Busy Couple Weeks, Vinyl Fever, Lots To Celebrate

Hello all.

Been a minute since we just sat down to chat. I’ve mainly been listening to a lot of music lately which has proven fruitful, even therapeutic. It’s been kind of a whirlwind couple weeks, what with that crazy week in Colorado and all that happened there. Happy to be home and not have to worry about when I’m losing my job. Last weekend was decent but busy, so I’m looking forward to relative quiet this weekend.

Last weekend was supposed to be just a grad party for my son’s girlfriend and then Sunday was supposed to be an early showing of Deadpool and Wolverine with my best friend and one of his pals. Well it pretty much turned out that way, but Saturday morning my 21-year old called to see if her mom could come over for a bit while she was working and hang with her dog. The pooch wasn’t acting like herself and was hoping someone could sit with her for a couple hours. Well my wife was a big no as last Saturday was her work’s biggest fundraiser of the year so she was busy all day. I had a lot of things I wanted to do; clean my car, mow the lawn, work on some music, maybe paint, and all before the grad party at 4pm.

Of course I’m me and I’m not going to not help one of my kids(or grand pups) if they ask. So I headed over to my daughter’s place around noon and hung out with her Staffordshire Celeste for a few hours.

Celeste was indeed not acting like herself. Very quiet, didn’t want to eat, didn’t want to sit on the couch and cuddle with ‘ol grandpa…nothing. She’d be doing this “reverse sneeze” thing since Friday morning. Basically, it sounds like the dog is snoring really quick and loud. It happens when something is irritating their sinuses or the back of their throat. She did it a few times for me, but nothing that concerned me. What did concern me was she was just not herself. We went on two decent walks and she was great with the walks. But at home she was just…almost just sad. Not her excitable self.

She ate a few treats for me, and then I had to go. Needed to get home and let my dog out before heading to the grad party. I picked up my parents as they wanted to go as well, and we headed over. It was a very nice, low key open house with grilled chicken quarters, beans, and Mexican rice. Three different kinds of cupcakes and an amazing grad cake. I met my son’s girlfriend’s parents for the first time(they’ve been dating for almost two years!) Both were extremely nice and cordial. We stayed for maybe an hour and headed out.

That night my daughter called to tell me Celeste was acting much better. Apparently she sneezed, which my daughter thinks loosened whatever was bothering her in the first place. I went home and finished up the series Fallout and fell asleep in my chair, before my wife even got home from her fundraiser.

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Sunday I picked up my best friend and his pal and we headed to the IMAX in Fort Wayne to see the new Deadpool. It was great. Best of the three so far. It was great seeing Hugh Jackman return as Wolverine, and they did a great job of putting that story together. Plus, it was absolutely hysterical. After the movie we got pizza and a beer at a place called The Beer Barrel. We were all impressed with the pizza and I’d definitely eat there again.

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For a guy that told himself he was going to slow down on the vinyl purchases this year, I’m buying a lot of vinyl this year. Besides the 5 records I bought in Colorado, I’ve got 4 records waiting for me at Karma Records to pick up; a used copy of How To Destroy Angels’ Welcome Oblivion, Chris Cohen’s Paint a Room, John Scofield’s Hand Jive, and J.R.C.G.’s Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra).

That How To Destroy Angels’ debut LP has been out of print for years and it’s going for stupid prices on Discogs. My record guy here in town knew I’d been looking for it and he got a copy in a collection he bought recently. He’s gonna sell it to me for $45, which is a steal. The Chris Cohen album is his newest and I’m just a big fan of the guy. John Scofield is a jazz guitarist I’ve been a fan of for over 15 years. Me and my work pal saw him play back in the 2000s with Medeski Scofield Martin Wood at a public park in Indianapolis and were blown away. Hand Jive is a record he put out on Blue Note in the early 90s and is fantastic. And J.R.C.G. is a new one for me. Heard a clip from his new album(out yesterday) and I was really impressed. A lot of stuff going on; touches of world music, post-punk, experimental, and everything heavy in the percussion department. Very excited to hear the whole album.

There’s also a 3-LP reissue of Zombi’s 2004 Relapse Records debut Cosmos that I think I’m going to preorder today. It’s been remixed by Steve Moore himself and remastered. It’s both the original LP, plus an album of outtakes, b-sides, and demos. And all done up on killer color vinyl. How can I NOT buy that?

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I took today off. They’re having a memorial service for my wife’s uncle who passed away a few months back. They’re spreading his ashes in the lake where he and my wife’s aunt lived for decades. At least I think they are? Anyways, he and his wife were good to my wife when she was a senior in high school. They let her move in with them, gave her a car to use, and acted like parents when both of hers were not.

So this weekend will be a lot of nothing. The wife and I are meeting my work pal and his wife Saturday afternoon for an early dinner. We’re meeting at 4pm at Tequila’s in Fort Wayne for some Mexican food and margaritas. Figured we had at least two big things to celebrate; his official cancer-free bill of health from his Oncologist and the fact that we will be gainfully employed for the foreseeable future. I think those deserve some street corn nachos and a blueberry margarita, don’t you?

Okay, off for a quick humid-soaked morning walk. Enjoy the weekend.