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Thursday, December 28, 2006

Sparks Of Insanity By Vinny "Bond" Marini Wednesday, December 27, 2006 37 Of Your Sparks

Good Thursday...

SO, we figured we would kill two birds with one stone and turn the THURSDAY THIRTEEN into my "What THE COUCH Did Over The Holiday Week" Post.

SO, without further ado....Let's crank up the music and jump right in...

Family
Featuring Frankie Beverly
By The Maze
BestAudioCodes.com

Arrived at mom and dad's (aka Joan & Vince) in Florida at about 12:30 on Thursday morning after an uneventful flight.
Picked up Matt & Allyson at the airport later that day.
Aunt Adele and Ruby came over for dinner on Thursday...mom made excellent Veal Stew Italian bread and wine. Dessert was...oh my goodness yummmmy Pignoli Cookies and Sesame Cookies for dessert.
On Friday we all climbed in the car and drove over to A1A. Stopped at the beach and I got to stand there for about 20 minutes, my eyes closed listening to the waves and the wind; breathing in the salt air. Could have stayed there for hours.
Went to the CityPlace in West Palm Beach. This is one of those shopping/restaurant/residence areas that are cropping up all over the country.
That night we went out to dinner at the Atlantis Grill. I opened the menu and my choice was made. I don't eat it often but the Calves Liver with bacon and onions and mashed potatoes was staring at me... Man it was excellent
Christmas Eve helped with dinner...shucked 3 dozen clams, and ended up with a couple of blisters...outta shucking shape!
Parents had invited two couples they are frends with. Reat nice people. We had cocktails and then sat down for dinner...First course, baked clams then Mussels Fra Diavolo (with hard bisquits you put into the gravy and let them soak and get soft and oh my....yum), then Linguine with clam sauce then stuffed calamari and a shrimp dish. One of the couples brought a great salad with blue cheese dressing and of course some nice crunchy Italian bread. I was about to get up and bread and fry the Grouper and Flounder when everyone surrendered. Of course, there was wine! So we never even ate that. The dessert, more of the cookies, homemade Cheese cake and homemade cookies that came with our guests.
Christmas morning we all woke up and decided to eat breakfast before we opened presents. A real "adult Christmas". Homemade French Toast with the leftover Italian bread.
I wrapped all the fish for mom and kept kidding that if she had a Vacuum Sealer it would be better - running joke, dad bought one for her a few years ago and she said she would not use it so it went back. Then I went online and found the Vacuum sealer for dad...he told mom he was getting one and he would use to, since so many things in their freezer has freezer burn.
Cousin Denise and Steve came over for dinner. Antipasto with salami and prosciutto and olives and cheese and homemade roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts and anchovies...my favorite thing to do is take a slice of genoa salami, put a roasted red pepper in the center and then on or two anchovie filets. Roll it up and OH heavenly! Then we have a teriffic tenderloin with horseradish sauce and Potato Gateu (mashed potatoes with ricotta cheese and mozzerella cheese and romano cheese and topped with bread crumbs) and bread and a great salad Denise brought and asparagus and wine. Dessert was the cheese cake and cookies and espresso and sambuca... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh watching football and enjoying family.
Tuesday morning, dad and I went to the Boynton Beach mall to exchange my gift they gave me. It was too tight (funny that!). Two days before someone had been killed at the mall. I told dad if I got killed I would not forgive him. He said well i would be dead, so i said I would come back and haunt him. his response "You have been haunting me for years!" bwahahahahahahaha he is one funny guy!
They took me to the airport. My flight was late arriving and late leaving. When we landed in Atlanta, I had 10-minutes to get from Gate B17 to A28. That involves going down a 2+ story escalator (why doesn't anyone walk on an escalator!), a 350 yard sprint to the up escalator and then a hustle to the gate, where the door was closed and no gate agent visible. Then a crew member comes with his little snack...no, he can't let me on but will send the gate agent up. Stand and wait a few minutes getting nervous. Then the door opens and gate agent lets me on. Sweating, huffing I jog down ramp and find my seat. Cellphone is in my hand and flight attendant comes over and says "You can make a quick call, we heard we were trying to wait for a runner." She was very nice the whole flight coming over to joke about my "OJ through the airport!" Landed and ...you guessed it...checked bag is not there!

P.S. Bag was delivered yesterday afternoon, in tact! Woooo..

So, anything strange happen on your holiday?

All in all.. had a great time visiting with mom and dad, getting to see Aunt Adele and cousin Denise and Steve and spending time with Matt and Allyson.

And hey dad... 6 days and we were still talking! LOL Love you and mom both ... thanks for making it happen!

St. J - P.B.U.A.B.W.A.B

Thanks for sitting on THE COUCH, hope you enjoyed your stay.

Light A Candle For The Innocent Victims Of Online Child Pornography HERE

FIND AN OPPORTUNITY TO PAY IT FORWARD

Remember .. Nets For Malaria - UNFoundation.org/malaria - find the big SI's Nothing But Net logo ... Or call 202.887.9040. Every cent goes to buying nets to place over the beds of children in Africa to stomp out Malaria. PLEASE HELP.

Keep that spark of insanity kids...It helps keep you an individual.

SONG INDEX: Source: ALLMUSIC.COM
FAMILY: Composer: Frankie Beverly

Full Story

Thursday Thirteen #5 - December 7, 2006

Sparks Of Insanity By Vinny "Bond" Marini Wednesday, December 06, 2006 48 Of Your Sparks

TIME IN A BOTTLE

By Jim Croce
BestAudioCodes.com

Chronologically – As best as I can remember

1) AGE: about two years old: Living in Da’ Bronx. It was late at night and I wanted a bottle. My crib was in the same room as mom and dad. Mom brought me my bottle and brought dad a glass of OJ. Dad tried to drink it lying down and it spilled all over! Confirmed by mom that this happened- my earliest memory.

2) AGE: Same time frame: Our neighbors across the hall were an older Italian couple…Freida and Emerico. They put up gates so that I could only get into the kitchen in their house. I have a vivid memory of sitting at the kitchen table with Frieda one day drinking espresso with just a dab of Annisette in it. I know we did this more then once, but that one day is there.

3) AGE: 7 or so: At Aunt Adele and Uncle Sam's house. Their kitchen has a door to the backyard. When you open the door, you make an immediate right to go down the stairs…Cousin Denise (YES YOU! Love you.) goes running out the door trying to get outside without me following. I barrel after her and …ummm never make the right turn and go through the railing falling the 10 feet to the ground. I think I might have passed out...thank goodness for rock-hard Abrubzian/Sicilian skull.

4) AGE: 10 or so: Mentioned this before, but it is the Saturday morning when all the kids who lived in the homes around us ended up outside riding our bikes in our p.j.'s, on the street so early, none of the parents were even awake…a feel good memory of times gone by.

5) AGE: 15: My first funeral for a friend. Keith Miller was two years older then I was, but we hung out a lot.

He was an athlete, good looking … a guy’s guy and a ladies man (yes even at 17!). Keith was the guy I wanted to be when I was his age.

Star of the HS Baseball team…dating the hottest girl in town.

Well, one day on their way back from the Hamptons, something happened (was he breaking up with her and she became enraged and grabbed the wheel; was he drunk; were they just having an argument and he lost control…all three of these are things that were whispered)…anyway they hit a telephone pole and it collapsed onto the driver’s side of the car crushing him. All the kids, mingling around the funeral home.. No one knowing what to say...

6) AGE: 18: Pulling into the campus of RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) my first day with mom and dad. (Unlike today, we did not do college tours...this was the first time I saw campus).

Meeting my roommate, ditching mom and dad and ending up walking into the campus radio stationWITR and saying “I want to be on air.” I was the next day! Someone walked into the booth during the show and an “F” Bomb went over the air…and my last song of the day was Janis “Ball & Chain” live where she drops the “F” bomb…Ah hell- college radio! I stayed on the air for the entire four years doing my last broadcast for them on the day before I left campus.

7) AGE: 23: At work and get a call from a salesman asking if I would like to join him for the sixth game of the WORLD SERIES… well of course I would. We sat along the first base line in short right field and watched as Reggie Jackson hit three home runs off of the first pitch from three different pitchers that evening.

8) AGE: 25: A bit shy of two years later, sitting in seats at Yankee Stadium not too far from those mentioned above as we honored the memory of Thurman Munson the day after his death. A 10-minute standing ovation took the place of the requested moment of silence and when it was over my shirt was drenched with tears.

9) AGE: 29: Visiting my two best friends (who also happened to be married)…they drag me to a friend of theirs. It ends up that I am the 7th wheel! I can be a crank (OH SHOCK!!THE SHAME!), and was very much one that day, impressing the homeowners and another couple who was there. I came away from the day remembering she was blonde and cute. We had our first date 5 months later. We were engaged 3 months after that.

10) AGE: 30: 9 months later my wedding day. Allyson looked incredible that day. Then we got to the reception and the band was not there. This was my part of the wedding. I am upset (OH SHOCK!!THE HORROR!) and going outside to get their number from my wallet in the car. Push open the two doors to the front of the hall and yell "MotherF***er!!!" ....right into the faces of my godmother, my great aunt and another aunt! errrrrrrrrrrrrr (The band showed up 5 minutes later, they got an earful then rocked the house! The wedding was talked about for years...).

11) AGE 33: I am awaken to be told the water had broke. To the hospital...I can be single-minded (OH SHOCK!!THE HUMANITY!) and it was in my mind that the baby would be born that day. When it got close to 11:30, I was now a bit freaked..me freaked with all that Allyson was going through! HA! Matthew V. M. arrived at 11:36pm...just as I knew he would!

12) AGE: 48: Move into the first home I ever owned (don't ask..). When we walked in, as we were looking, the house just said welcome...the previous owners were big baseball people in town years before...there were flowers all over the property...perfect. And we moved Allyson's mom in with us.

13) AGE: 50: Sitting in the baseball stadium on the campus of University Of Pennsylvania, watching as Matt is introduced as one of the 24 players selected by the HS coaches to represent Mercer County at the Carpenter Cup, an baseball allstar tournment comprised of teams in the Philadelphia Tri-State Area. You can read more about it: HERE
Matt split two game with another catcher. They caught the same group of pitchers. They were both allowed to call the pitches.

They lost both games giving up 13 runs in the process. Matt was not behind the plate catching for any of those runs.

In his 9-innings catching , the two teams they played did not score. he went 0-4 at the plate, but his skill of handling pitchers he had only competed against, was evident.

St. J - P.B.U.A.B.W.A.B

Thanks for sitting on THE COUCH, hope you enjoyed your stay.

Light A Candle For The Innocent Victims Of Online Child Pornography HERE

FIND AN OPPORTUNITY TO PAY IT FORWARD!

Remember .. Nets For Malaria - UNFoundation.org/malaria - find the big SI's Nothing But Net logo ... Or call 202.887.9040. Every cent goes to buying nets to place over the beds of children in Africa to stomp out Malaria. PLEASE HELP.

Keep that spark of insanity kids...It helps keep you an individual.

SONG INDEX: Source: allmusic.com

Full Story

8 Singers & A Queen

Sparks Of Insanity By Vinny "Bond" Marini Wednesday, April 12, 2006 1 Of Your Sparks

Well...first off, let me say it was not the complete train wreck I expected when the 8 finalists sang Queen songs on American Idol last evening.

Funniest line of the night goes to the writers and came from Ryan Seacrest's mouth...as they showed clips of Queen in the beginning, Ryan said at one point that Queen was "known for it's on-stage energy"...the clip showing at the time was of Freddie Mercury all glammed up. Anyone who knows Queen, knows that the "on-stage energy" they were referring to was Freddie's flamboyancy, but I guess Idol is too PC to state that...

I live with a huge Queen fan, so I asked my wife Allyson to give me a one-sentence wrap up on each contestant.

Then the contestants took the stage:

BUCKY: "Fat Bottom Girls" - Anytime he tried to hold the long note his voice rattled and shook. He countrified the song to fit him. It was not great, but not horrible.
Allyson: "Did not like that at all"

I wonder if some editing took place as he and Ryan spoke. Bucky made a comment about it not being easy "jumping behind Freddie Mercury"...Ryan smirked and said "You can say that again". If you have it on TiVO or tape...go back and watch. When this exchanged happened there was NOT ONE PEEP from the audience...not even nervous laughter.

ACE: "We Will Rock You" - Note to Ace...when the writer of the song looks at you and says, "I don't think we will play your arrangement" TWICE...maybe you should reconsider it. This was what Ace the Rock Star would be like... Failure. The song was way to big for him...his voice could not handle it.
Allyson: "I was bored"

KELLIE: "Bohemian Rhapsody" - OK, this had the makings of either the funniest song ever sung or a complete meltdown...guess what? It was neither. This was Kellie as a Dominatrix...the look was a bit too shocking. Her voice was a bit pitchy in spots and as she came back to the stage from behind the judges she hit a note that only dogs could hear...it was so off-pitch. BUT...she did a much better job then I could have imagined and I was entertained.
Allyson: "She did a pretty good job despite that one real, real bad note"

CHRIS: "Innuendo" - This song was one I had never heard of. It is what Chris does...he did not stretch at all again. I think if you played the last 3 of 4 weeks back to back, they would look and sound the same.
Allyson: "Why would he sing a song no one knows?"

KATHARINE: "Who Wants To Live Forever" - Her second choice and she probably made the right one. This song showcased her incredible vocal range. At that point, the best of the evening.
Allyson: "She did a great job with a song I never liked"

ELLIOTT: "SOMEBODY TO LOVE" - Started off strong...lost it a bit in the middle section and then brought it home strong. I watched Elliott twice because the first time I did not like the arrangement of the song. The second time I appreciated it more.
Allyson: "A big fat zero...I only liked the end"

TAYLOR: "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" - After all the rumors about song choices over the last few days it was nice to hear from Taylor why he switched. What we did not get to hear was the comments by Brian May or Roger Taylor due to the switch and that was too bad. (Note: We also did not hear comments from them regarding Katharine since she also switched.)
OK...now on to the song....GRAND FREAKING SLAM... Taylor as Taylor is best... When he growled out the line "and take a long ride on my motor bike", I knew he was into it. Adding the little R&B to the end was also great. Now Taylor... let it flow…there were two "choreographed" pieces in his performance (Mic stand kick and that little up and down on the stairs), that looked forced...they did not work... otherwise, he was in his element.
Allyson: "THAT was the best all night, he did it" (Note ...Allyson likes Taylor but does not understand my obsession with him "You want to marry this guy?" I was asked last night...Sound familiar ladies??? LOL)

PARIS: "Show Must Go On" - Rocker Chick part 2...The guitar was a bit too loud, but Paris showed she can be a rocker as well as an R&B queen... she ended the show on a high note...
Allyson: "Paris proved she can be what she wants and sing what she wants and do it well"

Simon...what the hell happened to you last night???? Why id you ask if Taylor was drunk???? What did you mean by ridiculous???? Are you trying to sway the voters???

When Paris came out Allyson immediately said, "Simon is going to have a real problem with her"

Is that your problem Simon? Are you having a disconnect over a 17 year old woman being mature and looking much older? If so, fine...but this is a SINGING COMPETITION and she SANG!

BOTTOM 3:

Ace
Bucky
Katharine (I am not sure her fan base is strong enough)

GOING HOME..... Bye Bucky..... (Though I would not be one bit surprised if this was Ace's swansong....)

Has Barry Bonds retired yet? No? Too bad.

Keep that spark of insanity kids...it helps keep you an individual.

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