer. They are only calling for a high of 40F or 4C. That is cold for us. Brrrr cold!

So I have roast already going for late lunch thing I guess. I got to use some of the Pampered Chef items I received this past Monday. Happy Christmas to me! Now I just need to learn how to use them properly. There were some accidents involving beef broth and onions this morning. At least the cup of red wine made it to pot to correctly braise the beef. It better cook out during the process or I will be half lit by supper time. LOL.

I am going to do a roast chicken for later tonight as well. Ham is not a big favorite in this house so I went with a large chicken. I can use the leftovers for a soup base as well as for chicken salad I guess. I would have bought a turkey but they only had frozen ones at the grocery store and if memory serves me correctly it takes a couple of days for a turkey to defrost in the fridge. I will plan that better next time. I've never cooked a turkey so that will be a first. I will no longer be a turkey virgin. LOL.

That's it for now Journey fans. Merry Christmas one and all and peace out!

Another Rainy Day In The Upstate (12/22/13)...

So we have had a really dreary day here in the Upstate with a heavy downpour around noon. Warm temps in the 60s but constant rain. How effing annoying. It was coming down so hard that it awoke me from my nap. LOL. That's what happens when I wake up at 5am. Before you know it I will need a nap to get through the day.

I had a couple of my special coffees and had started reading my latest Randy Wayne White novel "The Man Who Invented Florida" when BooBoo Dammit decided to come and cuddle in the crook of my arm as I was reading. Given that she had marked her eminent domain territory on my arm I decided to close my eyes for a minute or two. Ha. That became about an hour and I only awoke because of the racket the rain was making out on the roof of the back deck.

Since then I have been puttering around the house cleaning up while listening to MC Rock Hits. Housecleaning is definitely not my favorite activity. Off white carpets. Good Gawd that color scheme does not work with two men and two dark haired cats in the house. It looks clean for about five minutes and that's it!

I made a wonderful salad for lunch with two kinds of lettuce (romaine and iceberg), roma tomatoes, green and yellow zucchini cut in razor thin slivers, red onion, green peppers, kale, whole wheat croutons and a Greek salad dressing. I should have taken a picture of the salad. The colors were wonderful. All shades of green with some red and yellow interspersed. It was yum. I had a Dos Equis Ambar with a lime wedge placed in the neck of the bottle and that upped the taste factor big-time.

I guess I need to get back to work. Peace out Midnight Oils fans!

This & That Before My Morning Coffee (12/22/13)....

So the other day I am heading to take a shower before heading to work and I notice in the mirror a large pimple right on the tip of my nose. It could not be in a more obvious place. How annoying acne at 51 yrs. old. Grrr. Adding to this disturbing picture is that a couple of days earlier I somehow managed to scrape up my forehead but good while shaving my head. I never do that. So for the last couple of days I have relived the early teens of my years with marks on my face. Not exactly the remember when that I want to have. LOL.

Yesterday afternoon I tried a new recipe with chicken breasts, hot Italian sausage and farfalle pasta. It turned out real well and it was really to make with few ingredients. I was worried that it would be a bit bland but the red wine and Italian seasoning brought out quite a bit of taste to the dish overall.

I wish I could say the same of the chicken noodle soup I made afterwards. It was so-so. I pretty much followed the recipe I have been using recently but I may have had watered down the stock a bit too much. I am not real good with salt and pepper to taste in dishes as I am not a big user and fan of salt. I always tell H that it may need some afterwards. The soup is still good but it seems to be missing an ingredient. Maybe it is carrots. I have forgotten to replenish that root vegetable on the last couple of trips to my local Food Lion.

If you need proof that our world has changed for the worse in many ways all you need to do is go on a comment section of a typical news site on the web and prepare yourself for low intellect, racist, unintelligible and disturbing comments on various subject matters. It is beyond belief what can be written on a website without any regard for truth and honesty. Add to the fact that most of these sites don't check or validate what is written and that most of these putrid comments come from people hiding behind avatars, fake names and false Facebook user IDs. It is like having the low intellect cave dwelling members of the KKK coming out from behind their sheets to spew their hatred and non-sensical vitriol. It has gotten to the point that I don't even go to these sections anymore in search of dialogue because all I get is the sense that I need to take a shower to rid myself of the stench of bigotry and hate.

Okay so that was weird as I went from my temporary markings on my face to my adventures in the kitchen to editorializing about "stupid is as stupid does" people. Well it has been bugging me for a few days. LOL. So I now I have written about it and I feel better.

Anyways time to make coffee Collective Soul fans. Peace out.

Well My Smoke Alarms Work (12/19/13)....

So I was listening to some 70s music play while reading up on Southern rock bands on the Wikipedia website when all of a sudden the smoke alarms went off. Damn that is one loud sound that emanates from a smoke detector. Both of them went off. One in the hallway next to Harrison's bedroom and the one next to my bedroom door.

The reason they went off was because I started the oven cleaning process. I guess that the high heat started to super burn all of the pizza bits that Harrison and his friends leave at the bottom of the oven when they super load up the pizzas that they have baked.

I had neglected to turn the overhead fan so I discovered how well the smoke alarms and sensors work and how effing shrill that alarm sound makes. LOL. I have my kitchen window wide open now trying to dissipate the imaginary smoke. Seems imaginary to me. LOL. I will have to close that window soon as it is only 46 out there and if it keeps up it will be 46 in here but quick. LOL.

I feel like the 1974 Ohio Players classic "Fire" should be next up on the imaginary turntable in my head. Peace out rock'n'rollers and be serene.

Meanderings Of A Sunday Morning In Schlewingstan (12/15/13)....

I had a real rough night sleeping last night. I had some serious bad dreams. I don't normally remember my dreams and even last night's memories are sketchy. I know my Mom played a central figure in it even though I never recalled seeing her in the dream. She was always off in the distance somewhere. That isn't surprising as it has been 11 years since she has passed on to whatever awaits us on the other side. Hmm I shouldn't get started there because I will ramble on forever on what I think happens to us when we pass on.

That topic along with Fox Non-News Host Megyn Kelly's thoughts on Santa Claus and Jesus being white or caucasian in politically correct language would tie up more than a morning of me hunting and pecking on a keyboard.

Somehow my Mom was there in some way and it involved my maintaining or not maintaining my house and property. Just to enhance things; failed romantic events or advances of recent times were thrown in. LOL. Like I said it wasn't a good dream. I know that I woke up around 635am and told myself I am not going back to sleep because these remembrances or dreams of mine sucked. Perhaps not the prettiest word to use there to use but it is rather concise and suits the situation to a T.

I ended up putting on some canvas shorts and headed to the kitchen to get some coffee going. H was up as he was starting work at 7am and he questioned my sanity then and there. On a day off, his idea of waking up in the morning is getting out of bed at 1159am. He never understands how I get up so early on my days off. It's like I told him; if I am tired later on I will have a nap. Ha. I usually do. It's a real rarity if I don't as I have 3-4 years of sleep deprivation to build back up. Having three large mugs of coffee liberally not conservatively laced with Kahlua, Bailey's or some other spirit may contribute to the nap factor as well. LOL. Trying to think of what I do or think in a conservative manner would be a short conversation.

To add to this day that was off to a rip-roaring start involved my having to grind some whole bean coffee to make a fresh pot. Suffice to say I had a coordination event occur at approx. 645am and I will likely be wiping up spilled coffee grounds for the next few days. Jynx Schlewing may be a tad hyper for the next couple of days because this morning's trial and tribulations occurred on her piece of the kitchen area. I can definitely say that she has been running around more than usual. That may be weight loss related mind you and not caffeine related. LOL.

Shortly after getting the coffee going; I ended up finishing up David Baldacci's "True Blue" that was published in 2009. I enjoyed the read. I was a little perturbed with Mace Perry the main character or protagonist in the book. She was a little too Jack Bauer like in the novel and at times I found her headstrong ways annoying. That isn't a bad thing as at least I had an opinion of her rather than just being indifferent. I kind of pictured Maria Bello in that role. I had to google her name as I wasn't completely sure that was her name. I ended up on the USA Network "In Plain Sight" webpage. OMG what a clustereffword of a webpage. Another one of my segues into whatever land. LOL.

Anyways rock'n'rollers and hangers on I sure hope your Sunday morning went well. Peace out.

State of the Marc (12/08/13).....

Hard to believe that Christmas is only two and a half weeks away and then before you know it 2014 is here and 2013 is just a memory. It does seem at times that as one gets older that time just flies by. Yes I know that isn't really the case but it does seem that way.

I think it is a culmination of 9 hour work days, an hour or so driving to and from work along with errand runs thrown in and then settling things down to make supper. Before you know it is 8pm and you are just beginning to unwind from your day. Some nights involve tedious and mundane housework tasks. Other nights include watching a Habs game with Harrison. Other nights may have a nap involved in trying to replenish the sleep bank. Before you know it is bedtime. That may be 11pm or midnight or even 1am depending on the day. Repeat that four or five days and nights and weeks really roll on by quick. LOL. It sure didn't seem like that when I was in my 20s or 30s.

Started off the day to rain coming down quite hard with temps just above freezing. Not exactly a rip roaring start to the day.

One of those days that you take a quick look outside and decide hmm perhaps staying in bed bundled under the covers with a steady stream of Kahlua coffees and a good book to read and catching up on 31 games of Words With Friends that I have going sounds like a perfect way to start the day. Toss in listening "Building Blocks of Rock" with Sharon Hyland on CHOM out of Montreal and that describes how I spent my Sunday morning. Breakfast and lunch consisted of a banana, some blueberries and two bowls of cabbage chicken soup I made on Friday night. Hint to self: don't use red cabbage in a soup as the color bleeds. LOL.

I finished reading "The Last Man" by the late Vince Flynn. I enjoy reading his Mitch Rapp books. They remind of Jack Bauer character on Fox's 24 which is probably the last episodic TV show I have watched faithfully.That means I haven't really watched network TV since 2010. Hmm. Seems that my TV is stuck on baseball, hockey, cooking shows and the Smithsonian channel. I guess I am not the advertiser's target market. Ha!

Well almost 1pm. I guess I should get productive. LOL. Peace out rock'n'rollers and hangers on.

Short Blog of Me Being Lazy Imagine That (12/01/13)...

Well at about ten to five this afternoon I decided to get going and get productive. Basically I have spent the day in my version of PJs (t-shirt and shorts) reading about three weeks worth of newspapers and my latest Randy Wayne White novel while listening to music on various radio stations on the internet and drinking some enhanced coffee. By enhanced I am referring to the new bottle of Kahlua that made into the Schlewingstan household yesterday afternoon.

I can confirm that the weather in Brisbane, QLD, Australia is in the mid 80s with partly cloudy skies per Triple M. In New Glasgow, NS, Canada it was around 32 or 0c with some snow flurries later changing to rain per East Coast FM. In Montreal, QC, Canada it's about -3c with light flurries per CHOM-FM. I can confirm that it was about 10c or 53F here today with clear skies. That's coming from temperature thingee on my back deck as I didn't listen to any Greenville stations today.

I can also confirm that my front lawn no longer exists as it once did. It is covered with thousands of leaves from the Bradford pears that I have out front. My neighbor on my right will not be happy with me as the other day he had some hired help out there on his property removing any leaf of significance whatsoever from his property. Once it dries up a bit more here, my leaves will be sneak attacking his lawn with total disregard of real and/or imagined borders or property lines. LOL. I wonder if that is what was meant by "love thy neighbor". Hmmm. Probably not.

Right now I have some country-style pork ribs in the slow cooker. They had a fire sale on them the other day at the store where Harrison works part-time. I bought a slow cooker recipe mix at the same time to use along with honey and ketchup. I am not crazy about store-bought recipe envelope mixes as I always worry as they seem to be loaded with salt and I am not a salt user. Also not crazy about using ketchup as a key ingredient. Not sure why but it makes me uncomfortable. Now there's some effing logic for you. LOL. Yes ma'am right up there with Einstein's Theory of Relativity is Schlewing's Theory of Ketchup Use.

I need to get back to the kitchen and start cleaning up. Between the curry and the chicken soup I made yesterday and these ribs from today I have used pretty much every pan, pot and cutting board I own. That implies that my weekend slothful ways have to come to an end. Bleh to that.

Peace out rock'n'rollers Monday is almost here. Hahaha. I can here Ode To Joy now in my brain NOT.

Setting The Bar Low (11/23/13)....

Well it was not the most productive day ever in Schlewing-stan. I woke up around 9am and brewed some coffee and this being the weekend I added a drop or two of Kahlua to ensure that I would have mellow start to the day. My big plan was to get busy outside raking leaves but I never made it outside. I got onto my work laptop and sent out a couple of emails and then decided to continue reading my latest Randy Wayne White novel "The Heat Islands."

I ended up doing that for a couple of hours as I sipped on some good coffee and listened to some satellite radio.

About mid-afternoon I decided that perhaps I should be a tad more productive. LOL. It wasn't like I set the bar too high earlier in the day. I started to tidy up some in the kitchen and my bedroom and then decided to make a homemade chicken soup. I did take a shortcut by using using some organic chicken broth rather than using a broth from a full chicken and then shredding the meat off. I will say that my efforts were quite successful. I've been doing pretty well with soups from scratch for the last little while.

I'd love to write that I did a whole lot more but that would be a lie. I ended up getting back into my book and that pretty much carried me to the Pens-Habs game tonight. I am sure that tomorrow I'll be way more hmmmmm active. LOL.

Whole Lot of Nothing Done

Just about halfway through day two of nine day break from work including weekends. I haven't done anything yet since my break started. I haven't even left the house since coming home from Bailey's on Friday night. I still have a couple of newspapers sitting in the driveway. It even took me two days to post this blog.

I woke up this morning (Sunday) around 830ish with a faint red wine hangover. I polished off most of a bottle last night when I decided that 10pm was a good time to open a bottle of Apothic and make a soup from scratch. I searched for a recipe on the AllRecipes.com website that I like to use for cooking finds and came up with a cabbage, potato and tomato soup.

The cooler night temperatures kind of encourage comfort foods and as I had all of these root vegetables I figured it would make for a nice and hearty soup. Started off with a quick saute of onions, celery, potatoes and some garlic. Once I had that had gotten going I added chicken bouillon cubes and water and brought that to a quick boil. I added some roughly chopped cabbage and then some diced organic tomatoes, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and for a bit of zing some hot sauce. Brought all of that to a boil and then let it all simmer for a bit after adding some organic chicken broth to add some more liquid. By about 1115 it was ready to eat. Harrison gave me the two thumbs up so I did pretty good I think. I actually two large bowls for breakfast this morning. LOL. I eat rather weird on weekends. One of the perks of being single and marching to the beat of my own drummer. The soup actually helped me get rid of that slight headache that I had earlier.

My big plan for today is to listen to more 70s music on Sirius and to finish reading my latest Randy Wayne White book (Dead of Night) and then a whole lot of nothing. I have several days to get to steam cleaning carpets in the house and whatever else cleaning I can think of to do. LOL. I am not banking on a hugely productive week. Smiles.

Long Weekend...(09/20/2013).....

Wow I haven't been exactly prolific in my writings lately, have I? Rhetorical question by the way. LOL. It seems the only time I have been sitting in front of the PC lately is to keep up with my Nationals online and to play Words With Friends until I get so effing annoyed by the stupid ads that I used to be able to mute but can't mute anymore and hear repeatedly. I don't effing need breath strips for my dog. I don't have a dog! I've got cats and cats have good breath it seems so breath strips are effing useless. LOL.

The blog title says long weekend as I have this coming Monday off as I am off to Sevierville, TN on Sunday to see and hear live in concert The Marshall Tucker Band, .38 Special and Foreigner. It will be an awesome show! I have seen the latter two bands live in the last 3-4 years and I know I will be bopping to songs that I have been listening to since I had lots of hair on my head. Yes that long ago. LOL. I can't wait! Hopefully my phone will be charged and I can take some decent pics from the show. I messed up by leaving my phone in the car a week or so ago when I went to see The National in Asheville which was an excellent show. I've enjoyed the shows I have seen this summer. Started off with Third Eye Blind then Darius Rucker then Chicago then Heart then Sheryl Crow then the Beach Boys the Mumford & Sons and then The National. Pretty darn cool!

In fact I have tons of long weekends coming. I booked about 11 days off over the next eight weeks or so just to get to my carry-over for 2014. I didn't plan my vacation time real well this year. Well I started off well with the Sanibel trip in early July but the nearly $2000 "Jynx Get Well" vet bill kind of screwed up some plans between having to take care of her and that money that was destined for a second Sanibel trip. Nevertheless Jynx is well and purring up and sneezing up a storm so all is well in Schlewingstan.

Anyways back to the present. I opened a bottle of "Menage A Trois" I picked up earlier tonight on my red wine and salsa run at Costco and I am typing away as I listen to the musical stylings of Mark Knopfler, Meat Loaf, Powderfinger, Bear's Den and Sinead O'Connor. Nats are up 7-0 nothing and the Tribe are up 2-1. Reds are losing (good) and now we need the Rangers to be down as well or perhaps the Rays pitching can falter letting the Orioles back into the game. Less than 10 games left in the season. H told me last night that I need to get the hockey package on our cable programming. H is a Habs fan. That is so cool! It took 19 years but the Prodigal Son has allowed his Canadian DNA to prevail. I really need to upgrade the sound on that flat screen I have in the living room. It is kind of tinny and brutal! I just don't watch enough TV to give a whit....

I will finish this in the morning...H is home and he wants to chat...

What Came Over Me? Alien Takeover Perhaps! (08/20/13)...

So last week I went out and bought myself with the help of BB&T a 2013 TDI Passat SE and with the blah weather we've had I haven't really driven it much. H on the other hand is never around since I gave him the 07 Sorento for his bday. I asked him to cover the last three payments and presto he now has a car with a $10K book value. That car is a whole lot better than my lemon of a first car which was a Pontiac Sunbird. Basically on a bi-weekly basis I pumped in what I had left of my pay cheques back then and waved it bye-bye to various car repair shops in the Montreal area.

Back to the point I was making though when I started typing here. LOL. I was a little bit sidetracked as I am wont to do at times. So at lunch time I decided to go on a good beer run at Greene's Discount as I had all these limes in the fridge without the correct beer to use the limes. Even if I drank the Buds and Millers of the world I wouldn't be using lime to add taste. Perhaps some formaldehyde would add some zing to those beers (and I use that term lightly). Budweiser is the king of beers as much as I am the next in line to lead the Republicans to election glory in 2016. Not effing likely.

Anyways beer run completed. Some Sierra Nevada Torpedos. Some Dos Equis Ambars. Some RJ Rockers Patriot Pales. Some Thomas Creek Extreme IPAs. Mission accomplished. This should cover me through Saturday and then Sunday I will go to church and atone for all of my sins. Oh that's right I don't go to church. I am therefore sinful. I may have to do another good beer run on Saturday then so that on Sunday I forget that I am sinful. Oh boy that would be a whole other blog there. Ha!

Anyways I had all of this energy when I came home and did two loads of laundry. Cleaned three cat litter boxes. Fed the cats. Changed shower liners. Trimmed hedges. I am telling you that this level of activity coming from me between 530 and 7pm is effing unusual. I'm thinking aliens. LOL.

That's it for now. Time to listen to some Simple Minds and their Greatest Hits. Peace out and as Jim Kerr once wrote....Don't You Forget About Me....

Meanderings From A Middle-Aged Man Living In The Rain Belt (07/27/13)...

So this might be longest blog title that I have used so far. Suffice to say that one day when I blank on a new blog title I will just add the word "More" to this title and I will have a new champion of letters used in a blog title. Hehe!

As is often the case when I am up and at 'em early I do lots of news web surfing about places I have lived and places I have visited. While on the http://www.ngnews.ca/ website which covers news and happenings in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. This is an area of NS that I visited often with Harrison when he was a pre-teen as my Mom had moved there after I moved here. I saw an item on the Westville Drive-in being repurposed. I just typed the word repurposed and it has squiggly red lines underneath it which in my world means the word doesn't even effing exist. In normal English which many of us in North America speak if we grew up with English as our first language; the imaginary word "repurposed" means closed. You know closed and all of its six letters would have fit in just nicely and be way more effing concise and truthful in the headline rather than an imaginary word that obfuscates and almost deceives.

You know I understand Sobey (the grocery and real estate conglomerate) selling their movie theatre and drive-in assets for a tidy sum. That is capitalism and it can be rewarding for the shareholders. That's how things work in our economic system. I can even understand the new owners of that piece of property deciding that they can make more money with the drive-in real estate assets by changing its function to something else. I am not sure what it is going to be used for in its next incarnation and if memory serves me correctly there is quite a bit of underutilized land in the county. Maybe the fact that it is leveled makes it easier to use than some undeveloped nearby property. Anyways it is the new owners choice.

What I really didn't like about the story was that the news division of this paper could have just taken the press release from Sobey and Cineplex Entertainment (new owners) and just classify it as a paid ad for all the "probing" journalism the article contained. No one from the News really questioned what is going to happen to the 65 jobs that are going to disappear with this "repurposing". That is a news story to follow. What's the next headline? Those 65 jobs have been "right-sized". More corporation gobbledygook. Why don't they just say that 65 people are going to lose their jobs if Sobey can't find them new positions in the non-theatre assets in Stellarton. That would be honest journalism. Repurpose that you gutless lackeys.

I have good memories of that drive-in and going there with Harrison a few times. Reading about its impending closure obviously bugged me and seeing the wording in the article really peeved me. Yeah I know I am restating the obvious. LOL.

That's it for now. Remember to keep rocking and rolling and singalong to the songs that make you feel. Peace out!

Chicago in Kingsport, TN (07/20/13)....

Here's my review of the Chicago show at Kingsport, Tennessee's 2013 FunFest concert last night. Let me start by saying that the 160 mile drive there is one pretty drive. Once you get past the Pleasantburg Drive / Poinsett Highway shopping sprawl and are past Furman University; the next 120 miles or so are pretty darn spectacular as you drive past and through the rolling hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Smokies. I think I read not long ago that these are all part of the Appalachians from up north. Let me say that in July the greenery is spectacular. I took some pictures on my droid but they do not do justice to the majestic grandeur and vista that you see as you drive through.

There's a couple of scenic outlooks that I stopped at that truly caught these moments for me. I was thinking of a saying while parked and looking at these views. The saying was "Hurry Up and Slow Down" and enjoy life. At one lookout there was one car besides mine and at another there were two cars. All the while I am taking in these views I hear the cars buzzing by on interstate 26W and was wondering if the occupants of said cars realized what they were missing by not "Hurrying Up and Slowing Down." Somehow I think not. Oh well their loss.

So I made it plenty early to Kingsport and parked my car minutes away from the high school football stadium and wandered down the street where the "Taste of the Tri-Cities" was set up and had some pulled pork barbecue from one of the local shops. The sandwich was huge and the sauce was excellent. The sides were way overpriced and not all that tasty. I will know better next time to stick with just the sandwich.

Interestingly this whole event was alcohol-free (even the concert) as the city was calling it family friendly. It is what it is. It was weird to see the smokers galore out there walking around in a so-called family friend event. I was prepared as I had a small cooler with beers. LOL.

Anyways onto the show. Gavin Degraw opened up and played a 45 minute set and did a yeoman's job of fronting his band and encouraging the audience. At one point he jumped into the crowd and sang two songs while walking through and high-fiving people. I really don't know any of his music. It seems that he is popular with the 2000s version of MTV listeners as some his tunes have been featured on their shows as well as on One Tree Hill. His band are tight musicians and they did their best with many in the audience being twice their age.

Okay onto Chicago's lengthy set. As trumpet flugel horn player par excellence Lee Loughnane mentioned very early in the show; they would be playing a lengthy set (around 2 hours in all) and they would be covering all the bases and touching upon their over forty years in the music business. Truthfully they did a phenomenal job of picking out a set list. As keyboard and sometimes lead singer Robert Lamm later mentioned; the band has had seventy songs hit the charts. Both Loughnane and Lamm weren't kidding.

The concert started with the aptly name "Introduction" which is the first track off of the first Chicago album "Chicago Transit Authority". This tune performed live shows off what will happen over and over in the set. Some hard rocking, some horns, some ballady soft stuff and then some more horns. The tune was written by the late Terry Kath and is now sung by Robert Lamm. This segued into "Questions 67 and 68" from the same disc. This song is one of those desert island songs for me. CHOM-FM used to play this song semi-regularly back in the late 70s and early 80s and from the first time I heard the horns I was hooked. It was weird hearing it last night with a bunch of people that may not have been very familiar with the non-AM radio songs that Chicago includes in their set. Jason Scheff on bass sang lead with some assistance from Robert Lamm on the deeper vocal parts. This song allows the band to showcase the horns as well as lead guitarist Keith Howland's chops. Great great performance. This led into Dialogues Parts 1 & 2 which comes from Chicago V in 1972. Another rock and jazz song with some catchy choruses as well as a nice vocal interchange between Lou Padrini, Jason Scheff and Robert Lamm. This led into the first recognizable tune for many in the audience which was 1978's "If You Leave Me Now" from Chicago X. As my friend Jeff P. says this is one of those QFM songs. Hehe. It's a pretty song. Then we had "Call On Me" from Chicago VII next which is the one hit song written by Lee Loughnane and ably sung by Lou Padrini who has taken over some of Bill Champlin leads. Then came my 2nd desert island song of the night which was 1973's "I've Been Searchin' For So Long" also from Chicago VII. album. This tune to me is another one of those songs that talk to me. It is one of those songs that encapsulates what life should be about or aboot. LOL. Next up was the instrumental track from the same album named "Mongonucleosis". This is a James Pankow (the eminent trombone player and one of the four remaining original band members) word play song which is a upbeat jazz tune I guess. It has a great Jason Scheff bass line and shows off Loughnane's trumpet skills. A fun tune.

Then came a very nice part of the show. The whole band exited stage left (lol)and then a stage light was directed at a lone keyboard set up front and center. Out came Jason Scheff and he did a solo version of "Will You Still Love Me" from Chicago XVIII on that keyboard. It almost seemed like the couples in the audience moved closer to each other and hands were being clasped. You could hear the soft whispers of people singing the chorus together. I had a brief moment of sadness given my current status but nevertheless was taken in by the moment. It was an impressive performance. Then Jason left the stage and Robert Lamm came out and took Jason's recently vacated spot along with Keith Howland with an acoustic guitar and the immensely talented and vibrant auxillary percussionist Walfredo Reyes Jr. and they performed a mellow version of Robert's song from Chicago X "Another Rainy Day In New York City." This was also well received by the crowd at the show and I liked hearing the lesser played song from that album. They left the stage and out came Lou Padrini to sing an amazingly heartfelt version of "Look Away" from Chicago XIX. Halfway through the song the rest of the band came on and the radio version was played. Great great tune. Not a tune to listen to when you are down on romance. LOL. These solo performances were real nice and a great change of pace.

With the whole band on stage you kind of knew that the tempo was about to pick up. Then the unmistakable opening horn hook of 1970's "Make Me Smile" from the suite of "Ballet For A Girl in Buchannon" on Chicago II. This song is over 40 years old and still has me dancing in my chair. Please don't think of the graphic of a man 6'5"+ and 275 lbs. dancing in a chair. It isn't pretty. Nevertheless Lou Padrini did a great job on vocals until passing it onto Robert Lamm for his bit then to Lee Loughnane's trumpet solo and then before you knew it the unmistakable piano/keyboard intro of the wedding song classic "Color My World" broke out midway in the "Ballet" with Lee Loughnane (yes really) on vocals complete with the beautiful flute solo by another original Chicagoan Walt Parazaider. As the suite continued, there was some more beautiful horn arrangements sequeing back into "Make Me Smile." A nice performance of a song that you normally only hear in the hit song versions.

Then back to Chicago I we went with the immediately recognizable Robert Lamm tune "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is". The ode to the weekend where time, watches and clocks do not exist in Schlewing-land. A nice place to be. This led into the flute intro by Walt Parazaider on the #3 hit from Chicago XVII's "Hard Habit To Break". In 2013 the version features the vocal interplays of Jason Scheff and Lou Padrini. Well done. I know I was singing along to the "I am addicted to you Babe, you're a hard habit to break" vocal. Then again I was singing along to everything. LOL. Perhaps I am biased. Ha! This led into the Peter Cetera penned tune "You're The Inspiration" from Chicago XVII. This was also sung by Jason Scheff who has taken over the Cetera vocals and bass playing and does a great job at it. This is not one of my fave Chicago songs as it is a bit formulaic which is not surprising as it was written with David Foster's help. Not a David Foster fan. At one point he was producing Chicago and telling them that they did not need the horns. LOL. My opinion is that they didn't need the Foster. So there!

Back to Chicago I we go with "Beginnings". Signature Chicago song. Robert Lamm lyrics. Great chorus. Horns in the back mix. Some nice acoustic guitar. Scheff solo. Pankow solo. Loughnane solo. The latin rhythm backbeat provided by Tis Imboden and Walfredo Reyes Jr. All I can say or write is Wow!

Up next we now have us some cowbell! Yes. The Spencer Davis classic "I'm A Man" is up next and the horn section has cowbells and cymbals. I don't think there is a bad version of this song in existence. The drums, the cymbals, the tambourine, the cowbell and the electric guitar has gots to gets your feets tapping. If it doesn't there is no hope for you. I am sorry. You have no cool genes! Anyways back to the live version of the song; about three minutes in we have ourselves a drum and percussion solo exchange between the wonderfully talented Tris Imboden and Walfredo Reyes Jr. If you have a chance YouTube Chicago Freedom Fest 2012 "I"m a Man" great drums and you will not be disappointed if you have a cool gene in your body.

Next up came the great James "Jimmy" Pankow to introduce the next song. He's been using the same line about this song for years but it is still a propos. "First it is song that people get married to and then it is a song that babies get conceived to." Those were Jimmy's words. They are so true in hindsight! Is there a better lyric about being in love than "baby you're everything, I've ever dreamed of"? That's one of the key lyrics from Chicago VI's "Just You'N'Me".

Here we go into the home stretch of the concert. 18th song of the night. All of them hits. All of them singalongs. Well for me anyways. LOL. The key-tar starts and it's the unmistakable opening riffs of "Saturday In The Park" from Chicago V. A common theme in this blog seems to be how many songs that one recognizes within five seconds. They may have not changed the world but they affected my little world and that ladies and gentlemen is the beauty of music. This segued into the keyboard intro of "Hard To Say I Am Sorry" from Chicago XVI in 1982. Once again we have Scheff doing an able job on Cetera's original vocal. This immediately leads into the unmistakable opening guitar riff of Chicago VI's "Feeling Stronger Every Day". Everybody is standing up now. Fists are in the air. Lots of Oh Yeahs. LOL. And that is the end of the concert until the encores. I'm forty feet from stage now having worked my way up as the show has gone along and I am ready for the encores.

The first encore is a quintessential Chicago track "Free" from Chicago III. Some horns. Some guitar. Some latin rhythms. Some patriotism. Some "Free". Then comes the Keith Howland intro to the timeless "25 or 6 to 4". I still don't have an effing clue what that song means. Joey Baranski and I used to select this song on the jukebox at Atomic's Pizzeria in a strip mall located at the corner of 100th and Souvenir. Forty years later I remember this as it was yesterday. Still no clue what it means but on July 20, 2013 that song was fucking amazing!

I can't wait until I see them next year. Dang I may try to get them to come to the Charter Amphitheater so I don't have to drive three hours for a show. I think it would be a money-making venture. Perhaps putting concerts of my favorite bands is in my near future. I really think we are underserved here.

Rock on Chicago lovers rock on!

A Short Friday Blog (07/19/13).....

So here I am on Friday night listening to a mixed CD which I will likely blog about afterwards and I'm having an excellent Harpoon IPA as a reward after mowing 2/3 of my lawn after getting home from work. I am already on laundry load number #2. I know I lead an exciting bachelor's life! Here's the thing, H thinks the car belongs to him now especially in the evenings. Ha! That explains my lack of social life. LOL. Although even if I had access to the car I'd be staying in tonight as I had some domestic Gawd duties to attend to that I couldn't get around to doing in my usual hectic week.

I actually texted H earlier this week to tell him that I needed MY car on Saturday as I have an early morning massage at ME and then I'm off to Kingsport, Tennessee to see one of my fave bands of all time. Chicago is playing at FunFest about three hours away and I can't wait to see them. I saw them way, way back when in the 70s. Yeah I know I am effing old when I am referring to concerts I attended when I was a teenager. I have clothes older than when I last saw Chicago. I don't fit in those clothes though because I quit smoking 60 pounds ago.

It's effing hot out there. I had some ice cold Yuenglings as I was mowing and it seemed like I was sweating them out as soon I started moving around and mowing. With all the rain that we have had the last couple of weeks (daily occurrence) my weeds were growing rampant. I did manage to finish most of it and will complete the back piece on Sunday when I am back from Kingsport.

I have a couple of blogs that I need to edit about my week on Sanibel Island. I wrote them up on my smart phone and it took me forever to type or key it out on that mini-keypad. LOL. Hence they haven't been posted yet.

I'll be a bit more prolific in the coming days. I've been dealing with stuff the last couple of weeks. Peace out Rockers!

Hey Hey I Am Or Was Lazy Today (06/22/13)....

Just kicking back tonight listening to Ronny Mack on the overnight and trying to figure out how I will be more productive on Sunday than I was today. LOL.

Let's just say that I did not set the bar too high today. After sleeping about 2.5 hours last night I headed over for my monthly massage with Becky at Massage Envy. She asked me where I was sore and I gave her the usual I am tight all over once again. She laughed and said that's the usual on my long body. She focused on my neck for a while and asked if I am one of those side sleepers that's put an arm under the pillow. LOL. She obviously knows something about the cause of the stiffness on the right side of my neck. For a lady that may weigh less than half of what I do and is about a foot and half shorter she sure uses her strength well as I walk out of there loose as a goose and feeling great for a couple of days until my bad habits screw everything up.

After the session I headed over to Costco and dropped a few hundred on the usual weird grocery orders that I do. I did pick-up a GPS thingee for the car as Harrison since getting onto my insurance policy early this week has decided that he needs my car every day to get out and about. Turns out his sense of direction came from my DNA as he is also getting lost or going out of his way to get somewhere. Last night he was on his way to Spartanburg to pick up someone up that was in Greer. Nothing like going past 3 or 4 exits later on the highway and then back tracking on regional roads to get to where you want to be. I figure the GPS will help him. It'll help me as well. LOL. Hopefully he figures out how to fill up the gas tank as well seeing his propensity to drive the car this week. I did notice that my latest fill up is disappearing but quick.

Well that pretty much sums up what I did today activity wise. I had a massage and went to Costco. Had a nap or two to build back up the sleep deprivation bank and watched my Nats get blown out by the Colorado Rockies. Man oh man it is hard to watch Dan Haren pitch. He is such a stand-up guy but his splitter isn't splitting and is often ending up over the fence.

I not only follow my Nats on MLB but as well on DC website MASN and love posting there as the games go on. It gives me a chance to either cheer or vent on how the team and the games are going on a franchise that I have been following for 43 years. I've decided though after last night that it just isn't worth it when faced with infantile behavior displayed by someone whose lack of intelligence is on display regularly on the site. I questioned some of his more ridiculous comments and this amoeba (Piero B) called me out in Italian like a 7 or 8 yr. old in a playground somewhere and wants to have a fight. What an effing dumbass! First of all to post in Italian thinking that people wouldn't understand and secondly to call me out for a fight. This is supposedly a grown man hiding behind some fake avatar with some fake name acting brave. I hate effing internet bullies and especially hate people that post on websites hiding behind some fake identity spewing their filth and fake outrage while not having the balls, backbone and cojones to do so without using some fake identity. Fucking loser cowards! LOL.

Okay enough venting about that. Suffice to say I was not happy that my Nats also lost today 7-1 and are back at the mediocre level of winning one and losing one. Winning two and losing two.

Anyways time for some midnight munchies. Peace out rock and rollers and don't forget that we still have one day left in the glorious weekend!

Meandering On A Sunday Morning..Another Word For Babbling... (06/16/2013)

Well I am on coffee Kahlua number two this morning and I already have a load of whites in the dryer and am fixing (haha) to get a load of darks into the washer. I used fixing in a sentence just now and earlier this week I used y'all in a sentence; it's official I have been southernized. LOL. Next I will be asking for grits with my eggs. Okay that will never ever effen happen! I have been down that road less traveled a time or two and I was definitely a lost soul in the papier mache taste land.

I even folded the cloth dinner place mats that have been sitting on the dryer for the last month or so. It could be even longer that they were there actually as I know that whites have ended up on top of those several times in the last couple of months. It is absolutely incredible or perhaps ludicrous is a better word how I can put off doing things that literally take minutes to fix, clean, put away, etc. etc. and then bemoan the fact that my house is a tip. LOL. Maybe I like being a whiny bald man. Emphasis on whiny.

Music on the radio is getting interesting once again. Love hearing bands like The National, The Barr Brothers, City and Colour, Mumford and Sons, Half Moon Run, etc. The focus seems to be on the lyrics and understated musicianship. Throw in new stuff from Muse, The Queens of the Stone Age and The Foo Fighters and it's fun to turn on the radio and find out what's next on the radio dial. Not always the same old same old.

In my lazy mode yesterday I happened upon a Cheers retrospective on one of those TV stations that I have that helps explain why the TV part of my Charter bill is over $100. Anyways the part I caught was about all these famous people that have had guest appearances or cameo roles. One of them that brought the memory machine back into operation was the Evan Drake character played by Tom Skerritt. I googled him afterwards as I haven't seen him in too many things lately at all. Turns out that he is 79 yrs. old. Geez Louise I still picture him as Mike "Viper" Metcalf in 1986's "Top Gun". Wow time flies when you are busy living and accumulating debt. LOL.

I guess that today I will have to mow the back part that passes off as a lawn. Ms. Carolyn will be happy that I do so. I should get out there in the next little bit before it gets ridiculously sticky. I did the front yesterday late in the day and I got totally soaked in sweat. Not a pretty sight to have this 51 yr. old man's body in a totally soaked t-shirt form fitting what used to be a fit body. Yeah live well be well my derriere! LOL.

Okay rock and rollers time for breakfast and perhaps another coffee Kahlua. Perhaps. Haha. How about effing likely! Peace out and don't forget to brush your teeth from time to get rid of that broccoli bit you had in your salad one day last week!

Just Another Saturday State Of The Marc Ramble (06/15/2013)....

So two weeks from now I will be somewhere in Georgia on Interstate 75 heading south on my way to a one week vacation on Sanibel Island. Good Gawd I am looking forward to the recuperative powers of the warm Gulf of Mexico waters and eating at places like Doc Ford's, The Island Cow, Key Lime Bistro and the Sunshine Seafood Cafe & Wine Bar. I may need to get a couple more books to bring along as my unread collection has dwindled down to three. Booked this condo six months ago and finally "the Rock has come back to Sanibel". Haha. Okay the Schliv works better there as it will actually be me and not Dwayne Johnson heading there.

I headed downtown last night to have a couple of beers and catch some live music at Main Street Fridays. They had a smooth jazz band playing and while the musicianship seemed good especially the horn section; after three songs I was bored silly. Perhaps I am just uncouth but I need my rock and roll or reggae to get into the weekend frame of mind. Smooth jazz works for me on Sunday nights. I finished my beer but quick and headed back home with a quick bite to eat detour at Bailey's. I really really wanted some Mediterranean or Middle Eastern food last night but at 930pm the options are rather limited here in Greenville. No Kojax, Maison Grec, Amir, etc. etc. to be found. LOL. No couscous for you to paraphrase the soup guy on Seinfeld. LOL.

I've no big plans today. Lots of cleaning up around the friendly confines of Schlewing-stan and working outside to burn off those beer calories of mine. Going to make a super duper fruit salad and think of tonight's grilling options. I think mahi mahi and grilled asparagus spears are in my near future.

One thing I know for sure is that in order for me to clean up some I need to get off the darn computer to do this as BooBoo Dammit and Jynx Schlewing don't seem to be in the mood to help do some of the chores. Cats have a good life.

Peace out Derek and the Dominos fans aka rock and rollers and remember to not under any circumstances text while drinking spirits. Ha!

An Ode To The Last Day of School (06/07/13)....

So I was driving home last night from work and passed in front of Plain Elementary on Neely Ferry Rd. just around the corner from my house and realized that yesterday was the greatest day of all days except for Christmas on an annual basis from the ages of 5 to let's say 17 or 18 yrs. old.

Yesterday was the last day of school for the elementary, middle and high school kids in Greenville County. It made me smile as I drove by and flashbacked to the positive memories of that last day of school way back in 1967 at Bannantyne Elementary in Verdun to 1979 when I graduated from WLHS in Chomedey.

Back then in the olden days (haha) we didn't have three half days of school to end the year like they do here. We had full days and let me tell you that last day of school for the year was most likely the longest day ever in the annals of childhood. In those days each classroom had a large clock and I swear that the second hand on that clock was going backwards. It felt like the day would never end.

In 1972, Vincent Furnier along with four other men living near the Motor City penned the ultimate paean to the end of the school year. Yes that was the year that "School's Out" was released by the Alice Cooper Band. That song became the end of school year anthem for the rest of my elementary and high school days. I know that this song is as relevant today as it was back then. Not sure if today's students even know of it though given the crap I hear coming from people's cars these days. Yeah yeah I am getting old. Whatever!

The last day of school signified about 10 weeks of sleeping in, staying up late, playing pick-up baseball games at Montcalm Park or going to the public pool that they had there. It was time for bike rides and three hour games of hide and seek. It was time to play Strat-O-Matic or Risk and use the ultimate strategic flip of the board game when Kamchatka was about to invaded and you were heading to an inglorious defeat. It was time to listen to CHOM and call-in incessantly trying to reach a deejay to play your favorite song. We had rotary phones. Speed dials didn't exist. It was time to listen to Russ Taylor and Dave Van Horne on CFCF radio for the Expos games. It was a time of year that the only work or chore obligations I had was delivering the Montreal Star in the late afternoon and bringing my youngest brother (Rene) to the park. It was the time of the year to hang out on the Levitt's porch or the Voronoff's porch on Parkway Drive for hours on end and debate sports as if our lives depended on it.

It was bliss and it was the end of the school year until the Tuesday after Labor Day. The good old days when being grown-up didn't seem like all that much fun as it involved going to work and not having ten weeks off. Ha!

Peace out rock and rollers and don't forget to have your pets neutered. LOL.

Ouch At 345AM (06/02/13)...

So I started off my day at around 345am. LOL. Yes 345am. I woke up thirsty and figured I'd go get a glass of water or something. Well not something. Just water. Anyways I swing myself out of bed and for some reason I managed to bang my right knee on the dresser on the right side of my bed. Let's just say that a choice 4-letter word escaped my lips rather loudly. Here's a hint. It starts with F and ends with K. If the other humanoid in this house along with the two felines were sleeping my bellow changed all that but quick. Once I was able to speak through the pain; I apologized to all in the house. LOL.

I ended up staying up for a couple of hours listening to my man Ronny Mack online on CHOM and reading a Brad Thor novel who's title escapes me now. I am sure it will come to me soon. It's a quick read. Typical for Brad's novels. It reminds me a bit of a Jason Bourne adventure only his protagonist is named Scot Horvath. I kind of picture a younger Scott Glenn type as the Scot Horvath in any future movie productions. I went back to sleep at 630. It's no wonder that I have weird sleep patterns during the week as this is kind of typical for me on weekends.

Today I need to be a domestic gawd! I have much laundry to do. The house definitely can use a sprucing up. I will likely head outside and work on what I call my lawn. I am going to make another sauce for pasta this morning. I have most of the ingredients handy. I would be having pasta for breakfast had I prepared it yesterday like I originally thought I would have done. I love pasta as a mid-morning breakfast lunch thing. Call me weird. LOL. I have been called weirder.

I need to get busy. Peace out rock and rollers and don't forget the deodorant.....

Darius Rucker at Charter Amphitheater (06/01/13)....

Let me first say that in no way is this a professional review of last night's amazing performance by Darius Rucker at the pretty close to sold out Charter Amphitheater. I would love to say that the local paper reviewed the show but I guessed that they deemed it was not fit to print as they were likely reviewing some event that had 225 people attend. Turns out that the attendance for Darius Rucker was 11,941. That's the biggest crowd yet at the Amphitheater.Impressive!

I would love to say that I could review this professionally but I had too many $9 beers and was too busy making up the words to various songs that were being performed last night to come up with flowery "blahblahs" pretending I am a connoisseur. I walked into this show having heard his "country pop" stuff but besides "The Come Back Song" I don't really know the lyrics. Hence my making up the lyrics.

So I got home around 530 and got into my customary t-shirt, shorts and sandals with the shades on and my backward facing Road Warriors ballcap and had a quick Yuengling or two and I was off to the show.

This is the first concert I have attended solo since either September 1st or 2nd, 1979 at the old Montreal Forum when I was staying at my "Ma Tante Exilda's" flat in Point St. Charles. I told her something about meeting some friends at the movies and instead I hightailed it on the bus to see the Bee Gees on their "Spirits Having Flown" tour. I even wore my white Lee painters pants in homage to the Brothers Gibb.

Okay enough memory lane stuff and back to the present. LOL.

The venue kept posting updates on their Facebook page letting concertgoers know that they needed to make every effort to get there early as they were expecting an overflow crowd. They weren't kidding. This was my 5th or 6th event at the venue and it was definitely crowded. The biggest issue is getting into the place. There is only one way in it seems and they should really try to make it two lanes going in so that it doesn't take 30 minutes to park your car. It amazes me that you can drive on I85 at 60mph and have 8 cars on your ass behind you and then when you are stopped at a light or in a line to park people give you 20-30 feet between cars. Here's a newsflash that open space between cars would make a whole lot more sense on the highway than when stuck in traffic. That is just my two cents here. Ha! One thing I will note for the next show I attend there is to take the opportunity to tailgate prior to the show. I think I would like to partake in that tradition. It would be a cheaper way to eat and drink prior to the show rather than pay what they charge in the venue.

The unenviable task of opening the show went to Jana Kramer who has charted a couple of country hits it seems. People were still streaming in when her set started and she tried hard to get the audience involved but it is dauntingly hard to do so when half the audience attends a concert as a social event to stand around talking with friends or better yet texting. I think people nowadays spend half their time looking at their phones rather than what's going around them in real-life. Her set lasted about a half hour and mostly featured to my uneducated country ear the typical female country artist type sound. Not saying it is bad. Just not my thing.

Next on the bill was Justin "Mr. NRA" Moore. He definitely makes his viewpoint heard in his song selection and his blatantly inaccurate political commentary. It's like shut up and play your music! Trying to curry favor with the redneck element attending last night pretty much leaves out 97% of the normal people that were there at the show. Yeah your comments were real popular with the confederate flag t-shirt wearing chewing tobacco types drinking Bud Lights. Congratulations are in order. LOL.

I will say that I prefer his country rock sound more than the typical country twang I sometimes hear. He and his band did an amazing cover of Joe Cocker's classic "With A Little Help From My Friends". It's too bad that the social set at the show were too busy taking pictures of their painted toenails to send to friends or acquaintances sitting ten feet away because had they listened they would have been impressed. I know I was!

At about 945 the light show started on stage along with the sound of a heartbeat going faster and faster until all the lights came on and there was the almost hometown act on the stage front and center. He led off the show with "Heartbreak Road" off the new True Believers disc which led into "Alright" which was the 3rd single released from 2008's "Learn to Live". Definitely country feels to those songs. A bit of a stretch from his Hootie days that's for sure.

He then slowed it a down with his first number one hit on the country charts from 2008's "Learn To Live". "Don't Think I Don't Think About It" was the first #1 from a black or African-American artist since Charley Pride's 1983 "Night Games". The song title is a tongue twister. LOL. Nice song. Kind of middle of the road ballad-y stuff.

Then Darius got me singing and dancing (or shuffling) to his version of Steve Miller's classic "The Joker". Some people call me Maurice...whoo hoo...LOL. Definitely a highlight for me last night. Fun, fun, fun!

Then came "Come Back Song" from his "Charleston, SC 1966" disc in 2010. This was another crowd pleaser and continued the good time vibe that was definitely taking over the crowd. By this time everyone was up singing and dancing. Nice feeling to be a crowd of 10,000 plus feeling positive! He then followed up with "Southern State of Mind" from the same disc. Love that line about asking a waitress in a NYC diner for some sweet tea. LOL. So true.

Then the tempo slowed down a bit with Rucker's paean to seeing his daughter growing up "It Won't Be Like This For Long". A nice song. Nothing too original but a good sentiment nevertheless.

Then the first of three Hootie songs showed up. "Only Wanted To Be With You" from 1994's "Cracked Rear View". Another one of those singalongs from the faithful in the crowd. Then he went back to his new disc with "Lost In You" which is another pretty ballad. This led into an amazing version of "Let Her Cry" which started with Darius alone on stage with single spotlight on him. That song will never get old for me. A true heartache song! He followed that up with the ballad "History In The Making". Another pretty song that to me showcases his baritone rather effectively.

Tempo picked up again with "Hold My Hand" from his Hootie days. Darius Rucker definitely knows how to pace his shows. Couple of girl-boy songs. Couple of country rocker type songs. Couple of singalong songs. Excellent act live and his band is tight as hell. They followed up with "This" from the "Charleston" disc. Another crowd favorite there. Or here. LOL.

He then brought Jana Kramer and Justin Moore back out and they all covered Hank Williams Jr. 1979 "Family Tradition". Now that is definitely a party song with the singalong "get drunk, get stoned and get laid" call and response with the crowd. I went southern there for a brief moment in time. LOL. A brief moment in time. The beers helped. Ha!

He finished up the show the pre-encore part of the show with the anthemic title cut "True Believers". I had not heard this song before last night and I really enjoyed it. One of those start slow and build up songs that I tend to like.

Then the encores shortly after 11pm. Started off with the opening licks from the instantly recognizable southern anthem for the years 2000 and up "Wagon Wheel". I think that Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show are enjoying the royalties from this recent #1 hit. The line "heading west from Cumberland Gap to Johnson City, Tennessee" is something to be heard when 10,000 people are singing it. Truly a unique moment!

As has been the norm for the last couple of years, Darius ends his shows with Prince's epic "Purple Rain". Man oh man the band and he do it justice. The guitar solos, the organ/keyboard lines, the cymbal crashes and the heartache of the lyrics being sung. Amazing rendition. Simply amazing!

All in all Darius Rucker put on an amazing performance of 17 or so songs lasting an hour and half showcasing his vocal strengths and his great backing band. Definitely was a great great show. Peace out rock and rollers...

Weekends That Have Two Saturdays (05/26/13)...

Surprisingly I am awake and coherent enough to start typing away after about 4 hours of sleep last night. I would not bet against me having a nap at some point later this morning or early afternoon. That would be a sure loss.

That would be like betting against opening up the comments section on the local news websites and not seeing racism and hatred passing off as commentary by the brain dead.

I have a theory that all those books, shows and movies about the un-dead or zombies are first person accounts of real-life encounters in the Upstate. Fortunately I see enough good people in my day to day life or on my volunteering opportunities that they outnumber the morons that spew their bile and hatred on the local news websites.

Oof. I need another Kahlua coffee and a happy pill this morning!

Looking forward to indulging in some more good beers (that have water content) tonight at Aloft 2013 and seeing the Sister Hazel / Third Eye Blind show. I checked out a recent setlist and I will be a happy camper if they follow the same for this show. I heard that a recent show at Nationals Park they included a cover version of Zep's Stairway. That would be pretty cool to hear live.

Spent some time reading up on my Nationals this morning. This season is huge letdown after last year's amazing run. I keep reading from management and the players that the season is young. Well they are rapidly approaching the 1/3 mark of the season (sometime next week) and it doesn't look good when they are chasing Atlanta (5 and 1/2 games back) who are winning often and winning late even though the Braves have little production out of their 2nd basemen and their right and center fielders. They have had to deal with the adversity of injuries as much as we have yet they are finding the wherewithal to win games. Looks like I will head down to Atlanta next weekend as my Nats will be at the TED. I need to check StubHub to see what they have available for Saturday and Sunday.

It doesn't look any prettier when you look at the wild card standings where the Nats are looking up at least at 4 teams above them. I was buying hook, line and sinker what the pre-season prognosticators predicted with a Nats-Tigers World Series. Hahahaha.

I think that today I will finally start on part two of the greening of my little piece of Schlewingstan. I have done pretty much all I can do out front and on the sides. Just need to keep watering and weeding when they pop up as I am sure that they will do. They are hardy annoying little buggers.

There is a chance that I will go into super lazy mode and start reading one of the five books I picked up yesterday morning at Mr. K's on Laurens and Verdae. If I even go near the couch; the greening will be put off until tomorrow.

Okay fellow rock and rollers it is time for me to make some homemade egg burritos for breakspass as Harrison used to call it when he was a year or two old. Peace out!

An Incredibly Productive Day (05/20/13)

Okay the title of the blog is a wee bit sarcastic. Imagine that me, I, Marc Schlewing being sarcastic. Hell hath frozen over! LOL.

I haven't done all that much today though it is only 246pm so I have opportunities galore to change all that. I will have to slow down on the real beer intake though if I have any intention of being a semi-productive today.

Today's beer of choice is brewed out of Asheville, NC by the Highland Brewing Company. It's a seasonal India Pale Ale called "Devil's Britches". Can't go wrong just by the name. It is the beer choice of all Satan worshipers and people that think that any Budweiser or Miller-Coors beer is swill.

The label describes the beer as having an Ashburne Mild malt producing a toasted and biscuity flavor and that the Extra Special malt renders an alluring red hue. All this with a 6% ABV. Okay whatever! I feel like an effing English major after using the words toasted, biscuity and alluring in the same sentence. Schlewing's take is that the beer tastes darn good and is well worth the $16.99 I paid for a case of 12 at Green's last week.

I also noticed on the label that I need to not operate heavy machinery while imbibing this beer and I should not get pregnant either. I would have to have sex to get pregnant wouldn't I? Actually with advances in science nowadays I can skip the sex part as anything is possible with Science at least until Republicans outlaw it as being blasphemous and being against God. Kind of like their thoughts on enlightened thinking. I better look into in-vitro real soon. LOL.

Anyways back to my productivity levels of this 20th day of May. I have a load of honkies (aka as whites) in the dryer waiting to be folded. This implies that I actually put a load of laundry in the washer earlier today. Though there is no video depicting this Herculean effort on my part; it's true, it's true I loaded the washer up a couple of hours ago. Please stay seated and no applause needed. Smiles.

That pretty much sums up what I have done so far today.

Although for breakfast slash lunch I walked to the kitchen and I zapped some leftover beef lo mein, beef and broccoli and white rice that I had picked up from Lin Gardens on W. Georgia Rd yesterday afternoon.

Oh I also scratched the cats' bellies and heads as they were looking for affection at different points in time today. Thank goodness they are on different schedules as it would get complicated having to use both arms at the same time. That would be like real exercise and we can't have that!

Okay the dryer has stopped. I need to start folding or else I will need to iron stuff and I will re-wash stuff before I use an iron again!

Peace out Muse lovers! Back later.

Random Thoughts On A Long Weekend (05/17/13)

Okay I am just going to post some random thoughts here as I have a serious sinus headache thing going. Not sure where that came from but I sure as heck have one! Many of these will be in question form and one day I will delve deeper a la Jacques Cousteau and come up with a blog about some of the tidbits I am about to type about.

Q: What is with the current or recent mayors of Toronto, Montreal and Laval?

A: A drunk and crackhead and two guys out of the Sopranos cast shaking down contractors. I think they missed the civic lesson from JFK's famous inaugural address from 1961.

Q: Why is Danny Espinosa (current 2nd baseman of my Nats) still in the majors? He has a .177 BA, .208 OBP and is striking out every 4th at bat and has 10Ks for every walk.

A: There is no rhyme or reason why he is on the roster. Kind of like SC voters on the coast voting a liar and adulterer as a conservative representative of the House.

Q: Why does low on a gas stove top range really mean you are pretty much cooking at medium heat?

A: Is it a conspiracy from the natural gas companies to use more gas? I know an answer in form of a question.

Q: Are any Canadian hockey fans still watching the playoff games if they aren't fans of the Ottawa Senators?

A: Not anytime soon is the response from my purely anecdotal survey of Canadian ex-pats in the South.

Q: What is with SC drivers texting while driving without seatbelts on local interstates?

A: Perhaps the family gene pool is rather shallow and they think accidents won't happen to them despite all of the stats (i.e. facts) that back up their argument to the contrary.

Q. Why does HuffPost think I care about what the Kardashians are up to be it in their clothing choices, their latest 2 week bedroom fling or whether or not they have more nip slip incidents or panty lines in their clothing choices?

A: Purely rhetorical question. There is no answer!

Q: Who is Kendrick Lamar and Kid Ink and why are they playing at the Charter Amphitheatre on June 21st?

A. See answer to previous question.

Q: $8 for a large beer at the Bi-Lo Center or Charter Amphitheatre? Yuengling is bottled in Florida and it is not considered a domestic beer in Florida? Swill like Budweiser, Miller, Coors, etc. etc.?

A: To paraphrase Spock: "Your logic was impeccable, Marc. We are in grave danger!"

Okay I need to get outside and get rid of more weeds. While I have grass growing where it never grew before I still have an inordinate amount of weeds flaring up.

Peace out from the Bald Guy!

Up Early And A Bit Sore (05/11/13)

Well I am a bit sore this morning after spending yesterday on my feet building a sign and wall and bracket supports out at one of the Habitat for Humanity sites in Taylors. I have muscles that are sore that haven't been used in a while. It was impressive to see the 20-25 Michelin employees work on two homes at the same time. The amount of progress made was amazing. I worked with my manager for most of the latter part of the day and you should see her expert touch on a miter saw. LOL. She had us swear not to tell her hubby that she learned how to operate that tool when we have our department pig roast offsite in a couple of weeks.

I stuck to wielding a hammer from time to time and using my brawn to bang in nails from really uncomfortable positions and spaces. I am just too big to be working in construction. LOL.

I am hoping that a couple shots of Kahlua in my morning coffee will help ease the soreness as I have a 4 hr. shift manning a beer booth downtown this afternoon at Artisphere.

It's going to be 80 and humid so I will likely be busy and on my feet for most of that shift. I am used to sitting on my ever-expanding derriere in my office job and here I am volunteering to stand up for inordinate amounts of time. Brilliant!

It looks like we are finally going to have a nice weekend after having two back to back rain weekends where only ducks were happy. It will give me a chance to work some more on my lawn. I bought some lawn topsoil, fertilizer and more seed to start working in the back. I have to remember the sunscreen. I forgot about it yesterday and my neck is red. Yep I am officially a redneck. In appearance only mind you!

I need a coffee. Or maybe I need more Kahlua. Ha. Peace out rock music lovers!

Bee Gees "Lonely Days" (05/03/13)

So I got home after work after stopping in at FL to say hey to the Schlewing With Hair and picked up some fresh veggies, chicken thighs and some Negra Modelo along with some Coronas for the weekend. Bought lots of limes as well. You just can't have Mexican beer without lime. If it isn't a capital offense to do so, it should be!

The chicken thighs will be going into the slow cooker tomorrow morning along with some fresh lime juice, cilantro and salsa to make some absolutely dynamite shredded chicken fajitas or quesadillas. Only thing I will have to do is clean the thighs as they didn't have any skinless ones on sale. This "live well be well" thing of mine means I have to cut out the fatty skin of the chicken. Hmmmm. It probably also means that my good beer intake should be drastically reduced but I am sorry that will only happen when I meet a Republican member of any level of government that I actually don't want to hit with my late father's slipper if I had my late father's slippers to begin with in the first place. Insert appropriate snicker or laugh right here. Hehe!

Anyways I got home, fed the cats, cut some lime, popped open a Negra and dialed into WDRV's Deep Tracks where the classic 1970 Bee Gees "Lonely Days" started coming through on the PC stereo speakers. This may have been the 1st Brothers Gibb track I ever heard. This one or "To Love Somebody". Not sure as we're going way, way back in the Schlewing time machine. All I know is that from the first time I heard the soft piano intro and the blend of Maurice, Robin and Barry's voices in the first couple stanzas of the song I was hooked. I was what; 8 or 9 years old and I was wondering "where I was going to be without my woman". LOL.

It doesn't matter what version I hear. The original from 1970. The live version from the Vegas "One Night Only" that is quite popular on YouTube. They all are magical versions. This song has always hit a chord with me. The music itself isn't too elaborate and the lyrics don't overwhelm anyone but the total package strikes a chord for all of us sentimental people. It was nice to hear it on the Drive tonight!

Time for the Habs game. You know it. Go Habs Go and peace out everyone.

Typing Away While Having My 1st Coffee (04/21/13)

So it's around 430am and I have been awake for the last hour or so and I decided to brew some coffee and start on my day. My coffee is yum though I was bit heavy-handed with the Kahlua. If I keep it at this pace this morning I may be cited for MWI (Mowing While Intoxicated).

I did some volunteer work today at Greenville 2013 Para Cycling Open and to be honest that wasn't really work. The organizers had me manning the intersection of Salters and Old Sulphur Springs roads making sure that normal folk wouldn't be on the closed road course. Given that I was located in the middle of the course I pretty much did nothing but cheer the athletes and get a sunburn.

For hours after the event and even now as I type, I am on a high from seeing the incredible feats of strength, determination and daredevil-ness of these athletes. Things like seeing someone with cerebral palsy cycling up an incline while their arms are shaking madly as they strain to get up that hill or witnessing a blind person on the back of a tandem bike being coached by the front rider who has vision see as they work as one to go up and down a hill at the fastest speed that they can. Or seeing the former F1 racer Alex Zanardi now a double amputee as a result of race accident now as a hand-cyclist attaining speeds on a downhill stretch that would have me worried on a regular bike is amazing.

The most incredible thing I saw today was the female athlete #189 in the race. She was riding a trike and suffered from cerebral palsy. Her first lap going up the hill I was working was inspiring. She just couldn't get up there. Her trike was stuck in too low of a gear and she just didn't have the strength in her legs to push up the hill. At one point she went backwards at least 15 feet and I was worried that she was going to end up in one of those roadside ditches that are so prevalent on the sides of Greenville county roads. She managed to stop right at the side of the road and grass while we were watching her and the one rule we were told from the outset is that we were not allowed to assist in any matter with the riders. Somewhere deep inside this lady found the willpower to get up that hill. It took her a long time (minutes and minutes) which assured that in her time trial she was just trying to finish. The other guy I was working with told me that he had never seen such a feat of determination. It was amazing! I literally had tears in my eyes when she made it up the hill and looked at us and said "that hill was tough".

This was her first lap. In her category they were doing two laps. I figured that she was only going to do one as her time would obviously not be a podium one. That was a learning lesson for me as for #189 it was about finishing the time trial and not about the time. She came back down on lap two of the trial and we were overhearing on the race radios to keep an eye out for her to make sure she was okay and to call for help if required. On the downhill part she flew by and then had the 1 km circle to do and then come back on the uphill on the other street. On her second try she had figured out her gearing which allowed her to make it up that hill at a decent clip. It was like it was another rider. She gave us a big smile as we were cheering her on. So cool!

I got home around 4pm and H was sitting on the back deck and I started showing him of the pics on my phone and telling him about what I had seen during the day. He made the comment that it seemed like I was high on life as I was babbling incessantly for 15 minutes or so. LOL. It was true as I was at that point. I will definitely be there next year when the world championships are held!