Big Leather Couch

Check out the other participants by clicking on the link to the left...and join in!

You can register for free at playlist.com and type in a band name and BAM the song will be there to assist in building your playlist.

Travis lays out some guidelines for this meme and they go like this:

1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here.

2. Go to Playlist.com to make your play list of five songs. Choose a particular theme to share with us. You can simply post the play list, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing.

3. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday.

Strange how I sit here trying to decide what to write about and wondering if anyone will even read it.

I asked the other day if you are receiving the weekly newsletter and no one answered, so I guess it is unimportant.

BUT, if you want to receive it, let me know.

Congrats to Jim Thome for reaching 600 Home Runs. A huge accomplishment, even if the home run records are now tainted by the roid-cheaters. 8 people have reached 600, but only 5 of them did it honestly, so to me, it is a HUGE deal.

Thome is said to be one of the special guys in the game...

Heat wave seems to have broken here...back to high 80's instead of those 100 degree days!

It is getting to that time of year again...the fugliness of our politics is rearing its ugly head and we will all be subjected to nastiness, vitriol and lies...

YAY for us!

Read the new book by Brad Thor entitled Full Black. This guy has a writing style I love and comes up with real life scenarios we all need to be concerned over.

The book begins with a killing on page one and does not stop until the final period. If you enjoy thrillers, this is one to buy!

Enough words for today

More and more people are moving away from blogging. We have discussed this subject before, but it seems to be truly sliding away. Well, maybe just those I have followed. As this is a group who adopted blogging early on.

There are still many blogging and maybe it is on me to go out and find new people to read and, hopefully, lead them back here.

My friends list over there on the right would be so much smaller if I truly deleted those who have not posted in say 3 months. And I do miss the writing of many of those out there. Jay no longer blogs...he is all about Twitter and Tumblr and the like.

Dana no longer blogs. Songbird will put up a post every month or so. Liz does not blog about life or food.

I still have my daily delights from Travis - hell, he is giving us history lessons most of the summer...you really need to check him out if you love stuff about WWI and WWII and more... and Driller posts about 3-4 times a week. Mickey-T is still letting us see his talents and The Blogfather, Phfrankie entertains daily and of course Ms. Mimi is still brilliantly writing.

Comments here have slowed down and I guess I understand that also. My writings have not been comment inducing as much as they were once upon a time.

For me with work, it has been tough to visit every day ... the times they are a-changing...

But at the same time, it stays the same...




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It is over 4 years since I began exploring myself and my thoughts here on The Couch.

COUCH NOTE: MY BLOGGOVERSARY IS MARCH 16TH...

Tuneage Tutelage posts about music figures and bands like The Doors
 
Monday Matinees that came from my dark side and others done just for fun

Concert Reviews like the time Nancy and I saw B.B. King
 
Posts that contained Photography I took/take,

Meeting and Marrying My Love Nancy and the resulting celebration,

Birthday Greetings, and all the rest.

As of today 1,105 posts worth of Vinny.

In the beginning I was Yoursbond, then Bond, then I outed my true identity and Doctor Blogstein christened me Vinny Bond. I have only used one profile picture the entire time. As a matter of fact, one of my newer readers, the open, honest writer TECHNOBABE from "Technobabe's Adventures" even mentioned in one of her first comments that she had seen "the kid photo" around and decided to find her way here...very cool

In the beginning I wrote all my posts without using the word I. I always used the word "WE" as in myself and The Couch.

See, there is another example of something I continue to do. Capitalizing the words The Couch. Have you ever noticed it? I even find myself doing it in emails when talking about The couch (can't help it...my fingers insist on using caps).

Two areas I have avoided at all costs are my ex-marriage and work.

There was a post about work, written the first week I was here in Memphis and at the advice of a very wise man, I deleted it the next day.

I began The Couch while I was still living in NJ and married. I did not have a full-time job and freelanced sporadically. Things were tough. Money was tough. My marriage was tough.

Reviews of American Idol became stream of consciousness rants and posts making fun of celebrities kids names.

The cycle has been like a roller coaster. Readers shoot high up only to fall back down and then swoosh high again.

I have met some incredible people. Some were able to attend the celebration of Nancy and my marriage...more were invited but could not attend.

It has not been all good of course. There are four people I considered friends with whom I no longer have even a passing relationship. Three of them I could tell you the reasons the loss happened, but in the end it did happen. The fourth, well I can't answer that question, and probably never will. One day they turned on me and it was over. It is sad indeed. But as in real life, friends come and go.

We all have friends who do not understand our need to be A BLOGGER.

As I sit here I think of other subjects I could link to, my journey through the interview process and subsequent move to Memphis; some political posts; food posts post introducing new musicians which evolved into Music On The Couch, and more.

One of the problems is I have so many labels. Way more than I ever needed I guess. What about you...do you use the same basic group of labels or do you own a few hundred like me?

And now I have extended the "franchise" by breaking away those main subjects which have been found here since the beginning. You can see the links just below my header...have I done a good job moving everything or being current? Not a chance.

But I have good intentions, and that is a plus, right?

I do know I miss this when I take breaks. I also know there are days my mind refuses to allow me to leave anything of substance here.

I do know that I am a BLOGGER...I love being a BLOGGER and I hope to blog until the very last second I am able (which could mean a post on a weekend, the horrors!.

I do not bill myself as a comic or a philosopher nor will I try and tell you how to raise your kids. You will get some wit, some facts culled from reliable sources, some snarkiness at times and hopefully in the end I have not made you regret the 10 minutes you took out of your day.

Thank you, those who read and comment, those who read and don't, those who got here today because you were interested in buying a leather couch and Google fed you here and somehow you made your way to the end of today's pearls of wisdom!

Just Thanks!

Yup, this is my 1,000 post. Never even thought I would get to this point. And in a few short weeks, we celebrate the 4th anniversary of The Couch.

It all began as a place to do some American Idol posts and to rant and rave over the crap that was happening in my life...what it ended up being is a cozy little spot for me to share my words, share my love of music, post some of my fiction and basically meet a bunch of cool folks.

Some of you are relatively new here, some have been here since day 1 and some have come and gone over the years for a variety of reasons. That last group is sad, since you never want to lose friends.

But hey, just like real life, on occasion someone you liked and respected becomes a turd-carrier and you move them out of your life. Sometimes they return...sometimes not.

To those of you reading me today, I thank you for sticking around through the good times and the bad...for sharing the sorrow of leaving my son Matt behind when I moved to Memphis.

For sticking around and listening to my rants over dating...for sharing the incredible courtship and my marriage to the most awesome Nancy...

I will continue to write here and share new music and I hope you also join me over on Music On The Couch and MANGIA Y'ALL.

I hope to have another 1,000 posts and more here over the next few years.

And, of course, I will be on The RADIO HAPPY HOUR this evening at 9:00pm eastern with Doc, Collette, The Burl and our guests; Comic Adam Ray and pop singer Karlee

My angel is on the road back to the Mobile area....keep her safe in her journey and successful in her business.

You know why I love the blog world we all populate? Because of the diversity of subjects I can be exposed to every single day.

In the last two days I have been involved in discussions about the California Supreme Court upholding Prop 8 over at DIANNE'S - "Forks Of The Moment";

How much of a role society must take with regard to children and those living in below standard situations over at DANA's - "Amid Life's Crisis";

How the Republicans can cause serious damage to their party with how they react to President Obama's choice to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter with Sonia Sotomayor over at JAY'S - "Cynical Ba**ard" site.

Was frightened by the sight of boxer briefs under sleep shorts one day and entertained by a discourse on political humor the next, over at MATT-MAN'S - "Bagwine Ruminations";

I have a front row seat for the continuing celebration of his 50th birthday with three weeks of incredible pictures and stories of the west and some soggy golf in Florida with THE TEAMSTER'S "The Teamster Five-0";

Over at TRAVIS' - "Trav's Thoughts", I was treated to a rant one day and then the next, a giggling video of a silly cat.

BUD over at "WTIT Tape Radio - The Blog" regales us with a memory of going to "St Dobbs" Church every Sunday...Dobb's House being a restaurant in fact!;

Over at Liz's "Bluegrass Foodie" we learned of two terrific make-ahead recipes for a summer bash, like the one coming up soon at Bliss Manor.

Of course, every day you can do a different meme...

There is RUBY TUESDAY as hosted by Mary/The Teach where you are encouraged to post a picture with something red in it - sometimes there are even theme weeks;

sssssssssssh......WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - exactly...another picture meme, only this time you are not supposed to post any words at all;

Pictures again, only this time a chance for bloggers to test their inner pornographic film-maker creativity and participate in HALF-NAKED THURSDAYS;

The final day of the work week, CRAZY WORKING MOM hosts "Looking At The Sky On Friday's";

Of course any day of the week is a day for you to participate in ROGER'S "Creative Photography" meme;

Plus the ka-billions of other memes that float around...the ones that allow you to learn something about the person whose blog you are reading are the best IMHO.

I guess watching the news on TV and reading newspapers or internet news stories will keep you informed on what is happening in the world. And there are certainly tens of thousands of blogs being written by people who actually get paid to disseminate their thoughts, but the blogs I read religiously are those written by ordinary people - like me - some of whom I know in real life, some of whom I might never even meet.

But one thing is for sure - they (you - all of you - even if I did not mention your blog...you know I am there, visiting) are a part of my life ... everyday. Thanks for bringing me to new places.