it could be woodstock…or it could be altamont.

now playing: game two, world series

so, with sunday almost over, let’s just think about this for a moment:

how much must it suck to be the san diego chargers this season?

if they had any idea of what it means to hold a lead, they’d be the talk of the NFL right now. instead, they’ve just managed today to blow yet another close game in the waning seconds. we saw them manage to lose to pittsburgh just a few weeks ago by allowing them to stomp down the field and kick a game winning field goal on monday night, and today they handed the game to the eagles by giving up a turnover as they were preparing to score to tie the game – this right after the eagles blocked a field goal that would have put it away for them and ran back the ball for a touchdown.

i’ve been thinking that this was gonna be the chargers’ year – especially since it’s appeared that the pats would be in a transitional state this year, what with having lost both charlie weis and romeo crennel to other coaching jobs, and losing a lot of players to free agency and health problems and the like. but boy, oh, boy – the chargers just cannot seem to catch a break when it comes to keeping the lead through the fourth quarter.

ah, well.

dylan came to spend the weekend with us – it was supposed to be his mothers’ weekend, but he didn’t feel well on friday and didn’t go to school – then on saturday, he called me rather early in the morning and asked if he could come to my house…and he was here until just a couple of hours ago. he’s become fascinated with a forum on the internet where people design customized cars, interchanging parts and customizing bodies and the like. it’s become a pretty serious fascination with him. but he also spent time on the drumkit and with the guitar while he was here this weekend – and we went out this afternoon after the football game and spent some time at the baseball diamond in west reading, pitching and catching and batting and slinging mud around – while wendy was batting, i was trying to stay in behind the plate, but there was a puddle right behind the batters’ box and dylan kept dropping his pitches into the puddle. i was covered in mud droplets by the time we were done, and had to come home and shower before we went to dinner.

‘course, it wasn’t the only mud encounter i had this weekend.

i had committed to play a party with blake this weekend for friends of his brother in law, and after having watched the weather reports, i was convinced by the night before that we probably weren’t going to be playing – it was raining most of the day on friday, and was to continue to rain on saturday, and when i got up on saturday morning – sure enough, it was raining cats and dogs. i went to a friends’ house at 10am on saturday and called blake when i left there to see what was going on, and he said that there was supposed to be a tent and that it was gonna go down either way – whether it was still raining or not.

that, having been said, kinda set the tone for my attitude for the whole thing – i hate – hate – playing in shitty weather. i mean, blake and i had already talked a bit about the fact that we were starting at 8pm for an outdoor gig in late october…and that it was gonna be cold outside, that people were going to be starting to trickle out before then – essentially questioning why he’d have us outside starting that late…but when the rain was factored in, it just seemed insane to follow through with this thing. but – we were written in ink on this thing, so we didn’t really have much choice in the matter.

at some point, blake said, “well, it could be woodstock…or it could be altamont.”

when we got there, it was bedlam – there was a tent in this guys’ backyard where everyone was crammed in, and we were to set up in the corner of this tent that was down the slope of the backyard…where the water that drained down the yard accumulated before the hay that piled around the inside of the tent stopped the water and pooled it in the corner – which was where i got to set up and stand while we played. so, i figured, what the hell – might as well have a couple of beers.

so i did.

after we’d played a few songs, i settled in and was ok – i was playing bass and singing, and that was pretty much it – i was originally going to play mandolin and lap steel on a few songs, but after we got there and i got a load of what the scene was, i called a huddle and said to the guys, look – i think that, under the circumstances, we just strap up and play some rock and roll and just get through this thing as best as we can…and essentially, that’s what we did. in the end, it was fine, for the most part – i still haven’t unloaded my mud-infested equipment from the trooper yet, because i haven’t really felt like dealing with it. i know that i’m going to have some maintenance to deal with once i get it out anyway, and i just haven’t felt like going down that road today. it’s been much easier to just hang out with the gang and let the day take care of itself today.

however, there is a plan for the week.

i have a scene from a movie that i’m doing a brief score for, and i’m going to get that done tomorrow night after work. once that’s done, i’m going to set up the files in the system for the poco tribute record and get clicks down for tempos and the like so that the project files are all in place for the individual tracks. i think we’re going to go straight to “childs’ claim to fame” first, because it’s a relatively simple song and there aren’t a lot of tracks involved in it.

i also have to get some transportation arranged for a basement find that i’ve stumbled upon this weekend – which i won’t be elaborating on until it’s safe in my own basement. there are a number of unknown factors surrounding it at the moment, anyway – it may turn out to be a complete albatross, but i’m thinking that this isn’t going to be the case.

details soon.