angelic_22

Tom ended up on his knees during Breakdown, it was a really great performance of the song. Carol asked if Tom singing at the same microphone as Ron might have been because f the glitch with the sound - its a good question, and if She's right I'm glad that glitch happened!

C'mon people! lets see your photos! I am like totally running out of decent shots..... One of Mike playing with one of his many toys. He's got a pick in his teeth like a pirate. Arrrrrrrr!

You got it!!!! THAT is the shot! Mikey loves his catwalk! LOL!!!!! We love it too! (We are one of the dark shadows at Mike's feet in this shot )

There were shortages of everything in the park Well, except for pot, and good spirits, which seemed to be in abundance. In fact, I was throwing the frisbee with some friends and the disc hit a cloud of pot smoke and made left turn and then a bee-line for the food stands That was a really wonderful show, but I knew that no matter what, the SF crowds would ensure that everything would remain on target. Mike and Tom worked the sides of the stage thankfully, and so we got an eyeful in addition to the earfuls we were also enjoying. Got to watch Benmont most of the night - even getting a rare look at Benmont and Steve on those keyboards together when Steve played with TP&HB. In fact, from our vantage point at the far left side of the stage, the artists would kind of 'line up' together and I kept thinking: Where are you going to find so much musical talent on one stage? It was pretty damn breathtaking. Glad Mike didn't fall off the 'cat walk' on the extreme left side of the stage. He was tip-toeing out there, and wailing on that guitar..... Athena mentioned that at one point Mike came out to the edge of the stage, kind of glanced up, and saw himself projected giant size on the screens above the stage. She says he got a grin on his face, and then just laid into the guitar...... There were plenty of smiles from the band directed to the audience, and what seemed to be some waves and other forms of acknowledgment. I really love seeing these guys play - there is something very liberating about it, and who wouldn't love spending a couple of days in the park with tens of thousands of your closest friends? Bravo! Lets do it again soon! (Arm sore from throwing the frisbee - ) PS: At any other concert I would have been worried when a big cop walked up to one of the frisbee players who were tossing the disc during one of the days musical performances. But instead of hassling the players, he merely asked to play too! And so we tossed disc there in the park with everyone (including the cop in uniform) and had a ball!

Just beautiful! Lovin' these photos!

Wow, is it really happening tomorrow? !!!! (Snoopy Dancing!)

The McCain campaign has been doing this left and right - Cash, Clooney, Jackson Browne, etc. There is a long but growing and illustrious list of citizens who's names / works have been improperly exploited by the campaign. Goes to show you how the candidate feels about privacy, fair play and honesty doesn't it? If it was an isolated event, I could buy the 'rogue campaign volunteer' excuse. Three times plus is a undeniable pattern of abuse. Slimy dealings from the McCain campaign. And I used to think that guy was alright. (shudder) Guess I was thinking of his rotting away in a POW camp and all - and my being thankful for his service - but now that I have learned more by listening to the guy...... Yikes! What the hell was I thinking?

Guitar hero? Oh for chrissakes..... Sell your game console and buy a real guitar! Of course, had Benmont refused to leave college and run off with the band, TP&HB may never have happened.... But the fraction of a percent of the population who have the skills to make it always seem to end up on top, everyone else really needs all the help they can get and halting your education (if that is what is happening here) is a really bad move. Ill bet you the individuals parents didn't go beyond High School themselves. Its just a guess, but typically parents with higher education place a higher value on formal learning than those who didn't get any college. That is why I find it such a big deal when someone with parents who never graduated from College earn a degree themselves - doing so often breaks that vicious cycle.

Poopy head here..... Last time I went to HOB in Anaheim Athena and I were celebrating an anniversary and were to see X perform. We both left with scrapes and bruises owing to the 'slam dancing' on the part of a few jerks. HOB security did nothing despite the 'No Slam Dancing - you will be ejected' signs prominent throughout the venue. So I wrote the place off. Maybe Im just too old for this $hit, but that entire experience really pissed me off, and even John Doe and Exine seemed to be disturbed at the goings on. May all of your HOB Anaheim experiences be golden, but count me out till security there grows some balls.

From the usage instructions: "Shake Vigorously before using - the CAN you idiot!"

OK - I been thinking... You know, how the ladies get all mushy and stuff - trying to get the right mood going - They might even have candles burning all over the place..... Now, I'm betting this stuff is really flammable... Who wins the first Darwin award for burning their package off? This is going to make the McDonalds hot coffee spill lawsuit seem trivial LOL! Oh, and if this stuff were invented a long time ago, and caught on world-wide, would the CIA have tainted Castro's personal supply to make his beard fall out? The possibilities are endless! I'm just not so sure I want to point anything pressurized and flammable at my favorite organ, musical or otherwise! Im all for guys taking responsibility for birth control, don't get me wrong, but burning the member off is kinda harsh don't you think?

Do they call them 'Candoms'? If a guy sprays one on before getting, um, excited, will his tally whacker explode? (I mean, you know how guys refuse to read directions) And finally, the all important question: Can they mix this with those 'glow stick' things to help things along for the visually impaired or those who are feeling extra festive? I really need to know these things!

First it was cheese in a can.... Now we have reached the pinnacle of technological advancement with the debut of the condom in a can! Now if they could just invent a spray on bikini contest winner, then we could say that everything necessary to sustain male human life could be found in cans!

This is a great story! (Sadly, one side effect of the procedure was that the patient's lips swelled to 3 times normal size)

Happy Birthday !!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :)

She's Toms biggest fan

WOW oh WOW! Some phenomenal photos here - Is this photographer a pro? It sure looks like these photos were taken from the pit..... The photographer has a wonderful eye for composition. Thank you so much for sharing the link to these great shots! (Getting super excited now for Friday and Saturday's shows here in California. These photos only rev me up more!)

Hot tea in the morning, Iced tea the rest of the time, And bouncing t's at the beach! (um, wait, thats different!)

I'm thrilled you all got a great pair of shows! Rebels! You dogs!!!!!!! Sheesh, were you on stage with the band? Those photos are so close, you can tell Mike's Beard is a clip on!

This is so cool!!!!! Bravo Marion!

It is a very small world.... I sent my Old Man an email with the link of the article.... He shared a story with me from 'back in the day' that he swears he's told me numerous times... Can't remember hearing it before but it sure registered today.... My Dad was (and is) very active in the ASA (Acoustical Society of America). (Actually he's a senior technical fellow if I recall correctly). One of his friends and associates in the ASA (Sandy Gerber, former chair of the Speech and Hearing Dept. at UCSB) introduced him to a fellow associate named Benjamin Bauer who was head of the CBS Research Labs. After meeting each other for a couple of years at ASA meetings and other golden ear geek-fests (giggle), and having a chance to size up each other's work and research, Benjamin Bauer hit my Dad up to throw in with him and some guy named Leo Fender on a business. My Dad would have a cut of the business and it was to be located in Fullerton. (This all happened while we were living in Fullerton and I was in High School. I remember applying for a job at Fender around the same time but I had no idea what my Dad was up to being a rebellious shit of a teenage terror - I never heard back on the job application LOL!) It isn't clear to me if the business Leo Fender and Benjamin Bauer were planning involved guitar amplifiers, or loudspeakers, or something entirely different, but one would assume that if Leo Fender was involved it would involve music. (Recollections of that time are a little hazy owing to my Mother's recent death - My Dad and I were not exactly at our best.) Benjamin Bauer passed in late 1978 or early 1979, before he could throw the deal together. Fender's website states: "Because of poor health, Leo Fender sold the company to CBS in 1965. Fender Musical Instruments experienced tremendous growth over the next 20 years, but a lack of commitment and real understanding of music and musicians by CBS gradually became apparent." I have to wonder what might have happened..... Music being such a strong thread in my Father's life... My Dad, he's full of these anecdotes.... in the same conversation he told me about how through someone working for Benjamin Bauer (Dennis Gabor who invented holography and received a Nobel Prize) he 'discovered' the inventor of the semi-permeable membrane (a guy at UCLA) and how my dad wanted to use it for performing salinity measurements (something about finding pesky submarines). The inventor exclaimed that my Dad's was the first inquiry from industry to apply the invention, and how he really wanted to use it to purify sea water and make fresh water available around the world. My Dad took the idea to his bosses at Hughes Aircraft Underseas Systems Division and after considering it they turned him down on the desalinization idea, but the salinity measurement idea ended up well, enabling salinity measurements with unprecedented accuracy. Upon his Boss' retirement his Boss remarked that turning down the desalinization idea was his one major regret in his career at Hughes.... It turned into a multi-billion dollar business for competitors. Asked my Dad if I could share this and he said "sure" - (and he teased me again about ignoring him when he tells me stuff)..... Sheesh

Happy Birthday!!!!

Now why on earth would you subject nice penguins to a jerk like this? Send him to the Arctic to wrestle Polar Bears! That is an event I would watch!

Link: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/11/georgia_google_maps_confusion/ " Google may have plans to catalogue all the world's information, but it's found itself a bit confused between the former Soviet republic of Georgia and the southern US state. An AFP report that Russian tanks were rushing into the south was accompanied on Google News by a map of the Savannah region, raising possible concern about a General Sherman-style march to the sea. The search engine giant is guilty of the same type of eff-up as fictional character Adrian Mole. On hearing of the Argentine invasion of the Falklands, Mole briefly worried that the South Americans had landed somewhere off the coast of Scotland. Google has excised the unfortunate picture juxtaposition from Google News, but not before Valleywag captured screenshots. Unfortunately at the time of writing, a search for "russians invade georgia" on Google Maps still turns up a map of the area around Atlanta rather than Tbilisi. Oopsie. It appears Google is not the only one feeling a bit geographically befuddled. The venerable Sky News is proudly displaying a handy guide to Georgia on a smart 'In-Depth' page (presently here), explaining that it is "also known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South". " So, Georgians (Um, the USA type) can climb out of their bunkers and return to doing the usual stump pulling, hunting, binge drinking, etc.

Great article Refugee! That was fun reading. Tom sure seemed open and honest in his answers, and I get the feeling he's in a very good place these days