Bogieblog

New Hampshire State of Mind*

By way of the Weekend Pundit, comes this Facebook truism:

* Yes, I stole that from the song of the same title by the Super Secret Project.

Song of the Times

So I know the sopa/PIPA ado is done (for now, until Congress reworks it and hopes no one is paying attention except the PACS), but I just came across this on New Jovian Thunderbolt, and had to share.

 

Concert Going

After the town meeting, we went home, did some of our regular Saturday chores, packed and headed down to Auburn MA to check into our hotel. After grabbing some dinner, we headed to the DCU Center in Worcster to see Elton John.

He started the concert with probably our favorite song(s); Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding. He proceeded to rock us with other hits such as Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting, and Crocodile Rock (amongst others).

He was then joined by surprise guest, Leon Russel (who is to get a star in Hollywood soon). They brought in a second, smaller piano for Leon to play. Elton John and Leon played/sang 5-6 newer release songs. During introductions of the singers and players, it was revealed that two of the backup singers were from the Stones. No, not the Rolling Stones, but from Sly and the Family Stone. One was actually from the band, another was a niece or daughter (I am unclear as to the relationship, as Elton did not specify).

After Leon Russell was helped off stage, Elton got back to rocking the house with older tunes.

There was never a break for Elton, except when he left at the end of the show, and there was about a 5 minute break before he came back out for the encore performance. The show started shortly after 8, and finished up right around 11.

We had a great time at the show and it was well worth the bit of travel to see. If you are an Elton John fan, and have a chance to see him at a smaller venue, definitely take the opportunity!

NH Music Videos

The Super Secret Project is at it again. First is was a NH spin on the rap song New York State of Mind:

Now it is the Plow Guy Boogaloo (as featured by Fritz Weatherbee of New Hampshire Chronicle):

 Both songs are great fun. The second features many of NH's famous people (Matt Bonner, a writer etc). If nothing else, check out at 4:46 mark, that is what many of us go thru and say when the street plow goes by!

There is also original rap sond/video, The 603, from last year (or maybe it was 2 years ago - can't remember):

 That is it for your NH cultural entertainment today.

Mini Vacation

Friday we went to Connecticut to see Rodger Waters in concert. We stayed at a Holiday Indd in the middle of Hartford. Since we are a Priority Club Member (meaning we redeem points for the room), we got upgraded to the 9th floor (the top floor). That might seem a downgrade to some, but only a couple of the floors got a decent view of the park across the street. Most lower floors only got to see trees and the roadway (and construction).

This is the view from our room:

 

Zoom in on the State Capitol

 

Zoom in on a fountain:

 

Zoom in on what we later found out to be a memorial to Soldiers and Sailors from the Civil War:

 

We only had to walk about 1 1/2 blocks to get to the concert venu and about 5 blocks to get to where BIL and SIL were staying (they had points for another hotel chain). Once we got into town, we walked everywhere.

Flying Low

Holy Canoly, just took a look at the Top 10 Low Pass Fly By's, and I just gotta wonder how one does that in #2. Not that #1 wasn't amazing, just #2 is more surprising.

On another note, anyone know what the music is they play in the background (music is low key, so turn on the speakers to get sounds of the fly by's for extra afect).

Hat tip to Scott over at AMCGLTD

UPDATE: Just read on the second page of comments that the song is Angel by Massive Attack and can be found on the album Mezzanine.

Rock Sugar

Have you ever heard of "Slammed" music? I hadn't until our local rock station, WGIR Rock 101, featured some on the morning show. Although probably not to everyone's tastes (expecially purists), I found it quite intriguing that someone would think to combine such music as Don't Stop Believing (by Journey) and Enter Sandman (by Metallica) and create Don't Stop the Sandman (by Rock Sugar). (the link goes to a video)

Fortunately, I am not a purist and really like the results.

Unfortunately, Rock Sugar's store is temporarily unavailable, so I can't get their CD and hear the rest of their slammed music. But I'll be keeping an eye out!

Short Musings

I got an email the other day from Meadowbrook that indicated that one of their sponsors had bought 500 tickets to Cheap Trick and were giving them away. The concert was Saturday night. We picked up 2 pair and took BIL and SIL with us. Although it is not a show I would have paid to go see, it was definitely worth the price of admission!

We rode the bike as it was another hot and humid day. We raced thunder and lightning home, although we only got 1/8" of rain out of it.

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Ever try to find someone to do work on your home? It sucks. We've talked to 7-8 contractors about replacing the roof and siding, and haven't been impressed by any of them. Most have an "A" or "A+" rating with the BBB, but they can't follow simple instructions prior to getting hired, so I have no faith that they could do so after getting hired.

After 2 weeks of losing our evenings by talking with contractors for 2+ hours each, we have decided to start back at square 1. Our new tact is to find the type of roof we want on houses and go talk to the people about who did the work for them. We want standing seam metal, which is distinctive enough from exposed fastener metal that you can tell by looking at the roof from the road. We were out for a ride last night and I noticed 8 or 9 such roofs between New Boston and Goffstown, so will be making some visits after work the next couple of nights.

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Momma bird, after building the nest has abandoned it. I don't know if she found another site, was something's meal, or lost her mate, but she hasn't been around the planter.

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Got our new health insurance cards in the mail Saturday. Our deductible has doubled so that the FSA that I contribute to cannot make up for it (we used up the FSA by 3 months into it this year - between my glasses - the first  pair I've bought in 10 years, WS's meds and his emergency trip to the hospital).

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Hope you have a good week

4th of July Doings

We had a fabulous 3 day weekend; we left on the bike Friday evening, arriving at the Grayhurst Hotel, which is where we stayed for the next 3 nights. Hotel evokes visions of largish building, but this is a converted home or perhaps boarding room. The hotel has small rooms; about 10 x 12 - which includes the bathroom, fridge, microwave and TV, along with dresser, queen bed and guest chair. Obviously very cramped, but clean with friendly hosts and all we needed it for was a place to sleep anyway.

Usually you get a chit to park in the municipal parking lot about a block away, but since we were on the bike, we got to park right up front of the hotel - a huge relief to us. There were always people on the porch of either the hotel or the place next door, they knew who the bike belonged to, so we had no worries that there would be any tinkering with it.

Saturday we got up and took a ride up to Freeport Maine to check out the LL Bean Mall. WS wanted to look at some sunglasses with built in "cheaters" for riding on the bike. Unfortunately the glasses weren't what he was looking for, but it was a good ride and we explored several of their stores before heading back to home base.

Saturday night was the Paul Rodgers concert at the Casino Ballroom. This is the reason we were taking the 3 day weekend - we trid to book a room for just Saturday but being a holiday weekend, no one would book for just one day. Paul Rodgers was awesome (just as he was when he was lead singer for Queen a couple of years ago). He sang mostly Bad Company music, but he did throw in a couple songs from The Firm. We rocked for a couple hours and then walked across the street to the hotel (did I mention that the Grayhurst is directly across the street from the Ballroom?).

Sunday, the hottest day we were on the coast, we rode down to Canobie Lake Park and partook of the amusements available. I had gotten discount couplons from work, and never having been there before (Canobie, not work), we decided to check it out. Once again it was good that we were on the bike as they have special bike parking at  the entrance of the park.

It was the perfect day to go for the water rides; we got soaked several times. WS went on a couple of rides by himself since I'm just not good with getting shot straight up in the air while sitting on a chair (what they call the Starblaster). I went on the wood roller coaster with him, but he did the Corkscrew by himself (I don't do heights well unless it is dark - go figure).

We both went into the Psychodrome (I do better than WS at speeding at unmovable objects for some reason) but WS wouldn't do the Xtreme Frisbee as he does not like to be spun around. We got soaked a the Boston Tea Party, wetted down again in the Log Ride, then got drenched in the Tall Timber Splash (we went thru that one twice).

After wandering around the park getting mostly dry, we hopped on the bike and headed back to the room. Got up Monday morning and headed home.

Getting up Tuesday to go to work was a bit rough, but that is the price one pays for having such a grand three days!

A Couple of Shorts

After no meltage from the last snow (except for stuff on the roof), we are expecting 8-12" of the white stuff today. I should beat out the storm on the way to work - those that start their day later than I do won't be so lucky. More snow expected later this week too. Looks like the making for a white Christmas!

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An dpeople thought I was crazy when I got WS an LP (yes, an actual vinyl record) of a new band earlier this year - seems the sales of LP's are soaring - relatively speaking.

And, by the way, J&R Music, featured in the article, has been one of my mainstay shopping stops on the Internet, for anything electronic for over 7 years.

Now for full disclosure: This was a non-reimbursed advertisement.

That is the end of this short update - have a good week!