Happy Memorial Day. First off my personal thank you to all the members of the U.S. armed forces, also my thanks to our police officers and fireman. May God keep all of you safe.

Secondly, I salute my family members, My nephew Tony who serves on the U.S.S. Seawolf Submarine; My sister in-law Theresa who serves on the U.S.S. James E. Williams Destroyer; and my brother in-law Tony who is a Marine stations in 29 palms California, after returning for Iraq.

As for this beautiful weekend, it was great weather for me to get some yard work done, and yes most of my garden is now in. I’m growing onions, tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, broccoli and zucchini this year.

I did make it out to see “X-Men III”. Overall I like it a great deal, but I did wonder where “Nightcrawler” was? He could have been pretty handy it the big final battle sequence. Besides, they spent half of “X-2” developing his character, so why is he not in this movie?

I’m in all week for Mr. Doug Podell, so I’ll talk to you this week!

Be Well,

Black out.

So I finally got to see Pearl Jam. Last nights show at the Palace was very well received, and the band sounded very good live.

I was back stage before the show interviewing Mike McCready (lead guitarist) and he said the band was pretty stoked about still being together after 15 years and still playing arenas and Saturday Night Live.

I also got to hang out in the new atrium section at the palace. I stopped at the new BW3 to join Doug Podell and Mark Pennington in the celebration of WRIF dominance.

GO PISTONS. I know it’s still a long way off, but how cool would it be IF the Pistons manage to win the Championship, and Tayshaun Prince was to win the MVP. That would make 4 all-stars and an MVP for the starting 5 and you would be able to make the argument that they are the best starting 5 of all-time. But they must win the title first!

GO TIGERS. It’s about time……but so far, so good. You know something special is happening if I even have a mild interest in Baseball. By the way join me this Thursday at Rosie O’Grady’s in Clinton Twp from 8 to 10pm and you can win tickets to hang with me, WRIF and Labbatt on the party deck at a Tigers / Yankees game in June.

The Summer movie season is hear, I will be at the X-Men and Superman movies, but other that that….I just can’t afford to lay out $20 plus bucks for a pair of movie tickets every week….and in the summer, without my jacket on, it’s much harder to sneak in my own popcorn and Pepsi.

Black out.
¶ 8:48 AM

Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Sound Check X 3



Friday night I got to spend some time with Synyster Gates from Avenged Sevenfold. Synyster and Zacky are a pretty amazing guitar team. I stuck around for a few songs during sound check. Very cool to be at Cobo a watch a few songs with nobody else around.

Monday was the incredible Tool show at the Fox theatre. Sound check there was "closed", however sneaking in was easy enough, so I found a dark spot and watch the band do 3 songs before being discovered and directed to the nearest exit.

Last night was Yngwie Malmsteen at the Royal Oak Music Theatre. I talked with Yngwie before sound check, and then again stayed around while they worked on a few songs.

The next concert for me I believe is Monday when Pearl Jam comes to town.

Black out.
¶ 10:05 AM

Friday, May 05, 2006
Remembering

I spent all day Wednesday getting the yard ready for spring. Normally that’s not a very big deal, but for me it is the first time I have to face a summer without my wife by my side.

Summer was Sabrina’s favorite time of year. And one of the reasons she was able to keep her sanity and determination in her constant battle with cancer was the peace and tranquility of her little waterfall and pond.

So as I cleaned the filters and got the pumps going, took the patio furniture out of the garage, cut the lawn and made sure the flowers and plants were all looking good and just the way Sabrina would have wanted. I felt great happiness that we had gotten so much enjoyment out of our time together. But it was also very sad for me, just a month and a half after she died to be setting up all the things she enjoyed so much, and know that I won’t get to see her enjoy it again.

Here is a photo of her at the pond, from the spring of 2004. I know God has far better gardens for her to attend now but I hope her spirit will stop by for a visit from time to time.

Black
¶ 9:55 AM

Monday, May 01, 2006

In April music fans and guitar players from all around the world went to www.chopshopradio.com and voted Joe Satriani into the Chop Shop Hall of Fame.

Joe is one of the most storied guitar teachers of all time. His students include Steve Vai, Kirk Hammet of Metallica and Larry Lalonde of Primus.

Satriani is arguably the greatest instrumental guitarist of all time.

Here are some thought from his peers:

"Joe really combines a great amount of ability with also allot of intuition & creativity." - Tom Morello of Audioslave

"I think he’s brilliant. I’ve told allot of people after I saw him that, ‘That stuff’s not on my guitar’." – Don Barnes of .38 Special

"I’ve said Jimmy Page is my biggest influence, but in reality Joe is. I literally showed up at his house when I was 13, with a pack of strings and a guitar. I didn’t even know how it string It." – Steve Vai

You can download the exclusive art work, bio and all-star salute at www.chopshopradio.com

Black

¶ 9:48 PM