Memorial Day Tribute...

May all of my guests who live in the U.S.A. enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend. The 'unofficial' start of summer. A time to be with family and friends to gather and enjoy and celebrate. But even more importantly, a time to commemorate those men and women who have given their lives for our most wonderful country. I have mentioned before that I proudly possess the American Flag that draped my grandfather Ernest's coffin when he was buried. It is still folded into the tri-corner. It sits on the top shelf of one of my bookcases in my living room. On those special days (Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day), I put the flag in the upstairs window of my apartment to let anyone looking know I am honoring that day. I will not unfurl it though. It was folded at a final tribute to him and shall stay that way. I found this and thought I would share it with all y'all. It is the reading that is done at some flag folding ceremony: (Begin reading as Honor Guard or Flag Detail is coming forward). The flag folding ceremony represents the same religious principles on which our country was originally founded. The portion of the flag denoting honor is the canton of blue containing the stars representing the states our veterans served in uniform. The canton field of blue dresses from left to right and is inverted when draped as a pall on a casket of a veteran who has served our country in uniform. In the Armed Forces of the United States, at the ceremony of retreat the flag is lowered, folded in a triangle fold and kept under watch throughout the night as a tribute to our nation's honored dead. The next morning it is brought out and, at the ceremony of reveille, run aloft as a symbol of our belief in the resurrection of the body. (Wait for the Honor Guard or Flag Detail to unravel and fold the flag into a quarter fold--resume reading when Honor Guard is standing ready.) The first fold of our flag is a symbol of life. The second fold is a symbol of our belief in the eternal life. The third fold is made in honor and remembrance of the veteran departing our ranks who gave a portion of life for the defense of our country to attain a peace throughout the world. The fourth fold represents our weaker nature, for as American citizens trusting in God, it is to Him we turn in times of peace as well as in times of war for His divine guidance. The fifth fold is a tribute to our country, for in the words of Stephen Decatur, "Our country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right; but it is still our country, right or wrong." The sixth fold is for where our hearts lie. It is with our heart that we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The seventh fold is a tribute to our Armed Forces, for it is through the Armed Forces that we protect our country and our flag against all her enemies, whether they be found within or without the boundaries of our republic. The eighth fold is a tribute to the one who entered in to the valley of the shadow of death, that we might see the light of day, and to honor mother, for whom it flies on mother's day. The ninth fold is a tribute to womanhood; for it has been through their faith, love, loyalty and devotion that the character of the men and women who have made this country great have been molded. The tenth fold is a tribute to father, for he, too, has given his sons and daughters for the defense of our country since they were first born. The eleventh fold, in the eyes of a Hebrew citizen, represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon, and glorifies, in their eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The twelfth fold, in the eyes of a Christian citizen, represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies, in their eyes, God the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost. When the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost, reminding us of our national motto, "In God we Trust." (Wait for the Honor Guard or Flag Detail to inspect the flag--after the inspection, resume reading.) After the flag is completely folded and tucked in, it takes on the appearance of a cocked hat, ever reminding us of the soldiers who served under General George Washington and the sailors and marines who served under Captain John Paul Jones who were followed by their comrades and shipmates in the Armed Forces of the United States, preserving for us the rights, privileges, and freedoms we enjoy today. Thank you grand dad....thank you dad, for your service in Korea, thank you to all of you who served our country in peace or in war. Thank you to those now serving, including Dixie's Matt. Remember at 3:00 pm on Monday to observe the National Moment Of Remembrance. Stop what you are doing and silently thank those who have allowed us to continue to live in a free society. Are we perfect? Absolutely not. Would I want to live anywhere else? Absolutely not. For All Of Those Who Have Fallen See y'all Tuesday. This is longer than normal, but you can just start it up and then pour a cocktail and enjoy the weekend. I was going to end it with one song, but as I kept listening to the ending, I kept hearing another song in my head that would fit right in and well, I added it. Yesterday's mix consisted of The Ramones "Do You Wanna Dance", The Vaughn Brothers - Stevie & Jimmie "A Long Way From Home" and Phish "Poor Heart"...glad y'all enjoyed it. I like not giving the mix order so it is a surprise for you. A Memorial Day Weekend mix for all y'all...ENJOY.... (let me know if the music is working for y'all...thanks)

The Story Continues...

As we have discussed in the past, I worked as a DJ for a number of years. Beginning with the second day I was on the R.I.T. campus I did at least one radio show a week for all four years. Most of the time i did two a week. I began doing the midnight to 3:00 am shift Friday/Saturday and Saturday/Sunday. I L-O-V-E-D these shifts. I was alone at the station...you could smoke inside in those days and I took advantage of it in many ways (wink wink)...I could experiment with my music and play anything that caught my eye. WITR had a music collection that rivaled most of the major FM stations of the day. There were over 15,000 albums in our collection and it spanned from big band to rock to blues to jazz to funky stuff (in those days that meant Captain Beefheart, the GTOs and the like, music that would never make mainstream radio because of its lyrics - YES, even then). It was all vinyl and it was incredible to walk into the music room and just start picking. In all honesty, I tended to stick with the same type of music I love now...rock, southern rock, the San Francisco sound. BUT...I also began to advance my knowledge with "tutelage games". I would walk into the room and just grab things off the shelf, no matter what it was. Then I would find ways to slip them into my show. When I first began I would get phone calls from listeners asking what the hell I was doing playing Dean Martin right after the Grateful Dead. Well, if I could make the songs 'flow' I did it. There were some mixes I probably liked too much and used too often, but hey... Rochester also got a lot of concerts then (and I would bet still today), because of the number of colleges within an hour and a half. That meant we got the opportunity to get some of those touring on the air. As a junior I also began working for the local concert promoter, normally working security (Yeah me too Angell!) and that got me even more access to meeting some of the acts. Unfortunately, unlike my friend Bud, I did not think ahead and keep copies of many of those tapes. I do have a few reel to reels somewhere and one is the interview with Rick Wakeman that I described here on The Couch. But I loved doing the radio and even did a morning shift my sophomore year in full-tilt top 40 "stacks of wax on my wheels of steel, I am woman, Helen's Ready, Eli's Coming, Three Dog Night" kind of stuff and playing the top 40 of 1973 which included such memorable hits as: Angie Basketball Jones D'yer Mak'er Delta Dawn Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Half-Breed Killing Me Softly.. My Maria OK, we can stop now... That same year I took on the 9:00pm - Midnight shift on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. A more "civil" hour to do radio, but with more restrictions because there were still people milling about in the station and in the college union building where we were located, so the shows began to get a tad more normal. Also that year we increased our power and were broadcasting to most of the city and surrounding areas of Rochester. But I always loved mixing it up...not sure how this got to where it ended up, let me know if you like it. Oh and if you did not know all of yesterday it was Eric Clapton "Running On Faith"; Grateful Dead "Big River" (live RFK Stadium 06/10/1973); and Sting "Heavy Cloud, No Rain".

I Got Nothin'...Mix It Up!

I tell ya...I got nothin' for ya today... Nothing wrong, but it is late and well...I got nothin' Did the Radio Show and that was fun...check it out...and the chat room was blazing as always... then had to watch the Finale of Dancing With The Stars which was TiVo'ing downstairs... YES! I fast forwarded through most of the dances by the eliminated couples...YES! I fast forwarded through the second Usher song... But for a real recap of what happened and because I post this before Travis finishes watching, if you want to know what happens check out my good friend Travis, he knows his DWTS...yup he does.... Spoke with darlin' Nancy for a little while and then finished the show. So it is 11:00 pm and normally on a Tuesday I will have written the post at lunch, but never got it done yesterday with all the meetings at work...so anyway, his is why I got nothin' for ya... So, you know what happens when I got nothin', right? You got it... Mix It Up! I am giving you a three song mix here..something different...having a tool like Audacity will allow me to do these... ENJOY...

Separated At Birth???

Results from our poll as of 11:15 pm CDT... Desperado 51.9% Hotel California 40.7% Peaceful Easy Feeling 407% OK, so what song would you have voted for, but it was not listed? Down to the final three and the huge question after last evening's show is... WHO WORE THE HOTTEST SHOES! OK, and who danced well and who is going home. Did Cristian overcome his injury and push away from the others? Did Jason sack the other competitors? Did Kristi pull out a triple-lutz and carve up the men? All of these questions can be answered by visiting TRAVIS and finding out how he and Pam felt... So, Friday evening after I got back from Peter's baseball games, I turned on the TV looking for something to occupy my time. I see a Steven Segal picture about to begin, one I have never seen before. :::Stands up::: Hi, my name is Vinny Bond and I watch Steven Segal movies" Now since about 2003 every one of Mr. Segal's movies have been released straight to video/dvd. basically what this tells you is no one wants to put up the money to release these things to the big screen. He has stated that the government is out to kill him...that the mob is out to kill him....that the universe is out to kill him... he is putting up a large portion of the funding for his movies...and this flick on Friday...I got all confused at one point because there is a shot of him speaking and the camera cuts away, but you still hear the dialog, but it is no longer Segal. seems all the post-production dialog was dubbed in by someone trying real hard to impersonate Segal, but doing a totally horrible job. he is also very very heavy and can hardly move. the fight scenes, always the best part of his movies are almost comical with this rotund guy, slowly moving his arms but packing a wallop as the bad guys go flying across the room. In my half-asleep state a thought came to me...Could Steven Segal and Elvis Presley be one and the same person. The both began their careers as young, studs and transformed into over weight, caricatures of themselves through the years...neither one of them could/can act worth a damn but had/have huge followings...and they both had careers as singers. WHAT? You did not know that Steven has released albums 5 times...YUP..He released his irst one twice and his second one THREE TIMES on THREE Labels! Hey give the man a high five for perseverance... Could it be...could Steven Segal & Elvis Presley be the same person, or maybe separated at birth??????? So, we grabbed some photos and tried this... Bet you can't even tell them apart vocally... "Girl It's Alright" "It's Now Or Never" Coming up this week on DR. BLOGSTEIN’S RADIO HAPPY HOUR: (Live on Tuesday May 20th at 9PM ET and forever archived at BlogTalkRadio. Actress and comedienne Wendi McLendon-Covey will visit Dr. B and Dangerous Lee on the #1 most listened to comedy show on all of BlogTalkRadio. McLendon-Covey is known for her role as on the Comedy Central television program Reno 911!, a role which awarded her #10 on Maxim magazine’s TV’s Best Nymphos list. She’s also involved in a charity organization called Cops 4 Causes and will be hosting their kick off party on Thursday night. Then, the boys of Bag of Toys will stop by to help celebrate this weekend’s unofficial beginning of summer. The band, whose new album Afternooner is available now, sounds like summer with their acoustic surf rock. All that, plus author Jen Lancaster, Vinny Bond drags his Big Leather Couch into the Radio Happy Hour Lounge to chat live with the listeners, Justin the Weatherman and we’ll take your calls at 646-652-4804. Join us live every Tuesday night at 9PM ET. The Radio Happy Hour Lounge-a live chat room during show time-is a whole new reason to make sure you listen live! It’s the show within the show!

Musical Monday...

Last week, when I played The Eagles here. a discussion began in comments over which is the favorite Eagles song for some of our guests... So, after a weekend of watching Peter play baseball and hearing about Matt's games, I thought it would be fun. You get THREE choices...so let's see what the guests here on The Couch think are the top three Eagles songs... I am sure I will get comments that I did not include a song someone loves, but I didn't think listing some 100 songs would be wise...I thought these 8 gave a cross-section of Eagles music. Opinion Polls & Market Research What is a poll without the music? A BORING POLL, that's what... So whether you want to vote and not listen, listen and not vote (spoil sport), or vote AND listen...here ya go to start a workweek...In alphabetical order, not in choice order. "DESPERADO" "HOTEL CALIFORNIA" "I CAN'T TELL YOU WHY" "LIFE IN THE FAST LANE" "NEW KID IN TOWN" "PEACEFUL EASY FEELING" "SEVEN BRIDGES ROAD"