Sunday, May 31, 2009

Texas Woman Told to Remove 'Offensive' American Flag From Office - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com


Texas Woman Told to Remove 'Offensive' American Flag From Office - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

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Friday, May 29, 2009

Dave Matthews Band Ultimate Guitar Giveaway Sweepstakes

Dave Matthews Band Ultimate Guitar Giveaway Sweepstakes

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American Thinker Blog: Congratulations Taxpayers! You're on the hook for $55 grand to pay off Obaman...

American Thinker Blog: Congratulations Taxpayers! You're on the hook for $55 grand to pay off Obaman...

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Google Wave: A new kind of mega-application

Google Wave: A new kind of mega-application

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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Eagles - Earlybird Live from 1973



Eagles - Earlybird
Live from 1973
Guitar/vocals - Glenn Frey
Banjo/vocals - Bernie Leadon
Bass/vocals - Randy Meisner
Drums/vocals - Don Henley

This, and the previous post below are truly a FLASHBACK
to 1973 /74.
I was a Junior in High School.
I was also very into the culture of the day.

I was fairly popular in the general school culture,
mainly due to athletics.
But I was also well known
for breaking athletic training rules, and neck-
deep in the party/drug culture.

Thru all that, NEVER have I ever heard 'Earlybird' by the Eagles until
earlier today. ( 1am early at Blip.fm) I was so blown away that I had
to post it here. As a student of stringed instruments that can deliver an
element of TWANG, I have watched it at least 10 times today in hopes
of memorizing chord shapes & switches, but mostly, just to soak in
MORE from the era. (like I really need more) I plopped 'Take It Easy'
in below just to get another taste of the sweetness this band delivered,
not to mention that Linda Ronstadt was also guesting,
along with
Jackson Browne. Linda, one of my 1st 'rockstar' crushes.
Don Felder was now also part of the mix, which signaled a more
sophisticated sound was in the works. I actually remember this
Don Kirschner appearance. I hope you can gain some enjoyment
from both video's. (what would we do without YouTube?)

-steve

Eagles - Take It Easy Live from 1974


Eagles - Take It Easy
Live from 1974 - Don Kirschner's Rock Concert
Guitar/vocals - Glenn Frey
Lead guitar - Don Felder
Guitar/vocals - Bernie Leadon
Bass/vocals - Randy Meisner
Drums/vocals - Don Henley

Monday, May 25, 2009

ZZ-Top on Vh1 & Vh1classic - Storytellers!


A new VH1 Storytellers episode
starring ZZ Top will premiere
June 27 on the cable network.
The show, which commemorates
the Texas blues-rock trio's 40th
anniversary, was taped March 31
at Chicago's Congress Theatre.
The program also will debut July 4
on the VH1 Classic and Palladia channels.

Meanwhile, frontman Billy Gibbons reports
that ZZ Top are hoping to release their
upcoming studio album "before we celebrate
our 41st anniversary."

PR Newswire

Imagine ZZ-Top playing a LIVE set in your living room.......that's what this was like!
I was thrilled to be seated on stage for the entire taping, a mere 5 feet from the band as they played thru their set. (stage left, 2nd row) One of the
questions I submitted prior was used for this session,
so obviously, I was afforded the opportunity to ask the
question myself.
Yet another item to check off my bucket list!

-Steve

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

One more......LIVE at Rockfest

Tickets go on sale soon! ~STYX~ w/REO Speedwagon

Just a few more days before tickets go on sale
for ~STYX~ & REO Speedwagon at the MN
State Fair over the Labor Day weekend.
The photo above was taken almost 5 years ago.
It has been almost 4 years since I've last seen
them LIVE, that being a show here in Rochester,
MN.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Hubble needs to be pursued beyond Hubble!


As a species, we could certainly do worse with
regards to spending tax dollars on questionable
projects. In my view Hubble should be considered
a 1st step. You?

Monday, May 18, 2009

2 hour season finale in less than 15 minutes...(tick, tock, tick, tock)

We know that Jack will make it because FOX has said
they are already to start working on next season.
So......who will NOT make it to next season?

Friday, May 15, 2009

Keith Urban returned to St Paul Thurs. evening

Photo: Tom Wallace, Star Tribune
Please use the URLs below to view photos & video,
along with a typical local-yocal concert review from
the St Paul Pioneer Press. (I thought one was enough)
http://www.xcelenergycenter.com/videoplayer.jsp?IS_PLAY=Y&MM_FILE_ID=128
http://www.xcelenergycenter.com/photogallery/gallery.jsp?SECTION_ID=52
http://www.twincities.com/entertainment/ci_12375532?nclick_check=1

THE BASICS: 2 hour show, which included a 2 song encore.
I have always wanted to get a dose of Keith Urban guitar
fretboard wizardry. Well, I got it! At times, even jaw-drop good!

Enjoy the links!

-steve

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Mission accomplished (cont.)

Mission accomplished ! (ROUND ONE)


A nice road trip to
SE WI. It's always
enjoyable visiting
the old stomping
grounds, even
though
I really
don't STOMP

much anymore.

The blue-haired
woman running
the greenhouse
had no clue about
the righteous history
of this particular
strain of pepper,
so I brought her up-
to-speed. (she got
my best pepper-rant)




I ended up giving some plants to all three of

my daughters, and my brother Jerry who I
knew would be absolutely thrilled to get his
hands on some of these.

The plants transplanted nicely and are on the deck hardening
to their new environment as I type this. It's kind of cool &
blustery today as a cold front
has just plowed through.
ROUND ONE is well underway!









Monday, May 11, 2009

A pepper run to SE Wisconsin!

Beaver Dam Pepper
A Hungarian heirloom local favorite brought to Beaver Dam,
WI by the
Joe Hussli family in 1929 (my Great Uncle- RIP).
Elongated 5 to 8 inch
slightly wrinkled peppers have excellent
flavor with flesh that's crunchy
and mildly hot when seeded.
It gives a nice zip to sandwiches, stuffed
peppers and salsa.
The 15 to 18 inch plants yield an amazing number of

fruits that ripen from lime-green to red.

Last year I was able find my plants right here in Minnesota. Sadly,
the grower who mailed my plants to me thru the US mail last year
passed away earlier this year. His family has canceled their mail
order
program for this growing season.

This means road trip to south eastern Wisconsin early Tuesday
morning,
arriving in Beaver Dam around 9 am. Of course,
this also means that I
should be able to surprise some family
and friends.


Hmm?? I better take at least 1 guitar, too!
(I feel a jam-session coming on)

-Steve

Friday, May 8, 2009

it's OFFICIAL.....my acoustic guitar HERO is coming to town






I have now lived in SE Minnesota for almost 6 years, moving here
from the Valley
Of The Sun, Mesa, AZ (metro-Phoenix). One of
the first things I did after the dust
settled was investigate the local
music scene. Before I knew it I was standing in
the office of the
director of
Rochester Civic Music. Director Steven Schmidt afforded
me almost an hour to state my case as to why it would be prudent
to book
Monte Montgomery to his summer concert line up. I
explained to Mr Schmidt what a
'Montiac' is (self proclaimed fan),
and how his fan base has a history of traveling
great distances.
He listened intently to my rant, and a CD of Monte
'bootlegs' I
had
prepared. Many of the bootleg offerings were recorded directly
off the soundboard
from various small, Texas venues & clubs.
Those same bootlegs were gifts from other
hell-bent Montiac's who
were equally affected by
Monte Montgomery's amazing talents and
virtuosity. Despite my fanatical enthusiasm and effort to get my foot

in the door, I saw nothing positive become of that initial effort, but
remained
persistent, none the less.

Each new year since my original 'rant' I would send reminders to
Mr Schmidt...to no
avail! Finally, a management change for Monte
would prove to positive, not only for
Monte himself, but In addition
to sending annual reminders to Mr Schmidt, I would
also send a
reminder to Monte's management to consider looking at Rochester,
MN
as a viable stop on a summer tour. Plain and simply, this
community has an excellent
city-run program that brings quality
entertainment to town throughout the calendar
year. Well, I believe
the stars and planets have aligned sometime earlier this year,

as the news came down the pike from Pollstar.com that Monte
Montgomery would be performing 'Down By The Riverside' in Mayo
Civic Park in late July. After numerous
e-mails back & forth with the
Rochester Civic Music staff, and a little patience,
the official word
arrived yesterday via the OFFICIAL Rochester Civic Music website.


Monte Montgomery still brings people together from afar. Even
though
YouTube is saturated with his material, seeing this guy
perform LIVE and in living color is still
a special event for any
'Montiac'. We Montiac's tend to look around at his shows for

the 'slack-jaws', and the looks of amazement and perma-smiles
that seem to be
very prevalent at a Monte Montgomery
performance. I myself was inspired to learn
to play guitar because
of
Monte Montgomery, period! (end of story). Actually, that in
itself is a story in itself, so I'll save that one for another day.

In closing, please investigate more for yourself on
Monte Montgomery. Perhaps he will inspire you, as he has
inspired me!


http://www.riversideconcerts.com/concerts/event.aspx?eventid=4621
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfQxGkM7Kk8
http://www.montemontgomery.net


-Steve

Thursday, May 7, 2009

WARNING: Some may find the following image disturbing

OK......so I've taken a few days away from this blog.
I was so in[[[[ SHOCK ]]]]]] I found it hard to find
a topic that would be interesting, so I stayed away.
It's like.........another confirmation that Bazzar-O-World
is here! We're living it! I mean really..it is, we are!
I could make a list to prove my point.
I'm now wondering if I should go out and buy I telescope
so I can personally monitor whether the killer asteroid or
comet is near. I'd like to know. I have the astronomical
skills and abilities.

But wait......wheeww! That was close! Looks like it's NOT
going to happen. However, I still stand by my claim that we
have entered a very unusual point in time. I may go out
and buy a scope anyway. Yet another Bazzaro day in the
political world, too........but I'll behave today!

C'ya!
Steve

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

you know how sometimes you can go nuts! ??

well...that was the deal with this song! Sometimes BLIPVILLE
http://blip.fm can drive a person nuts! A few of us were on a
Fleetwood Mac rampage late Monday evening. I got sick of posting
covers, so I had to get this posted pronto! Sometimes music does
that to
me...that's why I love it! Quite frankly...it doesn't get better
than this!
~SONG BIRD~

Enjoy!
-Steve

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Gov Tim Pawlenty speaks at Tax Cut Rally 05-02-09

This, one of the highlights to an outstanding event on the MN
Capitol grounds on Saturday. Gov Pawlenty was clear, concise
and humorous to drive home his point; his veto pen is ready!


May 2nd Tax Cut Rally-Capitol steps-St Paul, MN

One might think that Minnesota's formal
Tea Party Protest was late since Saturday's
date was May 2nd. Not the case. A formal
Tea Party was held on April 15th, just as
yours was. Today's event was something
separate from that; a follow-up of sorts.
Today's event was the annual Tax Cut Rally.
Again, ANNUAL! Several thousand concerned
tax payer's turned out on this beautiful early
May Saturday to put an exclaimation point to
the Tea Party's of April 15th.

Yes, it is routine for like-minded Minnesotan's
to demonstrate annually as legislators will
sometimes work through the weekend on the
State's budget. That was certainly the case this
past weekend as MN Gov.Tim Pawlenty helped
lead the chants from the lawn of the capitol
building. Mr Pawlenty promised that his "veto pen
was ready"! Other noteable speakers included
US Rep Michelle Bachmann (R), and local
talk-radio host Jason Lewis who was
instrumental in the organizational and
promotion of this
annual event.
Lewis was also considered keynote speaker
for the event.


--We "Right Wing Radicals" (as Janet Napolitano
would have it) made the TV news on ABC. (see video)
http://kstp.com/news/stories/S911377.shtml?cat=1

--You might remember Congresswoman
Michelle Bachmann from this monumental grilling! (see video)




US Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN)

--Steve Richards PhotoStream from the
05/02/09 Tax Cut Rally
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trainwreckradio/show/

Right Wing Radicals? WATCH THE VIDEO !!


I awoke to a pleasant
surprise this morning.
The ABC television
affiliate in the Twin
Cities, KSTP was the ONLY
mainstream television media
to make any mention of
yesterday's Tax Rally on
the Capitol lawn in St Paul.
I'm actually in the video.

I'm the guy wearing the sign on my chest that says "Right
Wing Radical". That statement is a sarcastic response to
the recent statement by Homeland Security Chief Janet
Napolitano that certain elements from the "RIGHT"
will be closely watched. WATCH THE VIDEO!
http://kstp.com/news/stories/S911377.shtml?cat=1