MCAT!

Sue and I proctored the MCAT here at Dartmouth today, for a group of 27 students. It's always a fairly straightforward proposition, except for the fact that I have to get up early on a weekend to do it. But, it was a good group of testees, and except for a bit of noise from the building (heating issues?) during the last section of the test, it was a smooth session.

I'm still converting tapes over to MP3's. I'm done with all the tapes of concerts I actually recorded personally, so I'm back to doing either live tapes I got from other sources, or shows I taped off the radio back in the 80's or 90's. Right now, I'm working on a live concert by "3," an ELP offshoot containing Keith Emerson, Carl Palmer, and Robert Berry. They did one album in 1988, that wasn't horrible, but wasn't much of anything to write home about either. I taped this concert from the Ritz in NYC, off of WNEW FM in NY, back when I was growing up in NJ. The one song I've done so far, Fanfare for the Common Man, was actually performed very well, so although the album might have been a bit off, live they did well.

I have to throw this picture up, just for fun...

Tell me you wouldn't want to see a big piece of construction equipment, with a name like "Putzmeister!"

NP: Adrian Belew - Dinosaur

Puppet!

Per Lou's request, here's a photo of the Mike Lord puppet... This was made for a puppet show Sue did for our wedding back in February 2004...

I'll actually see if I can find a better one scanned in...

Concerts Part 2!

Back in October 1988, Brian and I went to see the Moody Blues at Madison Square Garden in NYC. What was interesting about this day, was that we were going into the city for a class trip, and we had asked if we could stay in the city for the concert. Unfortunately, the faculty member was not allowed to just leave two high school students in the city. Makes sense, but we had to at least ask.

So, we had to go into the city, leave, then take the train back into the city after the trip. Taking the train into the city was always fun, it was a very "grown up" thing to do. We went to the show, and it was a blast. On the train on the way back to NJ, we sat near two high school girls who had also gone to the show. From the look of them, they were Red Bank Catholic students. Maybe they had RBC jackets, and of course, here was a perfect opportunity to strike up a conversation with two girls with similar music tastes, but of course, we didn't.

This became a running reference joke between the two of us for awhile, and I'm sure Brian still remembers it also. Am I missing any details?

NP: Farscape

Concerts!

The next few blogs I'm going to do are going to be about some of the concerts I've gone to. Back in the day, I used to bring a tape recorder to some shows, to have a record of the music. It wasn't the best recorder, so it would actually register some of my friends and my conversations more than the music at times. So, the tapes in some way have turned more into a record of the experience, rather than a musical statement.

I was converting the Pink Floyd show from Giants Stadium in June 1988 yesterday. I went to this show with Brian Paik, Baron Blakley, Erik Lynch, Steve Rumsby, and a few others. From the tape, I remember now that Brian was sick as a dog, with some sort of cough/cold. It wasn't helped that the concert was on a rainy day. During most of the show, it was cold and clammy, but not raining, however, during Us and Them, in the 2nd set, it started to *pour!* Baron said to me, "This concert's cost me $50 already, I'm not moving!" We stuck it out...

At another point, I think during Money, Brian moved up a few rows to take a look at things. Baron asked what he was doing, and I said that he was moving up to see what he could see, a bit more into the rain.

Baron: He's tough!

Me: Who, Paik?

Baron: Yeah, but he's dying anyway, what does he care?

These were the people who I called friends back in High School. Those were great days. I'm still in touch with Brian, who's still one of the closest friends I have, although we don't see each other nearly enough. Baron, I haven't seen since sometime in college, as his family moved away from New Jersey during those years. Baron, if you're out there, feel free to say hi...

More stories to come... Other concerts I taped were Yes, the Moody Blues, R.E.M., and Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe.

NP: Farscape - Green Eyed Monster