The Editor’s notepod, Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Meriden: Age of Platt and Maloney. There do not seem to be issues identified by teachers, parents or students which easily demonstrate the need for replacement, or even serious renovation. So if the second floors get hot, manage the air conditioning somehow. Some way which works is good. And other similar issues. $100 million I find hard to swallow, but am perfectly willing to listen to the arguments.

Meriden: Falcon Field. Seems as if there may be a traffic issue to deal with. Better get onto it PDQ.

Southington: class size issues. I imagine it must be rather difficult to make, for instance, the allocation of kindergarten classes come out evenly. If there are 69 kids in the school, dividing by three gives classes of 23, while dividing by four produces classes of 14 or 15; one’s too large, the other too small. If you begin moving kids around, you split families. How can you fix it?

The Editor’s notepod, Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Southington: Crescent Lake faces some little hassles over the rules. As I recall, there’s also a camera on the site to keep some sort of track of after-hours goings-on. I’d think it would be a nice convenience to be able to sell the $25 permits on-site.

Wallingford: Nitrogen in the tires? Well, I could see it for high performance vehicles, although I’m not quite sure what the difference in temperature would do to pure nitrogen as opposed to a mix of 78.084% nitrogen, 20.947% oxygen, 0.934% argon and 0.033% CO2, the proportions which exist in dry air. Water vapor amounts for between almost 0.0 to almost 5%.

Wallingford: Thompson out as VA service worker. Can’t say as I blame her. Now it’ll be filled via procedures.

State: Jericho Scott’s team cancelled because he pitches too fast. But it’s only 40 mph. My nephew was doing 90 or so as a high school kid. And Jericho didn’t hit anyone. So this is about parents who object because their kids can’t hit the ball! Go figure.

Meriden: Clermont buys chairs for RR station. An interesting and provocative gambit.

Cheshire: superintendent’s salary increase to be tied to those of others in the system. I guess that makes some kind of sense, but we’ll have to see how it all plays out. Of course, a superintendent is paid enough so that a couple of percentages one way or another is a) more cash than for lesser mortals, and b) less vital to day-to-day survival.

Concert Review: Motley Crue Explodes At Mohegan Sun

Flashing Lights, Fireworks, Explosions and Fire were only some of the elements that made up Motley Crue’s performance Sunday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The ‘Bad Boys of Rock’ are currently on tour promoting their new album, ‘Saints Of Los Angeles’. Their tour, entitled ‘Crue Fest’, was scaled back for the Connecticut audience, due to time restraints. Instead of the normal 3-band opener, they only had one band open before Motley Crue took over the stage and the audience.

As soon as the first screams from Mick Mars’ guitar signaled the beginning of the show, the audience knew they’d be in for a wild ride. Motley Crue, consisting of all original members, played a solid greatest hits packed show without any signs of slowing down. The explosions and fireworks started right from the beginning with the heavy rockers, ‘Kickstart My Heart’ and ‘Wild Side’. The audience saluted the band with fist pumps during their 1983 song ‘Shout At the Devil’. Next came their first of only two new songs performed, but ‘Saints Of Los Angeles’ already sounds like a Crue classic. The first solo spotlight was on Mick Mars and his amazing guitar work which featured a performance of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Voodoo Child’. The entire band reconviened on stage to perform their earliest single, ‘Live Wire’, which had the audience singing along with Vince Neil.

‘Sick Love Song’ enticed Tommy Lee to grab the spotlight and his video camera to film some of the more ‘outgoing’ audience members. ‘Same Old Situation’ found the audience outsinging Vince during the chorus. Bassist Nikki Sixx thanked the audience for showing the band all this love and support over the years. The band raised the level (and the volume) with their stand-out performances of ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ and ‘Dr. Feelgood’. Ending their set with a barragh of fireworks.

The encore began with an all-too familiar piano intro of their biggest hit from the 1985 album ‘Theatre of Pain’. As Tommy Lee played the piano at centerstage, the remaining members gathered around him for the beginning of ‘Home Sweet Home’. As Vince sang his heart out, the audience over took him by singing the chorus. After 90 minutes of pure energy and a visually stimulating light show, Motley Crue put on a rock show for the ages.

Opening the evening was newcomers Buckcherry with an energetic 45 minute performance that got the audience rocking early. Their ‘Rock Band’ video game hit ‘Rescue Me’ was one of the eight songs they performed that evening. Buckcherry also has a new album being released on September 16th entitled ‘Black Butterfly’.

MASA Fall League Schedule

Here is the first posting of the MASA Fall League softball schedule.

Visit our Meriden ASA page for the fall 2008 softball schedule.

http://www.myrecordjournal.com/site/tab1.cfm?newsid=20089234&BRD=2755&PAG=461&dept_id=611500&rfi=6

Best of luck to all teams.  Final 2008 regular season standings and championship listing coming soon.  Visit our MASA pages for those results.

EAsports

Concert Review: Beach Boys Bring Fun, Fun, Fun To Mohegan Sun

Friday night was the setting for one of the most famous bands in America, The Beach Boys. While the recent band contains only one original member and one “on-again, off-again” member, the backing band was more than qualified to fill-in for the other “lost” members of the band.

The evening began with one the Beach Boys’ most well-known songs, “California Girls”. They then tried to get the sold-out audience to their feet with the songs “Dance, Dance, Dance” and “Do You Wanna Dance?”, but were not very successful. The band then proceeded with some cover songs performed by different band members. One of the early stand-out songs was “Surfer Girl”, performed by bassist Randell Kirsh with his soprano-type singing. Slow songs like “In My Room” and “God Only Knows” enticed the audience to wave their cell phones to the swaying beats and “Be True To Your School” had the audience dancing in their seats.

Original Beach Boy Mike Love gave a little introduction to their next song, which according to him, was the only song written about “loving a car”. The group then went on to play “Ballad of Ole’ Besty” from their 1963 album “Little Deuce Coupe”. The band kept going with the car theme performing the songs, “Little Deuce Coupe”, “409”, “Shut Down” and “I Get Around”. The most visually enticing song of the evening was “Good Vibrations” which showcased the lighting in the arena. The audience found themselves singing along to the chorus of the most recent Beach Boys’ hit song, “Kokomo”. Fans finally rose to their feet during the performances of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, “Help Me Rhonda”, “Summertime Blues”, “Surfin’ Safari”, before ending with “Surfin’ USA”.

The encore only continued the enjoyment of the audience by singing and dancing to the Beach Boys’ 1965 hit “Barbara Ann”. Ending the night on a high note, the band capped off the evening with “Fun, Fun, Fun”. With a set list of almost 40 songs and playing for almost 2 hours, The Beach Boys brought the audience back to a time when the simplest of songs were naturally the best songs.

Beer + VEGAS + Poker = Championship

The other night I watched Scotty “yeah baby” Nguyen (pronounced ‘win’) prevail in the $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. bracelet and $1,989,120 in prize money.

I also watched the 5 time World Series of Poker bracelet winner verbally berate his competition, get drunk, swearing at the cocktail server, and act like a complete jackass….. All on national TV.  I haven’t heard that many ‘bleeps’ on ESPN since they showed the top 10 ejections of MLB mangers.

The H.O.R.S.E. is the most respected tournament in Vegas according to the pros.  You have to show your skills in 5 different card games.  The entry fee is also a cool 50 G’s.  You don’t see many rookie poker playing college kids in this tournament.  This is the real deal.

This year’s winner was a drunk, with lots of bling-bling around his neck.  It was very embarrassing to the game of poker.  It started to remind me of several home games that I have been involved in. 

Another thing about this horrible display of table imagery was the fact that this final table was made up of some really classy players.  All of which wanted to get their hands on the special trophy that was created to honor the late poker champ Chip Reese.  He passed away this past year from pneumonia at the age of 56.  Chip was considered the overall best player since he had a knowledge and skill level of many different pokers games.  He won the inaugural H.O.R.S.E. tournament two years earlier.

H.O.R.S.E. is made up of five different games: Texas Hold ‘em, Omaha eight or better, Razz, Seven card Stud, and Seven card stud Eight or better.

It is a tough game that was won by a wasted idiot.  It is a shame to see a ‘sport’ in which you can make more money than most people will see in their lives, won by a person swiggin down some serious Bud’s.  Don’t get me wrong, drinking and cards do mix!  Just not in a professional tournament.

Draw the line.

PS- the main event will begin to air on ESPN in September.  The 10K, no-limit Texas Hold ‘em tournament has become the thing to watch in terms of TV and poker.  Set your DVRs now.

PPS- There are still opening for our fantasy football league! Shoot me an email if interested.  eallison@record-journal.com

EAsports

CD Review: You Need To Hear Keaton Simons

Being a good songwriter can only take you so far. Now, if you add good singing, playing guitars (acoustic & electric), good looks and a history of problems to sing about, well then, the sky’s the limit. Keaton Simons has all these and more. His debut album entitled ” Can You Hear Me” was released on June 10, 2008. His songs have been featured on the popular television shows, “NCIS” and “Numb3rs”. He’s worked with Black Eyed Peas and Snoop Dogg, but his debut album is a singer/songwriters dream.

The album starts with the mellow, but powerful “Without Your Skin”. Upon further listening, you start to get more absorbed into his songwriting skills. Songs like “To Me” and “Unstoppable” can easily become folk classics. Keaton Simons does strap on an electric guitar to rock in the songs “Nobody Knows” and “Mama Song”. Title song, “Can You Hear Me” has Keaton Simons channeling Ben Harper’s musical stylings. But he is at his best when he’s playing the blues. The songs “Burch Mog” and “Joseph” have a blues/pop feel, similar to John Mayer. Expanding even further, Keaton Simons adds a little lounge/jazz guitar and piano to the song “Currently”.

Being that this album was many years in making, he does a great job keeping his focus on what he does best. His next album should only build on this folk/blues foundation that he has established for himself. Keaton Simons is currently on tour promoting his CBS Records debut album. His first video, for the song “Good Things Get Better”, is available at his web site keatonsimons.com.

Crazy NFL notes

Now this is scary….

LT (my fantasy football keeper) is working out with Kimbo Slice….  and he is keeping it real.

Click Here: http://www.tiricosuave.com/2008/08/16/kimbo-slice-lives-in-a-pink-house/

Here’s a thought….

Chad Johnson of the Cincinnati Bengals, has started the official process of changing his name to OCHO CINCO.  Since the NFL will not allow players to place nicknames on their jerseys he has stated that he will change his name to his alias ‘Ocho Cinco’ (his jersey number).  By doing this the NFL will have to let him change the name on the back to keep in step with league policies.

This is brilliant.  The players get a percentage of all sales of their jerseys.  With the new name….   I can see this as a big seller.  I know it would make a great Christmas present under my tree!

Looking for Fantasy Football advice?

Check this: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6a90l_fanhouse-girls_lifestyle

Best of luck in your drafts fellas!  Still taking players for our open invite league, see here:  http://blogs.myrecordjournal.com/a/?author=20

EAsports

CD Review: Journey Has A Revelation

Journey is one of those bands that have had success early in their career and have always tried to recapture that glory. Well, 2008 may be the year that they recapture that glory. With a new, Wal-Mart exclusive 3-disc CD/DVD set, a new lead singer and a world tour, Journey are definitely headed in the right direction.

Their new album entitled Revelation has the prefect mixture of anthem rock hits and power ballads. Songs like the opening “Never Walk Away”, “Wildest Dreams” and the closing instrumental “The Journey (Revelation)” display some amazing guitar work by original member, Neal Schon. “Where Did I Lose Your Love” is an arena rocker that gives drummer Deen Castronovo the spotlight. “After All These Years” is an autobiographical song about the trials and tribulations of the band. It also features a nice piano intro by Jonathan Cain. The highlight of the album is the voice of new lead singer Arnel Pineda. As with any band that has had success with another lead singer, Arnel had some big shoes to fill. He succeeds with flying colors. It isn’t fully appreciated until the power ballads “Like A Sun Shower” and “Turn Down The World Tonight”. Arnel sings with the most passion on “Change For The Better” which has him telling the fans to “Start a new way, Get it straight and it all comes together”. He’s asking longtime fans to give him a chance and if you do, you won’t be disappointed.

Journey has been together for 35 years and they are still making some of the best music of their career. I highly suggest owning this album. Not only do you get a disc worth of brand-new songs, but you also get a second CD of rerecord greatest hits featuring Arnel Pineda on vocals. Plus, as a bonus, you also get a DVD of one of the first shows performed by Journey with new lead singer Arnel Pineda. He gives the Journey classics a new life. The album can only be purchased at Wal-Mart stores or at journeymusic.com.

Journey is currently touring North America along with Cheap Trick and Heart. They will be visiting the Mohegan Sun Arena this Sunday, August 17th. With a classic line-up and some new blood, this should be one great classic rock show. Tickets can be purchased at mohegansun.com.

The Editor’s notepod, Thursday, August 14, 2008

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Wallingford: the Veterans’ position is now officially interim, so that fact seems fixed, whatever else may happen.

Southington: Michanczyk donates puppets to historical society

Wallingford: Blue Trail reopens 100-yd range after DEP safety review. 200 remains closed. Lead issue to be considered. The down-range folks remain unsatisfied.

National: Well, I can see Arthur Goldberg as a spy, though I don’t really know why, but Julia Child always seemed so mild!