So I lied ....

Quick update from lovely Hudsonville, Michigan.

Took the 6-1 frosh to Ann Arbor for the end of her Blue Lake music tour. If you want a fascinating display of diverse humanity, have lunch downtown right by the campus and people-watch.

Let's just put it this way. I saw a Frank Zappa T-shirt, a guy with no shirt wander into traffic and almost get hit by a car and laugh it off, and enough interesting people to last a lifetime.

Gotta love college towns.

Off to the Lake Michigan beach later this morning ....

Friday morning

Sleep. Maybe I'll find it up north.

Wouldn't this be a great show ....

Blues In The District tonight, 10-hour road trip taking the college freshman up and over tomorrow.

But ... there will be no daily newspaper. 

You might be surprised at the opinion of a veteran sports journalist over the Erin Andrews flap.

I am not a pro baseball fan. But I was for a few minutes yesterday.

But I'm over it now.

So .... no more posts for a while. No wireless where I'm headed.

Slithery Update

I guess this means he doesn't get his snake back ...

Barely Hanging On

Three more work days, just a barely hanging on ....

Hmmmmm. Sounds like a song.

July 20

Happy birthday to my little brother, Stephen Randall Hart, who turns RFO in a hotel room in San Francisco today. 

I've been watching the Randy "Macho Man" DVD, courtesy of your H-W sports editor, Don O'Brien, and I strained my spleen laughing at the commentary of  Gorilla Monsoon, Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Bobby Heenan.

Quote of the day (maybe year): "Hebner is slow-counting, Gorilla!"

Four more days until vacation ..... Argh.

Sunday Quotes

"The good thing about puppy puke is that it's not as poopy as puppy poop when you clean it up."

And ...

"You are not hungry. You just PUKED!"

And ...

"He has a fake hip? Really?"

Fountains

Very impressed with the new-look Washington Park. The old fountain wasn't user-friendly and it basically took up a big part of the park.

Blues Fest started last night and the park has a much more open feel to it now.

Click here for more.

Quincy needs to keep using the park for all kinds of events. The next improvement should be putting a stage on the south-side gazebo.

Blues Fest Tonight

Here's the lineup for the Blues Fest in Washington Park tonight and Saturday. Hope to see you down there and be safe!

Friday, July 17

5 p.m. — The Beat Daddys, www.beatdaddys.com

7 p.m. — Ben Bumbry & The Messengers

9 p.m. — Eric Sardinas, www.ericsardinas.com

Saturday, July 18

1 p.m. — Rich Berry, www.myspace.com/richberryblues

3 p.m. — Matt Morrell & BluesHandle, www.twonotes.net/blueshandle/index.htm

5 p.m. — Pike Station, www.myspace.com/pikestation

7 p.m. — Scottie Miller & the ReUptake Inhibitors, www.scottiemiller.com

9 p.m. Albert Castiglia, www.albertcastiglia.com      

Quote of the day

"Say .... you wouldn't happen to know who chewed off the end of my guitar case, would ya?"

Calm in Springfield

Worked for Gus in Springfield and things went very well. Muggy Saturday, but Sunday's weather was awesome, 70s with cloud cover. That probably was a big reason we had no major incidents or issues, just the usual problems with Gus Busters not showing up.

Excellent story by Dave Kane of the Springfield Journal-Register here.

A good Gus Macker tournament depends on how well it is organized from a local level. I'd say Springfield does a decent job, but I wish they could get a little bit better help. Still .... it all worked out. And the site is second to none, around the Horace Mann building a block from the old capitol building. I wandered around Saturday night and was very impressed with the plaques and explanation of the Lincoln history.

Dream Court with the Special Olympics players Saturday morning was awesome. Where else is your Gus Buster a former professional wrestler? Dave (Jackie Saszrak) Conrad, his son Dakota, Troy and all the gang had a blast. 

The day after working for Gus usually means recovering from the truck that ran over you, and this morning is no exception .... except that I'm recovering by sitting on the back porch on another perfect summer morning. 

Less Is More

Had a blast last night playing a private party with Rock A. Bye near LaGrange, Mo., at a beautiful lodge on a lake.

It was for a wedding rehearsal party. We lugged over a P.A. and set up inside, but everybody decided to sit outside by the lake as the evening wore on, so we simply unplugged and took our guitars sans sound system to the party, and hooted and hollered as a full moon rose and the guests got merrier and merrier.

The bride is English and her family and friends were hilarious. Near the end Rock A. Bye played "Rawhide" and our British guests sang right along in a decidedly Spinal Tap moment.

"Oh yes," the father of the bride said. "The Blues Brothers. We know every word!"

Heading to Springfield to work for Gus this weekend, so we'll take a couple of days off from posting.

Undoubtedly No Doubt

Went to The Loo last night to see a show, and came away pleasantly surprised.

A friend had a free ticket to see Paramour and No Doubt. Not two of my favorite bands, but with row 30 and center section seats at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, I had nothing to lose.

No Doubt was amazing.

I am not a big fan of the band. I hate singer Gwen Stefani's solo girl power pop mush, too.

But I respect the fact they played their own instruments, had tight arrangements and a really cool stage, video and light presentation.

C'mon. If you don't like a sweaty Stefani bouncing around on a stage, you are not a red-blooded American male.

The whole band looked they were having a blast. I've only seen a few performers hold a crowd of 20,000 people in the palm of their hands, and Stefani was one of them.

Got in without delay, left during the last song and beat the crowd out of Earth City, home by 1 a.m.

It was a great night!

She is now an It

Bella The Destroyer was neutered today at the Quincy Humane Society. For those of you with pets who need this done, call the Humane Society, not your vet — you'll save big bucks.

We will see if she, now an it, calms down after being drawn and quartered and her femaledom removed.

Border Collies are smart breeds, and Bella knew something was up when I took her in this morning. Shey Fey called and was assured she woke up from the surgery and was doing OK.

Bella comes home tomorrow morning. Ahhhhh .... a Bella free day! Lucy loves it, too.

Quote of the day, from our redneck neighbors down the block ....  "I already done did dat!"

Bonus Post: Quote Of The Day

"That's why God made puppies so cute. So you won't kill them. Even though we should."

Full (or no) service

A friend brought his truck in to get the brakes fixed. The mechanic called him back and told him he needed a new transmission and new fuel filter.

He told them to fix the brakes and leave the other stuff alone. Then he took it to another mechanic, who said the transmission was old but still in good shape, and the fuel filter had nothing wrong with it.

I won't put the name of the dealership that tried to rip my friend off. But I know who it is, and I wouldn't buy a car or get it fixed there in a million years.

Word gets around about lousy service.

Blast On The Fourth

What a great night at The Elks ... food, fireworks, great crowd to play for.

Jenny Jenny, who can I turn to? Jenny Selvy is an inspiration. God bless you and stay strong!

Great job by TMO on the drums and keyboards. Truly a Spinal Tap moment when we were interrupted in the middle of "Faithfully" by the raffle ticket winners being announced. Gotta give it up to Mark for keeping us on the groove highway (SIX LANES WIDE), Rock A Bye who was getting nasty on slide and Jack for, well, just being Jack, blowing everybody away on the sax once again.

And it was great to have Pat join us for the second half after he did sound on the river for the fireworks. By the way ... might not be a better place in town to watch them than from the Elks parking lot.

The Funions will be on hiatus for awhile at Gus, work and vacations beckon, hopefully back in August with some shows.

No Garage Sales, thanks

— Sore this morning from mud volleyball in Hannibal Thursday night, and from the Mays Family Picnic and Water Slide of Doom party Tuesday. The water slide is awesome and no wonder it's sponsored by three local chiropractors. You know you are getting old when it takes a couple of days to really be sore ....

— The three-season porch is a perfect place to watch the rain.

— Shey Fey went to a garage sale this morning. Oh, I'm sorry ... an estate sale. Actually can't blame her, because she's looking for a specific advertised item. But sometimes a man, even a big slug like me, has to stick to his guns and just say no.

— Much fun watching the 24th and State fireworks last night. Good company, too. Here's to hoping the rain blows away (that's what the radar shows, anyway) and we have lots of people downtown tonight for fireworks, and at The Funions show at the Elks for our Fireworks Bash.

— Nothing like waking up and going upstairs and realizing Bella The Destroyer has pooped in the hallway. Bella? BELLA!

— The 6-1 senior is no longer a senior, which is strange. In fact, she will soon be a freshman, as in, college freshman. She is back in Q-town after a few weeks up north, unfortunately her summer music trip to Europe didn't happen. It will be nice to have her around because, gulp, she starts college next month. Now THAT is really amazing ....

— I am three weeks away from a two-week Lake Michigan beach and working for Gus vacation. Not sure I will make it ....

— I am hooked on this Facebook stuff. I've managed to keep tabs on my sister's move from Louisville to North Carolina through her kid's Facebooks. Ahhh, 21st century communication.

— Have a safe Fourth, hope to see you tonight downtown!

School Not Bored

I went and played in the mud Thursday night, and missed all the fun at the school board meetings. 

Quite possibly the most riveting online stories The Whig has ever posted .... you just can't make it up.

Click here .... Make sure you read all the related stories.

Elks, Bella The Destroyer

As mentioned before, one of the best parts about this house is the back porch. Right now I'm trying to wake up and I'm watching Bella, our Border Collie puppy, tear apart a large cardboard box in the backyard. 

My mother told a story about me many years ago. I was maybe 2 or 3 years old, we were at Aunt Kay's house, and I was throwing mud against a brick wall in the backyard. My mother and father realized with horror what I was doing, but the legendary Aunt Kay said, "Oh, let him be. He's only having fun!"

So it is with Bella. Sometimes I want to strangle her, until she looks up with those puppy eyes and floppy ears and lopsided grin.

We had a great Funions practice last night with The Mighty One, who purchased a new keyboard. We've added a few songs and at one point last night I was on the drums, TMO was playing harmonica, and we were train-wrecking a blues song into indecipherable and blissful oblivion. Our show Saturday night at the Elks is going to be awesome!

Tonight - mud volleyball. Come see TV guys get their hair messed up.