Bolognabrain

photo (c) Bolognabrain.com, 2010

With all the press Aerosmith has received lately, some have forgotten about the rock and roll royalty along for the ride. Last night Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Sammy Hagar, played his last scheduled show with the Aerosmith tour. His storied career began with the band Montrose in the early 1970’s and included stops as lead vocalist for Van Halen and others. Now, more than 35 years later he is still rocking.

The Red Rocker, as he is known, took the stage a couple of minutes before his scheduled start time and hit rock and roll over-drive from the first note. Although he was only given access to a small portion of the stage and lights, you would have never know it from his show. He jammed from one end of the stage to the other and even took a moment to don a Cincinnati Reds baseball jersey. Sammy didn’t seem to mind the role of opening act as he said he would only consider “opening for Aerosmith or the Rolling Stones.“ Even with the limited stage, Hagar managed to have room for a tiki bar with a couple young bartenders in miniskirts. His voice is still remarkably strong as he did many of his solo hits as well as blazing through some of the memorable tunes from his days with Van Halen. He opened with “There’s Only One Way to Rock,“ and quickly built momentum to the final nod to his days with Van Halen at the end of his set. His band was a well oiled rock machine and did not seem to mind their roll as the opening act. Sammy’s charisma, blended with his camaraderie with his band and the audience, made for one of the most potent rock and roll sets I have seen. With all of the turmoil in the world, rock and roll is a great way to escape all that troubles you. And for Sammy’s hour long set, all was right with the world…like checking out a Mexican sunset while throwing back an icy shot of Cabo Wabo.

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I’ve never been a great mathematician, but I have always enjoyed interesting numbers. This has nothing to do with my bad habits during the 60’s. And 70’s. And… Oh, never mind. Today is September second, two thousand ten. In short notation, just like the old Beverly Hills television program, it’s 90210. For some reason I find little tidbits like that fascinating. The fact that dates and times line up so perfectly, so seldom, makes it even more of a brain teaser.

My father’s birthday was July 8th. I will never forget, ten years ago, when at exactly 34 minutes and 56 seconds past noon, it was officially 12:34:56, 7/8, 90. Of course clocks, even broken ones, are right twice a day, so the same thing happened just past midnight that morning, but we were all asleep at the time.

The attraction that some numbers have and others don’t is also interesting. What makes number “7” lucky, and number “13” unlucky? (Especially if it falls on a Friday) Years ago I remember walking past a fenced mental health facility in Cincinnati. As I walked along, I kept hearing a group of people on the other side shouting “thirteen, thirteen, thirteen.” I couldn’t see what was going on so I found a space between two fence posts and took a peek. Immediately someone poked me in the eye and the crowd started shouting “fourteen, fourteen, fourteen.” It was certainly an unlucky number that day.

You may have seen this before, but I thought it was so true, so funny, and yet appropriate to todays’ subject, I wanted to share it with you.
What Makes 100%, and what does it mean to give MORE than 100%?
We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give more than 100%.
How about achieving 103%?
What makes up 100% in life?
Here’s a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:
If: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.
Then: H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K **8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%.
And: K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E **11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%
But, A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E **1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%
Now consider this: B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T**2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%
And, ass kissing? A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G** 1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%
So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that while Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there…
It’s Bullshit and ass kissing that will put you over the top.

I’m counting on you to have a nice day.
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This past month Bolognabrain.com turned one year old.  We have had so much fun in the last year, and we have grown to in excess of 15,000 page views a month.  As we have grown, so have the little problems that come along with the territory, like spam in the comments on our posts.  Thus, our metaphorical spam cake.

Although we love getting comments, we decided early on that we were going to filter comments to try and keep out most of the spam.  I am not sure that the public is that interested in a cheap place to buy Cialis on line or that they are looking for a dating web site to meet millionaire ladies or men.  In fact, we usually tag as spam and delete between 100-200 spam comments a week.  Spyder Mclusky’s comments have even been known to be tagged only because he uses so many spellings to throw off Interpol. 

Recently, Suburbanhobo and I had to laugh because we had a person with a payday loan site write almost 100 comments in a 24 hour period.  The amount of time that the person had to put in is incredible, because most of the comments were different, as if we wouldn’t realize there was 100 comments from the same person.  Back in college, I had a professor who drilled in to the heads of  students that “time is money.”  The reason that I make this point is, it seems to me to make more sense to buy an ad on Bolognabrain.com than to spend hours posting comments that are going to be deleted.  Heck, we’re not above taking his money for a banner ad.  Well enough about spam.

I would like to thank everyone for a great first year and let you know, we appreciate you.  We have a lot of great things on the horizon and we hope that you will continue to visit.  Coming up this month, we plan to do a story on Sammy Hagar after we check out his show on September 2.  We also have applied for press credentials for the MidPoint Music Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio featuring 250 bands on 25 stages over 3 days.  Of course, we will be following the campaign of Spyder Mclusky, and Suburbanhobo has some fun stuff as he prepares to publish another book later in the year.

We hope that year two is as fruitful and fun as year number one and we hope that you will help spread the word of Bolognabrain.com.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter under bolognabrain and on Facebook under bologna brain.

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I am not getting any money for promoting Fresh Air but I should.  It was only days ago that I was going on about the Fresh Air interview with John Mellencamp.  This week the show is doing country music as a theme.  Today, they had interviews from the mid nineties with Merle Haggard and George Jones.  What strikes me about these interviews is how much has been lost in country music.

While I listen to mostly classic rock, I love all music.  I have a special place in my heart for classic country, from the song writing to the emotional performances.  It seems like so much of that is lost on  today’s country.  It seems that much of today’s country is lost between pop and some kind of stereotypical country that kind of defies explanation.

I miss not just the Willie’s of the world but I especially miss the Haggards and Waylons and Kris Kristoffersons.  I think Johnny Cash’s famous salute to country radio captures where I feel it has been heading for the last few years.

While not all of it will be old school, I urge you to give country music radio week a listen on fresh air on your local NPR station.  After that, tell me where you think country music is and where it needs to go.

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This is your Bolognabrain

This is your Bolognabrain on drugs

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Uncle Daddy and the Family Secret

Last week, I posted an article on the band, Uncle Daddy and the Family Secret on the Examiner.com, but I felt obliged to write one for Bolognabrain.com for the folks that are not around the Cincinnati area.  First of all, I love these guys.  The band has a unique combination of rock, bluegrass, and New Orleans Honk that is not only original but great music to kick back and listen to.

The show that I recently attended featured many songs from their latest effort, ”Hard Times.’  The songs are witty and paint a vivd picture of the current conditions in Ohio, as well as many other places.  The band held an online contest to decide where to record their latest project and actually recorded it at two winners, homes.   Rob, the bands lead vocalist and founder said “it was quite a weekend,” referring to the recording.

The band features a lot of bluegrass insturmentation but the band rocks.  To quote my own story from the examiner, “instead of rocking like a sweaty teenage boy in a mosh pit, they rock like sitting on a porch swing on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  With great songs, and a feel for the old time they bring back memories of The Band.”

Uncle Daddy was started in 1996 by Rob Hoffman and over the years they have compiled a bunch of awards as well as 6 compact disks.  The songwriting has stayed constant even though the band has had a member change here and there.  Today, the band can still lay down a groove and they remain a fresh and exciting force in the Cincinnati music scene.  I just can’t wait until they get some more national recognition.  You can check them out at Alpha Dawg Records.

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In the middle of a flurry of Bolongabrain reporters and cell phone cameras, Spyder McCluskey has announced that he is running for Congress. Spyder is calling himself a Republicrat. While holding a cup of tea, Spyder stated “I have read The Constitution and it’s a good read. I now know how it conforms to my way of thinking of what’s best for the American people.

Spyder says he plans to capture Americans attention by placing commercial advertising before and after American Idol and Dancing with the Stars.

Regarding his qualifications, Spyder remarked “I have been involved in several lawsuits, sucked the life out of a few companies and now feel qualified that I can legislate.

I got Spyder alone and asked him personally what was his impetus for running for elected office. Winking at me he asked, “Have you ever seen their Medical and Retirement plans? They are so much better than what we have, and taxes never go down. I’m talking job security with great benefits.”

“What about the dollar, inflation and our children’s future I inquired.”

“I propose we print larger denominations and shrink the size of paper currency which is just a start. Lower the working age to twelve. That will increase the Social Security coffers, stimulate competition with the cheaper world labor markets and increase employment.”

“What about education?

“It’s overrated” touted Spyder. “Look at me. I wanted to be a journalist and now I are one.”

“How about National defense?”

“My new slogan will be “Don’t be a weenie.” stated Spyder.

 ”What about funding for the campaign? How are you going to raise money?”

“Well, I’ve gotten a large donation from the Pat Paulsen Foundation and just received the backing of the new Christian Left Wing.”

“Left wing, who are they?” I asked.

“Christians who believe they have the majority of the vote from two out of three of the Deity.” Spyder replied.

“Finance Reform?”

“No cause too small, no donation too big is my stance.”

“This looks like politics as usual.” I said to Spyder.

“Well it works for them. Why would I want to change it? Let’s go to Starbucks for a cup of tea then hang some Republicrat banners.” said a smiling Spyder.

Spyder McCluskey great mystery writer former hockey player living in the Keys 

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I was going through the headlines of the day, trying to figure out what to write about, when I got a call from Suburbanhobo who had just posted a story.  I told him about the story that had caught my eye and he told me about his post and the two stories were related.  We talked for a while about education, and the economy and our national priorities.  The truth be told, these times are unprecedented in our generations memory.  Both Suburbanhobo and I are too young to remember the great depression but both of us have never seen our country, economy, and job market in this kind of shape.  In his last post he mentioned the sacrifices that teachers and schools and parents are making but I read an article from AOL News, that makes those problems even more dramatic.  Over the summer, 16 million children were going hungry or under nourished.

I certainly realize that many people are worried about our national spending and our national debt.  But, think about it, 16 million children are going hungry in a country of amazing wealth.  What does that say about the children’s prospect to learn and what does that say about our country’s national priority.

In the city where I live, unemployment is well in to the double digits, with a national number significantly below that.  The people who are struggling often have children that are being asked to learn with out the basic nutritional needs to concentrate on school work.  This not only affects the children in question’s ability to learn but it affects the whole learning environment and our country’s future.

The bottom line is this, we have a crisis in our country.  I don’t have all the answers but I know we have too many resources to throw up our hands and say we can do no better.  I also know that any politician who threw partisanship aside and really started to lead on these issues would be more popular than Teddy Roosevelt.  So let’s get some leadership going and deal with this problem like it is a threat to our shores because it is.

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Across America, students are just starting or have recently started a new school year. It’s a new beginning, another chance to reach new heights and succeed as never before. Parents are celebrating re-discovered freedom while schools, PTA’s, scout troops and a hundred other organizations are reaching out for funding for the new term. In most families there seems to be too little to go around, but we somehow scratch together whatever it takes to keep the education process moving forward. As difficult as these economic times are on families, I want to take a moment and thank teachers. While schools are stretching to make ends meet and maintain staffing in classrooms, the truth is there is not enough to go around. Teachers are not only being faced with layoffs and position reductions, they are often asked to volunteer or participate in activities outside the parameters of their job descriptions. Many dip in to their own underpaid pockets to supply and decorate classrooms and provide niceties that should be provided by the school board.

As much as we complain about our ineffective elected government officials, our broken judicial, medical and banking systems, perhaps the most troubling is our educational system. Consistently teaching to the lowest common denominator rather than challenging the most gifted of our young people, is it any wonder our smartest kids are bored? Too many are not receiving the high caliber instruction we are capable of providing and they deserve. On top of that, too many are being taught how to pass this or that standardized test rather than learning how to think and reason.

Certainly there are good doctors, jurists and politicians. Ok, maybe that’s a stretch on the politician, but you have to draw the line somewhere. The point is, there are great teachers who are as frustrated as our kids and parents when it comes to academic challenge. I’ve written about our students being outscored in international math and science competitions, and as long as that is the status quo, the future of our nation is not as bright.

Our children are our future and if they don’t receive the best possible education at every level, elementary, secondary, high school and college, we are cheating them.

I have always loved the old bumper sticker imagining a time when teachers earned what they are worth and the Pentagon has to hold a bake sale to purchase their next cruise missile. Believe me, I am all about national security, but I will take my chances with intelligent progeny over improved missile systems and stealth bombers any day.

My kids were always antsy and excited approaching the end of a school year but without fail, within a very few weeks, they were bored and would rather be back in class with their friends. The truth is… School is cool.

In the meantime… pay attention when you are driving in school zones. And if you can read this, Thank A Teacher.
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I have mentioned before how much I love Fresh Air on NPR.  The host, Terry Gross, is amazing and always give some of the most intimate interviews in the business.  Recently, the show replayed an interview with John Mellencamp that was recorded last year.  I must confess, that I have always been a huge Mellencamp fan but I am struck how he has matured as a singer/songwriter. 

Much of the interview is about one of his latest projects called “No Better Than This.”  The disk was recorded using one microphone and vintage tape equipment, with no over-dubs, at some notable historical places like Sun Records.  The disk is a reflective and intimate look at John and his music.

The project was recorded last year while John was on tour with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan and he recorded tracks for the project on his days off.  I got to see one of the shows last year and was amazed how he and his band, still were a rock and roll machine.

If you have not got to check out the new stuff, you can hear the interview and check out some of the tracks at the interview link above.

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