Friday Nite Video (Public Enemy-Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos)

Okay peeps, this week we crank it up a little. Unless you've known me for a very long time, most people don't know I like rap music. Love it really. Not so much the stuff out today but REAL rap. Rap from back in the day. I remember when I heard the first rap song ever recorded, Rapper's Delight, by the Sugar Hill Gang. Wow, it was amazing when that came out. A "new" style of music that included talking and rhyming to music. It was a hit and rap music was born! Sugar Hill gang had several my songs to follow up Rappers Delight. Then other rappers started cashing in on this new craze of music. RUN-DMC, LL Cool J, Whodini and others came on the scene and were very successful. Rap was fun, light and rappers loved dissing other rappers. Throw your hands up in the air and that kind of stuff. But then the group Public Enemy come on the scene and these guys were mad! They rapped about serious issues affecting young, mostly black, people of the time. Their songs dealt with social injustices that had been and were still happening at the time. They sang songs that dealt with very political issues. Lead man Chuck D was their voice. Colorful Flavor Flav was like a clown dancing around stage with them, always with a big clock hanging around his neck, asking "What time is it". Their music was featured in Spike Lee's film Do the Right Thing. In the background while Chuck D and Flavor were doing there thing was the S1W's, a group of militant "soldiers". The whole thing just added to a in your face presence these guys had. In 1989 they released It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. That album brought PE from the back burner to full fledged Rap stars. It sold millions of copies and is still considered one of the most ground breaking rap albums of all time. I know I wore my copy out. Me and my friends knew all the words by heart to all the songs. I had my leather Pubic Enemy Logo necklace I wore. PE was just the bomb! I loved all the songs on that album. They covered so many social ills on it. But I think if I had to pick my favorite one it would be the one I chose for this weeks video of the week, Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos. Watch it and see what YOU think. PE in the house Boy!!! Enjoy!

Autumn

When the sun sets early for the day,
dropping out of sight too soon.
The air changes too, coolness comes out.
I breath in deeply, feeling the coolness deep inside me.
Dried up leaves swirl around in a whirlwind before they break
away and disappear around the corner, out of sight.
Kids run around playing games before the night,
comes early and sends them inside all to soon.
The darkness that comes seems heavy,
covering everything like a thick blanket.
Lights struggle to penetrate it's thickness.
I can hear the bare branches of the tree outside,
scratching against each other every time the wind gust up.
Everyone settles in for the night.
Soon the sun will rise and the darkness will leave.

10 random things I like

1-A good meal
2-A good movie
3-A good book
4-A beautiful sunset
5-Riding to nowhere in particular
6-Dressing up for special occasions
7-A women who likes to dress up for that same special occasion
8-People that exert self confidence
9-A woman who is beautiful because of who she is inside
10-Friends that are there anytime that can be counted on

Friday Nite Video (Kutless-Promise of a Lifetime)

Okay, this weeks pick is not really that old. It certainly can't be called old school cause the song is only three years old. But, looking back on when I first heard the song "Promise of a Lifetime" by Kutless, it seems like a very long time ago. Flash back to March 2008. I had just been told some stuff that completely changed my world. Everything that I was and had been up to that point was suddenly gone. Changed forever. Every clique you can imagine came into play. Sucker punched in the gut, the wind gone from my sails, everything turned on its head, you get the idea. I was reeling. I really didn't know if I was coming or going. I was in a tailspin and I was sinking rapidly. Then one day I was driving somewhere in my truck when I started playing with the radio. It stopped on one of the local christian radio stations and there was some talking going on and then this song came on. I really almost had to stop my truck. It was amazing! It was like these guy's were singing this song just for me! The words hit on just what I was feeling and going through. The song talks about whatever this life throws your way can be gotten through with the help of God almighty. There are trials and tribulations to this life but if we ask Christ into our hearts he promises to never leave us. I had done that as a teenager but never had I felt his presence as strong as I did that day when I first heard that song. Yes, my troubles were and still are here. But I know everything will be all right and brighter days are ahead. I think we have to go through some storms to enjoy the "good" weather when it's here. Kutless never did release a video of this song. The one I'm showing is one that someone put together to the song. If you wanna see the band doing some of their other songs put their name in YouTube and check them out. They are a cool band. Anyway, here's my pick for this week, Promise of a Lifetime by Kutless. Enjoy!

Friday Nite Video (Prince-Beautiful Ones)

This week I just gotta go with a video from one of my favorite artist that just happens to also be from one of my favorite movies. The artist is Prince and the movie is Purple Rain. PR came out in 1984 and it was unbelievable. I had been a Prince fan before that and liked all of his earlier stuff. The album before PR was 1999 and it was great. We would listen to that riding around in our cars (on cassette tape of course). We would party like it was 1999 and sing along while pretending WE had a little red corvette BUT when Purple Rain came out it was like nothing we had ever seen. Prince and the Revolution took the world by storm back in 1984. He defined coolness. Girls loved him. Guys wanted to be like him. Every song on that album was a hit. We went to the movie. We knew the words to the songs by heart. That was a magical time then. Prince continued to release albums and with each album he released he seemed to change his image. His follow up movie Under the Cherry Moon was paned by critics but I liked it. Everyone wanted Prince to remain the royal purple one but he refused to be put in that box. Purple Rain was but one of his many musical directions he took and he's still going today. My video pick is my favorite song from Purple Rain. The Beautiful One''s. I don't think I have ever seen a performer put so much emotion into a song as Prince does this one. You can feel the frustration he's feeling. You know he loves her. He just wants to know if she feels the same. Enjoy.

Well it's here

Finally, a little relief here in Florida. When I wrote about the month of September being the month of endings I spoke of that coming morning when you would go out to leave for work and you would feel the temperature change in the air as summer started to fade. Well, this morning of the 30Th was our first morning of feeling a difference in the air. Not cool by any means but comfortable. No humidity. That first reminder that falls a coming. I also stand corrected about the mention of daylight savings taking place near the end of the month. I forgot that congress changed all that up a couple years ago to give us a few more weeks before the blues and depression would set in. Tomorrow's October 1st. Let the fall weather begin!

Old sckool video pick of the week (Kiss-Sure Know Something)

Growing up as a kid of the 70s it was hard to not like Kiss. Almost everyone I knew loved them. I certainly did. We could debate for hours about which band member was the best. Gene the demon (my favorite). Ace the spaceman. Peter the cat (which I never really understood, why a cat?). Or lead singer Paul the star. You could join the Kiss army for around 10 bucks a year and become a card carrying member. There were make-up kits you could buy that would transform you into your hero. Anything Kiss related flew off the shelves. It was tough for me though because my mother HATED Kiss and would not allow me to have any of their posters up, I couldn't have any of their records. Well that was like the forbidden fruit. I would sneak magazines into the house about them. I made cassette recordings of their songs from my friends albums. I HAD to have my KISS fix. I still to this day swear Beth was one of the greatest songs ever recorded. My video pick of the week is Sure Know Something from the album Dynasty. Enjoy!

September

If I had to pick the month I dislike the most it would have to be September. For me September is the month of endings. The closer month. As a kid I always dreaded the thought of September because you knew labor day was coming soon after September 1st and that meant the end of summer or more importantly, the end of summer vacation. Remember leaving school on your last day of the school year thinking "Wow, two and a half glorious months of no school"! September was sooo far away you couldn't even think about it. Well no matter what it always arrived. Summer vacation would end. A new school year would start. Classes always got tougher. Work loads got heavier. For most of the month I tried to adjust. Back to a schedule, back to having homework, back to taking orders from some teacher that you really didn't like and everyone laughed at when they were out of earshot or while their back was turned while they wrote on the blackboard. Ah September, the cruelest month of the year. Now as a adult I really don't like it any better. I know summer is on its last leg. Starting to get winded. Starting to loosen it's grip just a little at a time until you go out one morning to leave for work and you think "Brrr, its a little chilly". Even the plants you had so painstakingly taken care over the summer by watering, pruning, fertilizing and tending to are getting tired. Flowers start to fade, leaves losing that dark green color and being replaced with brown withering leafs. If plants could talk they would be saying "I'm so tired, I just want to sleep now. Ive given you beauty and color all summer but I'm just too tired to continue". Trees, the kings and queens of the botanical world, give us one more glimpse of their awe and splendor through their leafs before dropping them to the ground as the trees say goodnight. See ya next year. As the month continues the days start to shorten and your internal clock starts to take notice that something is going on here. Then just as your depression starts to deepen that cursed thing known as daylight savings time happens. Fall back. That's when everything goes haywire. Your body is thrown into absolute turmoil as you try to adjust to the new time patterns. Suddenly we are lethargic all the time. We finish every sentence with a yawn. Our outlooks become grim. Suddenly, we are no longer optimist, we became pessimists almost over night. The kids get cranky. The pets no longer want to play like before. We drive home from work in the dark. We have dinner and think "Gosh, it must be 10:00 o'clock". Then we look and it's only 6:30. Quick, light meals become replaced with heavy carbs and starchy "comfort" foods. Comfort cause that's about the only thing we can derive any comfort from. Stews, casseroles, meats and potatoes replace the foods we just finished enjoying over the summer. It's the end of summer. Winter's right around the corner hiding, awaiting its turn. He can't wait to make us suffer and curse him and his frigidness. That's the sadness of September. Summer is still fresh on our minds but we know we are in the month of endings.

The Stranger (or was he)?

I was in the store the other day doing some shopping and this guy comes up to me and says's, "Don't I know you from somewhere"? I, not recognizing this guy but not wanting to be rude said " I don't know". Well, the guy was pretty insistent with me. "I know you from somewhere, I just can't put my finger on it". "Your name is Bob or Mike or something like that, right?" No, I answered. Not even close. "Are you sure you know me" I asked the guy. " Yeah" the guy says. "We used to work together or something". I started studying this guys features and got to thinking, gosh, maybe he does know me. Nothing about the guy was ringing any bells with me. Did I meet him one night at a party I thought to myself? Was I introduced once to this guy someplace and he had a better memory then I did? He was dressed a little to nicely to be doing some grocery shopping I thought to myself. He sported what looked to be a Italian silk smoking jacket. Under that was a cotton dress shirt that had been neatly pressed before putting on. Sensible pants with slip-on loafers on his feet. Could I have met this guy at a social function of some sorts? Was he a banking officer somewhere where I had once applied for a loan. By now I had started to get a little uncomfortable. I'm such a idiot I thought to myself. With my mind racing I glanced down to see what he had in his shopping cart. Things I would never buy nor would anyone else that I knew. He had a bag of pre-rinsed organic field greens picked in the mountains of Tibet by young gregorian chanting monks in training trying to raise money to pay for their continued enlightenment. There was a bottle of sauvignon blanc wine shipped from the napa valley. A box of frozen vegan patties that had a picture of a cow crying tears of joy while thanking the buyer for saving his life. A loaf of gluten free wheat and oat bread made by artisan bakers baked in clay ovens from the old world that had a slogan that said Man CAN live on OUR bread alone. Some tofu and beansprouts to make some sandwiches. A block of cheese made from the milk of the yemen mountain goat, made by the master cheese makers of Yemen who had been making cheese for centuries. As I quickly looked up I noticed the gentleman had been looking at the contents of my cart as well. A bag of pre-rinsed Dole iceberg lettuce. A six pack of Old Milwaukee. A box of frozen beef patties that had a picture of a cow crying as he was being led away by a couple stern looking guys while the cow's family watches and also is crying. A loaf of white wonder bread. A pack of Oscar Mayer baloney to make some sandwiches. A tub of helluva good cheese spread. He too quickly looked up and studied me once again. "You know, I might have you mistaken for someone else" he said to me. "Yeah, I think you did" was my answer to him. "If you would excuse me then" he said. Sure I answered. "Have a good day friend" I said as I turned and continued my shopping.

Eating

My family likes to eat. I mean we really like to eat. I know your probably thinking yeah, so. Everybody likes and HAS to eat. But for me and my family eating has always been almost something of a art, something we all looked forward to.

Growing up as number four of five kids we lived on a farm and we all were expected to pull our weight. My father raised chickens, pigs, cows and planted crops on three different farms. During the summer when us "young-ins" were out of school days were long and hard. My mother always made sure we started the day out with a big hearty breakfast. Then later we would break for lunch which was usually sandwiches, soda pop and anything else that was quick so we could get back to work. The work was hard and hot but our reward would come at the end of the day when we would all gather around the dinner table for our last meal of the day. My mother would give any chef a run for their money and her cooking skills were and still are legendary. We would dig in like we hadn't eaten for days! Whatever my momma made, she made sure to make plenty of it cause we were hungry! All washed down with some of the best sweet tea one could ever hope to taste! When we were eating we were a family. Everyone around the table talking about their day, their hopes and dreams for the future. We were bonding like only family members can. For my mother, that was just as important as everyone having enough to eat! Well apparently, we weren't the only family who practiced this ritual. Our small church that we attended would regularly hold covered dish dinners after special services. Each family was encouraged to bring a few dishes of something they would cook up and everything was placed together in the kitchen of our churches community building. Now these dinners proved to be quite interesting because we certainly knew what to expect from our mothers dishes but to eat something made by someone else was a complete gamble. What would it taste like? Would it be good? Should I try this or that? After awhile we kinda knew what to eat and what not to eat. We knew who made good potato salad and who didn't. We knew who's chicken to avoid and who's too get two pieces of when you go through the line cause you knew it would be gone when you came back for seconds. I actually remember feeling sorry for the family members of some of the less reputable cooking ladies of the church. But more

importantly, as we all broke bread together we sat together. We talked. We asked about family members of our church friends and neighbors. We celebrated life because we were alive and healthy! We all had relatives that had attended that church who had gone on to be with Jesus who had sat down and ate in the same community building with their friends and families. We knew life was a gift and we celebrated it by breaking bread with our neighbors. Again, more bonds being formed. These covered dish meals spilled over to the cousins and aunt and uncles also. Family reunions were planned around big meals. Relatives catching up with each other. Seeing and holding the newest additions to families. Trying to remember all the names of the more recent one's that had come along. Our family was also expanding. My brothers and older sister got married and started their own families. All of our birthdays and holidays were spent gathering together to celebrate the best way we knew how. By eating! As our family grew, so did the size of our dinners. It was just too much cooking for my mother. Everyone starting pitching in and bringing different dishes. It was loud. It was chaotic. It was hard work, but we were together, teaching a new generation the importance of family. In between all these family dinners were the occasional travels to different restaurants. My father, being the hard working bread winner he was, loves a good meal at a good bargain. Good food at a good price was a big thumbs up! English Grill in Salisbury, Maryland saw our family at least once a month. Their all you can eat chicken was one of the best deals going and we sure liked to take advantage of it. Heck, we knew all the waitress's there on a first name basis's. Plate after plate of delicious fried chicken was devoured along with some of the best sweet potato biscuits you'd ever eat. They lost money when the Whaleys came a knocking. On vacation my father took pride in finding "the hole in the wall" which featured great food. It was like we had discovered a secret gem somewhere. "Look for the place with a full parking lot" was my dads best advice. I use that little trick myself these days. Of course not everyplace was a "gem". Some were down right nasty. We still laugh about the stories of some of our "finds". I look at myself today and I have a little of both mom and dads traits. I love to find "the hole in the wall". I love a good bargain. I also like to cook big meals and sit down with family and friends to "break bread". It saddens me to see shows or movies where the kids are eating in front of the TV and mom and dad are in another room. Those family bonds just aren't as strong when your not together sharing with one and another. I'm also saddened by all the chain restaurants out there and how so many of the mom and pop places have fallen by the wayside. Uniqueness is lost when the Olive Garden four states away tastes just like the one down the road from where you live. My advice to you? Turn off the TV and gather the family around the table to eat tonight. They'll thank you for it later.

kids!

Okay, so when do children go from trusting everything you tell them to knowing it all and we as parent being complete idiots? My fifteen year old really likes to argue. I told him just the other day that he needs to become a lawyer because he was relentless in arguing his point. I really think he could give F. Lee Bailey a run for his money. No joking! One of our typical conversations usually goes something like this; Me, "Son, will you please (fill in the blank here with whatever)"? Son, "why"? Me, "Because I asked you to and I'm the dad" Son, "Yeah well that makes no sense and here's why". Then the counter point begins. Blah, blah, blah, blah. That's when I usually come back with "Don't argue with me, I'm your father, just do it!" Of course that's the line MY father used with me so naturally I have to use that same one. Whatever happened to that little boy who believed anything his father would tell him? He used to love to quiz me asking why does this happen and how does that work. I guess that's just a part of growing up. I remember my parents giving me advice as a teen and me thinking how old fashioned they were. That outdated stuff worked when THEY were teens but it certainly is not like that now I remember thinking to myself. Well surprise, surprise. As we get older and we have kids we start seeing that same pattern. The only thing that keeps me from pulling out whats left of my hair is thinking hey, I was just like that myself not to long ago and I think I turned out okay. And I bet one day not to far down the road MY son will be wondering when did he become such idiot with his son!

Rehoboth

With summer fast approaching, I always start thinking of the beach. Growing up in Delaware for me that means Rehoboth Beach. Rehoboth has always been a part of my life from the time I was a small child right up to when I moved away. It was close to little old Laurel but it seemed like a different world. Back when I was a little guy, the drive to "the beach" was a pretty boring ride. Route 24, the way we would always go, was not built up like it is now. My sister Kimberly and I would share the backseat while my parents sat up front. These trips were almost always on a Sunday afternoon after church and we always knew our first stop would be to The Avenue Restaurant. Why our parents enjoyed this place is a mystery to my sister and me even to this day. Kim and I thought this was the most boring and stuffy place ever! We would always beg to be allowed to order off the adult menu and my Dad's answer was always the same, NO! They had one of the most bland kids menus that we had ever seen. So much so that I to this day don't remember one thing that I ever got to eat there. But we were quiet about it for the most part because we knew what would happen AFTER dinner. We would leave the restaurant, get in the car and ride down to Rehoboth Avenue and circle there five or six times until we found someone backing out of a parking spot. After getting a place to park mom and pop would start looking for quarters to feed the parking meter and me and my sis would get out and start taking in the smells of the beach. That wonderful salty air mixed with the aromas that made up Rehoboth. Thrashers fries cooking on one side. Dolles popcorn and taffy on the other. Grotto pizza back when they had just the one store right there on the avenue. Usually what would happen is my parents would sit on one of those old benches that were on the boardwalk looking out over the beach and my sister and I would be given a half hour or so to take over shoes and socks of and run around on the beach. "Don't get wet" was always hollered to us as we ripped our shoes off but we always managed to get to close to the water and "get wet". After being told to come on, the meters getting low, we would grab our shoes and usually head over to Dolles for a box of taffy and a couple boxes of Carmel popcorn to eat on the way home. That scene was repeated three or four times over the summer months. Occasionally we would ride down in the winter to have Grotto's pizza. The rest of the town would be pretty much shut down awaiting the return of warm days and tourists on vacation. Fast forward about ten years to me getting my drivers license. I still had a soft spot for Rehoboth and would ride down quite often with friends to just hang out and chill. I also discovered there was another part of the beach down to the right of Rehoboth avenue. Funland rides and games! I'm sure my parents did all they could to avoid that part so they didn't have to hear us begging for yet something else! That was cool but we also discovered another place beside Funland, Ryans gems and junk! They had tons of cool stuff. It became a tradition of sorts to get a beach shirt while there to remember whatever the reason we were there which usually involved skipping school, some kind of big party at the beach, or so and so's birthday. Ryans had hundreds of decals hanging from the ceiling and on the walls that you could get ironed on to any style shirt they sold. The really cool one's were long sleeved and you could also add a sleeve iron- on like Rehoboth Beach or a design of some sort. And it was always customary to add your name to the back. One shirt I had said breeze ( a old nickname from school ) and my favorite one that simply said "Me" on the back. Another fav was when a big group of us all got the same shirt that had a college logo on the front that said "Drunken State". Me and the crew thought we were soooo cool walking the boardwalk with our Vans on our feet and our Jams shorts that went down past our knees on. Vans live on today. The Jams unfortunately went out with the 80's. But that's okay. I still have my favorite pair that I owned and I know one day I'll be able to wear them again (maybe) haha. We were young and we were cool, or so we thought. Summer lasted forever back then and we were pretty much carefree. No matter what was going on with our lives Rehoboth was able to offer escape, at least while we were there. I went back there for the first time in years a couple of summers ago and I hardly recognized the place. The roads were expanded. Outlet malls stood where open space used to be. Getting to the beach was a torturous effort. It seems that like me and my friends who used to hang out there, Rehoboth Beach has grown up.

Reading

Thank goodness my parents instilled a love of reading in me when I was a kid. As far back as I remember I have always loved to read. Mom got us all library cards and would take us there on a regular basis to check out books. Didn't matter what I was reading as long as I was reading something. A book, a newspaper, a comic book, anything! I even had the habit of having something at the table to read when I was eating. Car trips for me were spent with my nose in a book, oblivious to my surroundings, which by the way, always seemed to drive my parents crazy. "Put that book down and look around, ya might never get back here again" was always a favorite line they would spout off. I would sigh, look up for a few minutes, then go back to my book. All this got me to thinking the other day about all the magazine subscriptions we had when I was growing up. Mom had her magazines like Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens and the Ladies Home Journal. Dad had his National Geographic and Flying magazine. The Readers Digest was shared by both. And it was funny with the magazines. I always thought Dads National Geographic magazine was boring. The articles on all the foreign countries held little interest to me. The Flying magazine was basically the same thing each month with a different cover. It always showed some type of airplane in flight with the pilot looking up toward the camera. But strangely, my moms mags provided fascinating reading for me! They almost always had a article about a family member getting sick or being struck with some type of personal tragedy and how the mother rallied at the end to save the family. I read with interest the different cooking methods being discussed and the recipes being shown. I was captivated by the flowers being planted and the gardens being planted. I'm sure that has something to do with my interest in flowers and cooking today. But what really got me to thinking was the ad for Virginia Slims cigarettes that always used to run in those magazines my mother would get. The one where it would always show a modern woman with a smoke in hand and the ad saying " You've come along way baby". Wouldn't that apply to all of us today? I know it would me. From being that little boy that always had his nose in a book to the the man I am today. A boy who's now a father. A boy who now doesn't get to read like he used to. "You've come along way baby". Work has replaced play. Instead of worrying about school and passing that tough class now it's bills and my job. When we are young we can't wait to grow up. Then one day you do and that kid you used to be is gone. Vanished. Just someone that you used to know. "You've come along way baby". Have we? I'm gonna promise myself to start going to the library again. I'm gonna order a couple magazine subscriptions. I'm gonna try to contact that boy I once knew who I haven't seen in so long. I have come along way. And I still have a long way to go.