Stuff That Works - a review of State by Todd Rundgren

Todd Rundgren State: 1. Imagination

3. In My Mouth

4. Ping Me

5. Angry Bird

6. Smoke

7. Collide-A-Scope

8. Something From Nothing

9. Party Liquor

10. Sir Reality

 

Todd Rundgren is turning 65 this year.

I have been a fan of his for 40 years - back when he looked like this.

 

These days Todd looks like this.

 

One his new album STATE - he looks like this.

 

Who cares what he looks like - lets talk about the music.

 

After listening to State for most of the day - on my PC's system, on headphones whilst walking Otter and even in Julie's truck whilst we ran some errands - I am floored. This is a wonderful collection of music. Once again TR has come through and blown me away.

 

The music is beautifully textured, layered lush sound from a master craftsman. The first song sucks you in slowly - we don't even hear him sing a lick for over 90 seconds. I would highly recommend your initial listen be done with head phones - TR makes the most of synthesizers for crazy bottom end and for lovely musical grace notes that ping right through your head. The production work really shines on a good set of cans.

 

His voice is teched out on several songs, but Todd's pipes are in fine fettle and he proves it again and again in the course of the album. Probably my favorite song for showcasing his voice is "In My Mouth" or maybe "Serious". Hey - no matter which song you listen to it become immediately clear that Todd has not trashed his vocal cords as so many performers have, they are limber and co-operative. The music is not ALL electronica - guitar chops appear hear and there in prime Todd fashion. A couple are great dance toons.

 

This record feels like Todd has taken the best elements from several stages of his long and storied career as both a performer and producer and offered them to us in ten songs. My least favorite song is "Angry Bird", but I would still give it 3.5 out of 5 stars. This is the rare album that I listen to from end to end - normally I pick and choose. I don't want to leave any of State unheard.

 

"Imagination", "Something from Nothing", and "Collide-A-Scope" are my favorite three. I would suggest that you give it a listen from stem to stern and pick out your faves. My wife LOVES "Something from Nothing" and a lot of the credit goes to the lovely voice of Rachel Haden, who duets with Todd.

 

When I was an angst filled teen taking heart at the words "you don't have to be afraid" because "someone knows who you are and someone watches over you - someone knows how you feel and someone feels the same way" from "The Ikon" on his first Utopia album,

 

 

 

I never could have imagined that I would remain a Todd fan for over four decades.

I have and I am.

 

State is ample justification for my remaining one.

 

HAPPY NEWS UPDATE: Julie and I just secured the last two VIP seats to hear Todd perform music from State in Chicago next month. Whooo-hoooo.

 

Todd is touring in support of State.

Tour details and lotsa fun Todd stuff is available at Toddstore.com.

Or click the link below:

The Toddstore is HERE.

Happy Feet - Ol Dude does The Shuffle.

 

These days the young people call this style of Happy Feet "The Shuffle". If that is the case, then I have been doing a version of the shuffle since 1972 - just ask any of the poor girls who had to try and dance with me in High school.

Stuff that Works: A review of Flahavan's Irish Oatmeal

I decided to see what all the fuss about "steel cut oats" would boil down (sorry) to when it came to becoming a part of my breakfast. Steel cut oats are whole oat grains that have a very minimal processing before we eat them - the whole oat is cut into two or three pieces as opposed to being rolled out and having the fiber crushed out. Steel cut oats help in stabilizing blood sugar.
As of this writing, I am on my 4th container of Flahavan's Irish Oatmeal.
Simply put - I love it. I use the 5 minute variety - I believe they have some you need to cook for 30 minutes, but I do not have that much time to devote to preparing it in the morning - but 5 minutes works great. It actually takes about 8 to 10 minutes to bring the water/oats mixture to a boil and then simmer it for 5 minutes.
Why do I like it so much? Well, for one thing I have a feeling it is good for me. Some folks even put this kind of oatmeal into the "superfood" category because of the many benefits. Do a little research for yourself and see what you think.
The other reason I am such a fan is that when I eat one serving with a piece of toast, it fills me up and I am good to go until early afternoon. And I like the flavor and consistency. My little routine includes a big spoonful of brown sugar in the bowl and I dump the cooked oats on the brown sugar and stir it up. Sometimes, but not always, I put a dash of half/half in there as well - I always put a dose in my coffee so the half n half is on the counter anyway.
If you have been searching for a healthy breakfast cereal - then you might want to give these steel cut oats a try. You can find Flahavan's at these locations.

Stuff That Works - Part Two of Hawaii visit.

 

 

 

 

Oahu continued - the Pinders told us about a sunset sail from the

beach at Waikiki. 2 hours sailing for $40 each. DONE! I spent most of the

time up on the bow looking for whales.

 

 

Here is the lot of us captured by one of the friendly crew guys (they did

flips over the bow of the boat just to keep us on our toes). NO - I am not

trying to audition for Look Like A Pirate Day - I am trying to keep

the sun from frying my scalp.

 

One of several gorgeous sunset shots Julie took on our sail.

(Note: The underlined, LARGE printing below contain LINKS to places mentioned.)

Duke's has been a staple in Honolulu since before Hawaii 5-0.

Julie was thrilled to eat here because she had a menu from Duke's that her folks

brought back from Hawaii way back...when a steak was two bucks.

We had a great meal - more fresh fish - after our sail.

 

Tom and Vick enjoy a pre-sail brew at Duke's.

 

One more shot of a "crowded" beach on Oahu that Vic took us to visit.

I decided NOT to swim here on account of the appearance of little box jelly fish.

(We don't have those in Lake Michigan.)

 

So then we went to Maui.

Okay - we pretty much had our minds blown on Oahu. We loved it.

Everyone who ever said Hawaii is paradise was spot on.

 

 

In my opinion, Maui is even better.

Maui is more laid back - you will not find the incredible shopping that you

find in downtown Honolulu - but there are natural wonders in abundance.

 

One of the days we explored Twin Falls.

Help - this place is so beautiful it is insane. Twin Falls is located on property that

contains a working farm. And they let the pubic IN....FREE!

Julie and I got separated from Vic n Tom (we were lolly gagging)

but we ended up on a trail that took us to this slice of heaven:

A freshwater pool fed by a waterfall!

I had to swim - here I am looking up at the brave folks making the jump.

When we got back to the car, Vic and Tom were waiting with some fresh fruit

smoothies from the FARM STAND at the entrace. Delicious.

I am in awe of the people who own the Twin Falls land. For them to make such a treasure available to the public is simply fantastic. Someone we talked to about the place said it is owned "by a bunch of hippies" - if that is the case, then we need more hippies.

 



That day I completed a wonderful Trifecta of Swimming.

I swam in this freshwater pool in the morning, body surfed

in the Pacific in the afternoon and dipped in the pool before dinner than night.

One day Julie and I took off to explore on Hwy 30. There are lot of switchbacks

and the rented mini-van was chugging up and up. Along the way Julie kept making

comparrisons to Hwy 1 out of San Francisco (used to be her favorite place

on the planet). After a couple of stops and more fantastic views of the surf pounding

lava cliffs with the occasional whale dance Julie declared this to be her

new Favorite Place on the Planet.

 

Speaking of Cliff's - imagine my surprise to find a warning sign about me.

(On my first visit???)

 

We went further and further on 30 until we saw this in the distance, so we drove closer to get this picture. Then we saw a small billboard for "the best banana bread in the world" and thought we might venture even further after Hwy 30 ended and then we decided..maybe not.

The road after this part becomes 1 lane with blind corners. We started - but both of us got a little too nervous negotiating the turns in a rented van (gimme my KLR 650 and I would be ALL over this road). You can see some of the tough parts here: SKINNY ROAD.

 

Julie thought there was not enough room in the kitchen for her to join in.

Why would she get that impression??

 

Julie on deck.
 

For our last day we scheduled a snorkel whale watch cruise with the great

people at The Pacific Whale Foundation. Wow - wow - wow.

I have not snorkeled in 30 years and when I DID snorkel, it was

in lakes in Michigan - with about 5 feet of visibility. You can see about 200 to 250 feet in the Pacific. Big Difference.

 

 

I did not take this picture of these Humuhumu-eleele (aka Black Durgeon Triggerfish) but this is exactly what I swam into right after I left the boat to snorkel at Molokini Crater. I just about pooped my suit - they were all over the place, I was in the middle of a school of them. I was breathing so fast it is a wonder I didn't pass out. It took me awhile to get truly comfortable, but after a few minutes I was diving below the surface and clearing my snorkel with no problem. It was fantastic - like swimming in a huge aquarium.

 

There is nothing that compares to seeing a 40 ton whale doing a water wheelie.

I remember listening to the Songs of The Humpback Whale on vinyl when I was a kid and reading all about these amazing creatures in National Geographic. What a treat to see them in person. You can listen to some whale songs here.

Captain Snorkel Dork. This was taken right before I went swimming at the second stop of the morning with sea turtles. Amazing. Did you know they can stay down for up to 5 hours?

 

I cannot say enough about the people from the Pacific Whale Foundation and their eco-cruises. They were friendly and shared their knowledge of Hawaii and Maui as well as giving us a ton of information about the Pacific Ocean around Maui and all the cool things that live there. The captain gave us some great bonus time when he spotted several adult turtles in the middle of the bay. Julie got the picture of the one above.

 

Hawaii is everything you have heard about it. The people are wonderful - the natural beauty is astounding - you go from desert to tropics to the beach in a mile or two. If you have an opportunity to go there in your lifetime - do it.



Stuff That Works - a visit to Hawaii.

What I Did On My Spring Vacation - Part 1 of 2

 

Hawaii beckoned (it used my sister Vicki and brother in law Tom to do so). Having only closed our store for a week on one other occasion and being in need of a vacation, Julie and I responded in a positive way and booked our flights and made the appropriate marks on the calendars.

 

NOTE: I have provided some links for your edification. Click 'em and learn more.

 

Flying To And From

Flying to Hawaii from Michigan is no biggie. C'mon - we can get all the way to the middle of the Pacific Ocean in a little more than 1/3 of a day's flying time. It was 2 hours and 5 minutes to Denver and then supposedly 7 hours to Oahu. Leaving Grand Rapids at 8 am allowed us to arrive on the island at 3:00 pm - so we had some daylight left when we got there.

 

Here is a tip for fooling the TSA. I was able to carry on a months worth of shampoo, 3 months worth of shaving cream and enough water to share with most of the people on the plane by making some very subtle changes to the labels so the liquids would be in an amount acceptable to TSA.

 

TSA had NO problems with my liquids.

 

The flight to Denver was great. Julie and I had the two seats on the left of the plane with a fair amount of room. Once in Denver I was able to spread out and hogify several chairs for chillaxin'.

 

 

For the first part of our holiday, we stayed on the island of Oahu at the Marriott resort in Ko Olina. Tom and Vicki are members (owners) of some time at this fabulous place and they were gracious enough to let Julie and I stay there with them. Below is the sight that greeted us for five mornings as we looked out from the balcony of our room on the 8th floor to view the protected swimming lagoon and the Pacific.  

 

Tom HAS to visit Hawaii a couple of times every year for work. Really. He sells bridges. REALLY - I mean it. As a consequence, he and Vicki are well acquainted with where to go - what to see - where to eat (and what places are best skipped!). Tom had to work for the first part of our visit, but that didn't stop Julie, Vic, and I from having a good time.

 

 

The two heads furthest away from the camera are Vic and I cooling off in the calm waters of the lagoon. There are Four Lagoons within walking distance of where we stayed. ALL of them are open to the public as are almost ALL of the beaches in Hawaii. Crystal clear water kept clear of undesirable elements (read MEAT eaters) from the Pacific by walls that also calmed the waves while allowing water to circulate. Pure genius!

 

One thing that can make it over the barriers to the beach of the lagoon are Monk seals. They often come up onto the beach for a much needed nap. The folks on Oahu are very protective of these seals - within minutes of this one coming ashore at Ko Olina, the staff had roped off a wide area to prevent the curious from disturbing it's sleep. We saw the same thing done on the very, very busy beach at Waikiki - the tourists took second place to the native seals. 

 

Waves crash into the volcanic rock on Oahu.

 

One fine day Vic, Julie and I took a trip almost all the way around Oahu. Look at the beautiful blue waters behind my beautiful wife. We never tired of gazing at the ever changing hues of the Ocean.

 

 

 Some more Pacific shots from our trip around Oahu.

 

Kite and wind surfers were having a blast.

 

 

On our way to look at the surfers at the world famous Banzai Pipeline in Waimea Bay on the Northshore of Oahu - we stopped at the Shrimp Shack - Vicki considers it to be the best shrimp truck of the many you can find on the road to the Pipeline. Julie and I split a combo plate of garlic shrimp and mahi - fresh from the sea and YUMMY. Great choice, Vic.

 

We also stopped at one of several farmer's markets where we happily spent our grocery money during our visit (didn't take pics). What a treat to eat fresh, locally grown kale, carrots, strawberries that were as delicious as Michigan's, and breads, etc. etc.

 

 



 

Here is a sample of the great curl at the Pipeline. We got to watch surfers brave the potential pounding and strut their stuff on this legendary beach. What a treat.

Stuff That Works: A review of Duluth Trading Ballroom Jeans.

INTERNET DISCLOSURE: In case you are wondering - I paid full price for these jeans. I have not received anything from Duluth Trading Company for this review. I found out about these jeans while looking for something else. Just wanted you to know I am not a shill for DTC!

A couple of years ago I heard about some jeans that were going to be manufactured in Michigan - in Detroit. I was excited - until I learned the price was going to be almost $200 a pair. Motor City Denim broke my heart. I was prepared to pay more than the $35 I pay for Arizona jeans for something made in the US, but $175 for jeans is NOT in my budget. (I Riffed about Motor City here)

I am happy to report I found an excellent alternative - jeans made in the USA for just $84.50 a pair. I found them at the Duluth Trading Company. Not only are they made in this country - by a 5th generation family run operation using domestic cotton - but they feature a gusset in the crotch that makes them very, very comfortable. The gusset is a diamond shaped pieced of fabric sewn into the crotch that makes a lot of shifting around and adjustment unnecessary.

Bought my first pair 3 weeks ago and I have worn them for a total of 8 days now including two days of extensive travel time and I am very pleased with the results. They are very heavy weight (remember how sturdy Levi's USED to be??) made of 14.5 oz 100% cotton denim. They look sharp (Julie says they make my butt look good!) and all the stitching and seams are top notch (triple stitch down the legs). I started with the dark denim and will be ordering a second pair in the "washed" color.

Received my "stone washed" pair two days ago. Really like them - they are more comfortable that the dark denim pair - probably because they have been broken in for me. My only complaint with these jeans is that they don't offer them in black.....yet!

You can read about them here: USA MADE JEANS HERE

Stuff That Works - A Review of Simple Minds 5x5 Live

 

I consider myself fortunate to have experienced Simple Minds live back in the time when Jim Kerr and Chrissie Hynde were together - in fact I saw their bands perform together at Pine Knob on a wonderful summer night in (I believe) 1984.

 

I have followed both Simple Minds and The Pretenders over the ensuing decades with much aural delight. I became a registered member of SimpleMinds.com a few years ago - this keeps me up to date with the band. When Simple Minds offered live recordings of their recent 5x5 tour of Australia to their members I jumped at the chance. (Get Some Here). I had my chance to order any one of the multiple dates they played down under and I chose December 9 at Sirromet Winery.

The 5x5 tour centers around the band playing 5 songs from each of their first 5 albums. Each concert features a slightly different set list. See below for the list on this particular night.

 

The band sounds great. Jim seems to be in fine voice - aided at crucial moments by the powerful voice of Sarah Brown. Those of you who are familiar with Simple Minds music on the first five albums can imagine the songs where Ms Brown's voice was/is a critical instrument.

 

 

 Guitar hero Charlie Burchill, who co-founded the band with Kerr, shows his skills on numerous toons. My favorite riffs from Charlie would be during The American (edging out See The Lights by a smidge). Drummer Mel Gaynor and bass man Ged Grimes provide a solid foundation for Charlie's work as well as the keyboards of Andy Gillespie.  I have listened to the entire concert several times all the way through now and am very happy with my purchase. If you are a long time fan, you will love hearing these early songs delivered live - if you are new to Simple Minds you can get a great sounding intro to the cream of their early work.

 

Two CDs full of great music from a band that has stuck together for decades.

 

The CDs of different tour stops were only available in lots of 1,000 to members of SimpleMinds.com If you want to own one, go join and see what might be left. If you have no desire to join the club, then the double album is available in many places - buy it by clicking on the picture below:

 

Set List For The December 9, 2012 Show

Waterfront

Love Song

Celebrate

All The Things She Said

The American

This Fear of Gods

See The Lights

Sanctify Yourself

Don't You Forget About Me

New Gold Dream

Someone, Somewhere in Summertime

Promised You A Miracle

Glittering Prize

Alive and Kicking

Ghost Dancing

Gloria (cover