Category: Personal stuff

I’m not Salisbury News (or the Daily Times for that matter) but nonetheless I had my camera yesterday.

Now I saw both these fine news outlets at the Salisbury Fire Department awards ceremony that pretty much began the day’s proceedings. So I left the picture-taking and story telling to them, save one comment I would like to make regarding the absence of one Mayor Barrie Parsons Tilghman. Since she was mysteriously “out of town”, the honor of representing the city transferred to City Council President Louise Smith, who received a reasonably warm reaction when she was announced. Smith only gave short remarks though which essentially said that the mayor was sorry she missed the event (which I have a tough time believing) and that she (Louise) was pleased to be able to represent the city in her stead.

So I listened to part of the presentation and went off to do some of what I came to do, besides drop off about 3 dozen brownies at the Wicomico County Republican Club’s food booth.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love to check out old cars. So yesterday the festival had a car show hosted by the Wheels That Heal Car Club along with the Delmarva Late Great Chevys club. Obviously I took a bunch of pictures, mostly for my personal collection. It’s because I like having them as screensavers and 640×480 doesn’t fill up my screen here. Because of that, if I put these pictures to the size of my format you get this:

But I did get a couple other good pictures at the car show that I thought were suitable for monoblogue. The first one just shows a piece of all the work that these people do just for a hobby. I took a picture of the overall car (a 1962 Chevy Impala) but cropped out just the engine to show that work.

The next two pictures actually have a lesson of sorts behind them. First I’m going to show a picture of the engine of a 1963 Chevy Corvair.

You’ll notice I’m taking a picture from the back. For those readers not old enough to remember the Corvair when it was relatively new, the car received notoriety a few years later when future presidential candidate Ralph Nader made it the subject of a book called Unsafe At Any Speed. With that, the auto safety movement was born and the Corvair faded away a few years later.

If you saw this car at the festival (it was the only Corvair there) you’d have seen that it was a nice white Monza convertible with a red interior. So it wasn’t the bare-bones Corvair model that probably cost hundreds less. What I find sort of ironic is that some of the people who actually made this car are still being paid by you every time you buy a GM product. They’re almost certainly retirees who still get covered under the GM health insurance plan, and I seem to recall that this $2800 is roughly the cost that GM pays out of each car sold today to take care of its retirees. I may be off somewhat, but just think about this number when you read that the Big Three are hugely in favor of government-subsidized health care (i.e. HillaryCare).

Ok, enough about politics.

By the time I’d gone through the car show, Main Street was beginning to become a bit crowded. I took this picture below about the time the first band I stopped to see got started.

Something that they started down on the Plaza end of the festival was a 36′ long canvas that people could paint individual squares of. I actually took this shot about 11:00 and unfortunately didn’t go back later to check out the progress and see what the finished product looked like – probably a riotous display of colors and styles.

I also went over to Lot 10 to check out the ADA Mini Grand Prix. It was a go-cart race on a “road course” set up about Lot 10, and watching these little cars go around the track I could tell it was bumpy. A lack of city maintenance perhaps? And when they hit the wall (as one did while I was watching) they hit it hard as these cars can go up to about 30 mph. Below is a shot of a couple of these cars trading paint – some were pretty beat up by the time they survived the qualifying heats and 40 lap feature race. A car sponsored by Sub Side Deli won that race, it was pretty dominant throughout.

Finally, I got a chance to check out some of the local musical talent. Because these two bands are apparently populated by youngsters, they don’t play in the local over-21 clubs often. So here was an opportunity to scout some of what the kids were playing today. Pictured below is one band called Losing 76. (Why that is I don’t know.)

I must say that they’re a raw talent, but that can be expected from a young band. They seem to have a heavy alternative influence on their style, and it showed in both their couple originals they played and the covers they picked (if I recall correctly they did a song from Weezer and one from Blink 182.) They may be a band to watch in the coming years if they can work at it and find venues to play at on a regular basis.

Later in the day, a band called Apathy closed out the Court Street Stage. Their band I’d actually heard previously as they got a little bit of time on the X106.9 “Local Tracks” show a week or two ago. They’re farther along in the evolution process than Losing 76, and have even endured a few personnel changes along the way since they recorded a full-length CD last year (one I bought.) So when I saw they were on the bill for the Festival, I knew I had to make a beeline to where they were performing, and they didn’t disappoint – with one exception.

The band has a song called “Anything You Want” that I would’ve liked them to play; however, they did do some good covers, most notably a passable version of the Hendrix classic “Purple Haze” and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Like I was surprised because in listening to them initially I thought they had a very Nirvana-style sound, particularly in the way lead vocalist Chris Vansciver sings.

I sort of wonder if there’s not going to be a name change in their future, though – if you look on Myspace Apathy is hardly an original name. Regardless, these guys should be a force on the local music scene in the very near future too.

And I have no picture of this, but I met and renewed acquaintances with several interesting people along the way. I made sure to have my lunch at the Wicomico County Republican Club booth in the food court and checked out how my brownies I brought were selling (they sold out, hope they were good!)

Finally my day out ended by participating (along with about 120 others) in the 2nd Annual Ben Layton 5K Run/Walk. I walked the 2 miles and was sucking wind at the end – not because I can’t walk two miles (that’s about a regular walk for me in my neighborhood) but because I was trying to do it in under 30 minutes. I’m happy to say I made it in about 26 minutes. Found a gear or two I forgot I had as I try to drop a bit off the 32.6% body fat the health screening at the Festival said I had. (The good news is that it was over 37% last year when they did it. So I’m progressing well.)

Now the interesting part will be to find out how much all of this cost the city of Salisbury. Insofar as I know there were no criminal incidents but that may be because I wasn’t involved in any. The Festival is moderately successful so eliminating the troubles that have plagued it in the past is a key to making it more prosperous in the future.

Today I got an e-mail asking me to link to a new website from a person who admires mine, despite the fact we’re miles apart politically. If you read the site (only three posts old so it’s easy) people familiar with the Eastern Shore should be able to figure out who this is. I’m not going to say myself, since he does not choose to identify himself on his site. It’s definitely interesting reading as far as an introspective website goes.

In some respects he writes for many of the same purposes that I do. I just enjoy relating my experiences and opinions and for me the best way to do so is through writing. Some people may not like everything I write, but most seem to enjoy it and the words I write make them think.

So I took the opportunity of linking to his website (as he’s linked to mine) and revised and extended some of my other links. Among those I deleted a couple, changed some descriptions and I added a link to the closing band on the Court Street stage today at the Salisbury Festival. This band is called Apathy and they’re all young kids (I believe the oldest is 18) but they’re very talented musicians. Bought their CD they had for sale and enjoyed it driving about this evening back home and to/from the Ben Layton walk. (Can you say early bedtime with all of my walking today? But I walked the 2 miles in less than 30 minutes, which was my goal.)

If I have the time tomorrow I’ll go through my pictures of the Salisbury Festival and see if anything is blogworthy. I had my camera set to a larger format on most of my shots so I don’t know how many will work for monoblogue. Most of the shots I took were of the car show (regular readers know I like those) but I took a few other various ones, including of Apathy and another band that performed earlier called Losing 76. But tomorrow is a busy day for me as I volunteered to sell the wristbands at the tail end of the Festival so all the little kids can ride the rides. Then I have the Tri-County Lincoln Day dinner tomorrow night. I’ll probably write it up but I don’t think I’ll take my camera this time as interior pictures don’t do well with it.

So there will be a post on that next week, plus another couple I have in the works as well. Of course, I’ll be following the latest local developments on the proposed property tax increase with interest and how that petition drive is going. I did not see those people out at the festival but perhaps I missed them in my travels.

As always, I’ll try to make whatever I talk about interesting. I was talking to a blogging friend today (who shall remain nameless) and when I told him what my readership was according to my SiteMeter, he said “that’s way too low.” And he may be right judging by how many comments I get. Either way, I’m pleased with the way it’s grown so far and maybe it’s time for the next step. So stay tuned.

Oh, I forgot this late last night as I was writing this. I’m STILL getting comments on Pumpin’ and Dumpin’ so I’ll add an update next week.

I think this is what they envisioned when the concept of “Pork in the Park” was created five or so years ago.

Apparently the first three editions of this event were marred by poor weather. I can vouch for the last two years – 2005 was cloudy and chilly and 2006’s effort was pretty much rained out. But Saturday dawned and the forecast was for sunny and warm weather. Here’s a shot of the festival pretty much when it opened.

I was a little bit surprised when I reported in to volunteer for the event. I was expecting to do garbage detail but they needed me to man the competitors’ gate instead. Apparently the park/rec folks do the garbage, which is understandable. I didn’t take a picture to shame them, but as the day wore on it was apparent they were a little outgunned.

By 2:00 or so when I got a break to grab a drink (and put on more sunscreen!), I could tell the crowds were outstanding (no pun intended). Here’s shots of the entrance line to get in and at some of the rib servers.

And it goes without saying that a big thank you goes to the Parsonsburg Volunteer Fire Company and Wicomico County Sheriff’s Department for their help. Aside from a little girl who must’ve hurt herself falling, there were no incidents I noticed that needed their attention. But it was good to have them about just in case.

So I eventually finished my shift at the gate and got to enjoy the festivities (and finally eat some ribs! I didn’t want to take a long lunch.) I have just one quibble with the volunteer coordinators, though. I think they forgot that I was doing the gate and it wasn’t until almost 6:00 that I had to ask for my relief. I don’t mind running a bit over if someone is running late but an hour’s a little beyond the call. Just something to keep in mind for the 2008 edition. I’ll still volunteer, all I ask is keep that in mind!

Here’s another shot I took. I was actually in the line for Smokin’ Dudes BBQ when I took this along the vendor’s row.

Of course, there was music there and you know I had to scope it out. I only was over there for about a third of the Couch Potatoes (first picture below) but was finished eating and present for pretty much all of the Melanie Mason Band (second picture below.) We should also thank Queen Anne’s County, this stage is actually their mobile stage.

There’s just something about a rib festival that lends itself to having blues-based music there. Melanie Mason and her band filled the bill quite well, so I sat and listened with a belly full of ribs and beer.

Now for some of my wish list for 2008. Having a three-day festival is definitely a good idea. I’d love to have a couple other rib joints both perform the contest and serve the public. Having only three rib vendors serve made the lines way too long. There was the market for at least six or seven. (Part of this wish is being most familiar with the Northwest Ohio Rib-Off, a similar annual event where over 20 vendors serve ribs. Granted, the Toledo area is five times the size of Wicomico County.)

Another couple suggestions came to mind because of the parking problems I saw. Part of my job was directing overflow handicap parking to park along the lane winding back into the park. A problem some had that did get the designated handicapped spaces was negotiating the gravel parking lot. Perhaps the county can find a few thousand dollars and pave the handicapped parking area and add a few more spots – hopefully we’ll have a few years of good weather to make up for the event’s first three.

The second suggestion is semi-related. I went to the Shorebirds game on Sunday and the crowd there was, well, pretty miserable. (It was great for taking pictures though as you’ll see tomorrow.) Because the Pork in the Park date is pretty much cemented in now as the third weekend in April (next year it would fall between April 18-20), it may be to the Shorebirds’ advantage to have the South Atlantic League schedule them away that weekend. Also, this would open up an opportunity to use the Shorebirds’ parking lot and shuttle folks back and forth (if Shore Transit would cooperate.)

So that’s the wrapup for Pork in the Park 2007. And like I said to start, I think this is what the folks at the Wicomico Convention and Visitor’s Bureau envisioned when the event was launched. I know I enjoyed it a lot!

While I don’t partake in the herb that made the date famous 4-20 turns out to be a great night for the music scene just in Salisbury (and close environs) alone. I’m not out to make monoblogue a total concert connection website, but tomorrow is a date worth mentioning because of the quantity and quality of the bands performing everything from grindcore to blues-based and classic-style rock. It almost makes me wish they’d spread things out a little bit!

Almost every local venue has a band of some sort tomorrow night, I guess one can think of it as full employment night for local musicians. I’m just going to concentrate on three multi-band venues and one other that has a good band that’s not on the Eastern Shore much because they’re from Pennsylvania. That band is one I wish had come down on a different date but looking at their tour schedule they generally stay in PA. I have to note that they do have shows set up in my old neck of the woods out at Put-In-Bay, Ohio (home of the world’s longest bar!)

In terms of sheer number of bands you can’t beat the delmarvanightlife.com 42-0 show at Brew River. There are eleven acts on three stages, and it all begins outside on the deck at 4:30 with Matthew King playing a solo acoustic set. (Tomorrow will be a bit cool but sunny, 60 degrees.) That stage will remain open until about sundown with Pirate Radio doing an acoustic show as well, wrapping up with All Down But Nine.

Moving indoors to the River Stage, beginning at 8:00 it will be Another Vicious Cycle, Lime Green, Project Sideways, Skitzo Calypso, The Frauds, and Pirate Radio (another set, this time plugged in.) On the Main Stage starting at 9:00 it’s my friends from Semiblind, followed by The Barking Crickets, The Cheaters, the Matthew King Band (I assume that’s an electric set as well), finishing with Lower Class Citizens.

And a big thanks to Michelle and company for cluing me into the schedule. Each set runs about 40 minutes so figure each hour there’s a new band. I link to many of these bands directly from monoblogue because they’re from the local area (and I like them), but also most of the other groups have a Myspace page you can check out as well. Hopefully the bands run a little ahead or behind schedule because I can see some serious conflicts as far as who I’d like to see when, plus I can’t get there until about 9:00 anyway because I wrap up my bowling season tomorrow night.

Not to be outdone, local alternative rock station (and big local music supporter) X106.9 has its “Spring Fling” just down Business Route 13 at the Monkey Barrel. They bring a very respectable seven bands into the fray, including local legend Lennex as the headliner. The other six bands are Falling from Failure, Extortion by Duress, Breath of Life, Goatbag, Futhamucka, and Havok in Hollywood. I’m not sure which order they are in, but I do know they’ll start this free show at 7:00.

And just up the street, if you like to shoot pool and listen to a good-sounding band, that’s the case at Break Time Billiards. The band ’til December comes down for a show there. It’s a group I’d love to see come down more often, that’s for sure. (Danie, if you read this, go to Put-In-Bay come June and check these guys out.)

I’d also be remiss to not mention the other outdoor venue this weekend. The “Pork in the Park” rib festival will have a number of blues and blues-rock groups this weekend. (The schedule is here.) I’ve already checked into the forecast and, unlike last year’s total rainout, there’s nothing but sunny skies predicted this weekend. So bring your sunscreen, a light jacket (for the evening), and don’t trash the place too much because my job’s going to entail cleaning up. (Trash, not ribs. After the shift is a different story.) And as a special sort-of-secret added bonus, come about 9:30 or so Saturday night you’d be close enough to see the fireworks from the Shorebirds game. I live about equidistant the other direction and I see (and hear) them nicely out my front window.

Because of all this, posting will be light over the weekend. I’ll have camera in hand though and let’s just say I’m glad I bought plenty of batteries recently. Next week I’ll do my little trick of posting the pictures of the bands on monoblogue and writing a review on my Myspace page. So look for me out and about!

Yesterday I got a message on my SotW post that looked like this:

Michael,

G.A. told me to give you the following info to post, but hasn’t gotten back to me with your e-mail address. It’s getting late, so I hope it’s okay to send this to you this way.

Bluelight Special

Free Live Music in Downtown Salisbury

Friday, April 13th, City Bistro, 213 W. Main Street, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Bluelight Special plays music from the 50’s to today.

Whether the music or the liquor moves you, dancing is encouraged.

Obviously I’ve become the source for this sort of stuff because of my support for local bands (such as Semiblind, who got a nice photo and plug for their show tonight in the Daily Times Go! section yesterday. Way to go DT!) But there’s already websites that do this sort of thing (delmarvanightlife.com comes to mind) and it would take a lot of my time to list every show at every venue.

So go ahead and check out the show (since I’ll be otherwise occupied at that time slot) and encourage the local music scene some more. I’ll take this under advisement as far as a policy to advertise local groups and their shows henceforth.

Actually, I see this early afternoon Bluelight did quite well as two of the other large blog sites plugged the show too.

I suppose this qualifies as breaking news.

Since John Robinson (Robinson on the Radio, if you don’t know) was off today because of the Orioles game, he was lining up guests for the coming days. My turn will come Friday, in other words Friday the 13th. So instead of just 20 minutes with Bill Reddish that’s compacted by commercial breaks into about 12-14 minutes of airtime, I’ll have an hour to expound on whatever subjects come up. That will be this Friday at 3 p.m. after Rush’s guest host.

Another radio debut (insofar as I know it is) comes up more quickly. If you tune to Ocean 98 at 6 p.m. this evening (98.1 FM) you can catch my musical friends collectively known as Semiblind on their “Live Lixx” show. Or if you’re outside the broadcast area you can watch and listen to them perform here. They were nice enough to play my favorite original song of theirs when I saw them last Friday at Max’s Dugout; the least I can do is plug this appearance.