Larry the Cable Guy

We ended up with good seats to Larry the Cable Guy's "Tailgate Party", which took place in the Huskers' Memorial Stadium tonight. The show was taped by Comedy Central and will air on that network sometime in the fairly near future (possibly January.) With a crowd of more than 50,000 people, the show was apparently the biggest taped comedy concert ever.


After two warm up comedians, a plane flew overhead and a sky diver jumped out. The parachute decent was made to appear out of control and audio from the diver's microphone was broadcast over stadium loudspeakers. It was the voice of Larry the Cable Guy. Of course, it wasn't too hard to figure out it was just a sky diver made to look like Larry. After the chute made a rough landing in the stands, the Larry look-alike ran behind the stage, and the real Larry emerged.



I wasn't sure what to expect since I'd never heard any of Larry's comedy before, but it was an impressive comedy set. It's easy to see why he has become so popular. He has great comedy timing and delivery. Not all of his jokes were great, but many of them were very funny. His rapid fire style insured that if you didn't laugh at one joke, another was only seconds away. I was well entertained the entire time he was on stage, which was more than an hour.



After Larry's performance, we were treated to a first-rate fireworks display. Then Larry came back out as a part of "Air Disaster", the greatest air-guitar band of all time. Air Disaster is the likely title for a mocumentary film chronicling the band. They shot footage for the film of Air Disaster "performing" a Journey song and a Whitesnake song. So, it looks like I'll be appearing on Comedy Central and in a movie in the role of "individual in crowd". I should update my IMDB page.

(Larry's the guy on the far left)

Happy Fourth of July - 2009!

Happy Fourth of July! We went to a big parade this morning in a neighboring neighborhood. The parade was led by a fire engine followed by a mass of kids in strollers, wagons and bikes.

Jack joined his friend Caroline in a wagon for the parade...

All in all - Jack is proud to be an American Baby!

Just like his Momma was not quite 30 years ago... see any similarities? :)

Wimblemania!

Wimbledon is in full swing, and that means lots of folks are catching "Wimblemania". Wimblemania is a word coined by Will. It refers to the phenomenon observed on tennis courts across the world during the two weeks of the year Wimbledon takes place. Folks who haven't played tennis in years see Wimbledon on TV, then decide to get their 30 year old wooden rackets out of the attic and hit the courts. I observed a man with such a racket just last Saturday making sad efforts to hit a tennis ball off of a rebound wall.

Meanwhile, all of England appears to be crazy over Andy Murray, the Scotsman who is playing well and may have a shot at taking the championship.

They're so crazy over him that a Scottish band called "Rock, Salt & Nails" has written a tune called "Volley Highway" (aka the Andy Murray song). I've heard it repeatedly over Radio Wimbledon, which broadcasts from the grand old tennis tournament via the internet. Here's the song on youtube if you want to take a listen. It's pretty catchy!

Hooters Hot Sauce

I decided to mix up the the pizza routine and make a buffalo chicken pie. For this recipe, you just use buffalo wing sauce instead of pizza sauce, and then add chicken as your primary topping. I had been advised to use Hooters sauce because it is thicker than most other buffalo sauces, and therefore works well as a pizza sauce. We checked out a number of sauces at the grocery store, and sure enough, the Hooters was the thickest. Upon inspection of the ingredients, we found out why. It's because the number one ingredient in Hooters sauce is...butter. The resulting pizza pie was tasty, though perhaps not so healthy.

The Heat is On...

Glenn Frey would be proud of our weather in Sacramento this week-end.

The Day The Music Died II - An Ode to MJ

Michael Jackson has passed at the age of 50 and 50 years after it died the first time.

My first album ever was Michael Jackson's Thriller. It was especially cool because my brother gave it to me on Christmas morning in 1983 when he received two copies (tapes) and Mom and Dad convinced him he should give one of them to me.

That was the beginning of music for me - if you don't count the Kenny Rogers and Waylon Jennings in the old Ford pick-up truck. The journey continues.

Billie Jean and Beat It changed the musical landscape back in '83. Combined they were #1 for 10 weeks that Spring. Nestled between them was the still overplayed Come On Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners that pales in comparison.

I recently repurchased the Bad album because my previous CD had somehow spotted and would no longer play. It is way too good of an album to not own so I needed to order a new copy.

In recent decades he was perhaps somewhat strange - but I think he'll always be considered the King of Pop - a title well-deserved in my opinion.

Queen of Hearts

Juice Newton made the title Queen of Hearts especially famous on her 1981 album "Juice"



Will Hansard, currently residing in Jonesboro, preferred Juice's compilation album, "The Juice is Loose" to listen to Queen of Hearts along with the rest of Juice's hits.

Fast forward to 2009 and there is a new Queen of Hearts. Stephie! We played several rounds of the card game Hearts when Rick and Barb were out recently and Steph won them all.


(click to enlarge to see the scoring evidence a bit more)

Happy Father's Day!

Here's an quick shout out to all the Dads.

This is Rick and Jack from thir recent visit.

And here's Dad and I from Bill's Wedding.

People sometimes ask Bill and I - Does your Dad smile? I found evidence in a recent set of pictures Mom gave me!

Happy Father's Day!

Like Chants?

Here's your chance to get likely all you'll ever want or need - plus about 90 extra...for only 99 cents. You guessed it - an Amazon special.

99 Essential Chants at Amazon.com for 99 Cents

Have a peaceful week-end!

Quilted in Nebraska

We've got a few quilt crazies among our blog readers so here's something I saw in the Wall Street Journal - the same one the Winter and Starbucking appeared on the cover of recently.

There's a new exhibit at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum
The quilts featured in the new exhibition "American Quilts in the Modern Age, 1870-1940" showcase diverse examples of quilters' creations from a time of disenchantment with modern life. The exhibition will be on view from May 23 through November 15, 2009.



Should I found myself in Nebraska before the exhibit closes you can bet that I'll stop by.

Sprinkler Repair

One of our sprinkler heads in the back recently broke. It was tough to fix but fortunately I had help!