Cliffs Riffs - Stuph n Nonsense

I received this cool postcard in the mail a couple of weeks ago - it piqued my interest, I jumped on the website for the Grand Rapids Ballet to find out more and thought it looked like something Julie and I would enjoy. So I bought us a couple of tickets for the Sunday matinee. Here are some of the descriptive words that caught my attention: "MOVEMEDIA features dance works merging visual elements of sets, props, costumes and lighting, framed by technology and digital media to enhance the body in space." We enjoyed everything about our afternoon with the GR Ballet. Nice, welcoming people met us at the door(s) - the Peter Martin Wege Theatre is a wonderful, comfortable and intimate venue with no bad seats in the house. Did I mention the Company of dancers ?  They were fantastic. The show consisted of five pieces - each choreographed by a different person - Pedro Lozano Gomez, Yuka Oba, Mario Radacovsky, Robyn Mineko Williams, and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. I enjoyed eac...

I love to tinker around with electronic music. Some of what I have done is on Soundcloud .   After a friend expressed interest in using some of it for background music in slideshows he does for his customers, I thought I might just make my music available to anyone.     So, if you would like to use any of the music I have up on Soundcloud, then CLICK THIS LINK and help yourself.   All I would ask is that IF you can, please give me a credit and/or put a link to my Soundcloud music so others might do the same.     Most of the tracks are 2-3 minutes, a couple are longer, but feel free to shorten or lengthen them as you need.   Just click THIS LINK and help yourself. No internet spying, no information collection - just FREE slideshow music. My FREE music for Slideshows is on Soundcloud

  The Fixx - five guys making music since 1982.   I fell in love with them in 1983 when Reach The Beach came out. I played that album over and over and over. Vinyl in the house and my homemade cassette tape in the car(s).   Became a fan and bought everything they recorded it and eagerly awaited an opportunity to see them live. and waited...... and waited...................................   Finally happened July 29, 2013 - 30 YEARS LATER! But it was sure worth it.   Rupert, Dan, Jamie, Cy, and Adam.   I was geeked to see The Fixx, but there was a small nagging thought about maybe they are going to be stale or bored or .....NOPE - they kicked ass.   Adam Woods on drums and Dan K Brown (below) on bass supply the foundation of the music. And what a lovely foundation they provide. Tight is Right! I love syncopation and these guys excel at it. They did a wonderful job all night. Jamie West-Oram co...

If you like Billy Bob Thornton at all, then I would highly recommend you read this book. The book was transcribed from tapes he made when he was sitting around shooting the breeze with some of his close compadres. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the book for me was the fact that I could hear his distinctive voice as I read the book. I have seen most of his movies and it was cool to hear him in the room with me while reading. Kinda like a tapeless book on tape. His story has a lot of elements to love. Classic Americana Rags to Riches stuff. He was born and raised in the sticks - tried and failed a couple of times to peddle his talents in big cities. Lived in his car, lived in a run down "apartment" with his buddy and they existed on one meal a day that Billy Bob brought home from the pizza place he worked at. Billy Bob had the "steady" job at that time which allowed his writing partner to concentrate on pitching their talents. Billy Bob is nothing if no...

We just PRETEND we don't like socialism here. Another example of the power of persuasion is in the fact that most Americans act like "socialism" is something one scrapes off the bottom of ones shoe, when the reality is that ALL of us, including mega-corporations, benefit every day from SOCIALISM in AMERICA. Anybody drive on one of them dang FEDERAL highways today? Buy any bread, milk, sugar, or gasoline today? Speaking of gas - as in fuel for our vehicles - guess why we pay a whole bunch less than our European friends do (you know, the ones in SOCIALIZED countries?!) - we pay less because our TAX dollars go to Exxon, Shell, et al in the form of subsidies and/or tax breaks - millions to these billion dollar corporations. The price of gasoline is NOT dictated by "the free market" by any stretch of the imagination. LINK: BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN SUBSIDIES TO OIL. A common response to a mention of socialism is "Socialism forces  FILL IN THE BLANK  on you....

  The theme song for this episode is "Gone Daddy Gone" by Violent Femmes.     First on our list - Feeding Tube. Gone Daddy Gone.   Next on our list - that distinctive Atom Tan. Gone Daddy Gone .   And the best is last - Julie and I met with Dr. Bott on Monday January 6th and she delivered the happy news that the PET scan I was given on December 28th showed the following:     As in "no evidence" of cancer lurking in my throat or any other part of my body - the scanned me from top to toe.   Gone Daddy Gone.     Well then - hot day-yum. All that fun in the radiation booth and the three doses of chemo and the retching and the weight loss and the fear and the crying and the prayers, white light, positive vibes, cards, emails, texts, and (yes even the) threats - PAID OFF!   My strength is coming back -   Working with my Body Blade:   Playing w...

Julie and I got married on New Years Eve and in 2013, after hearing some customers at our shop RAVE about their stay (thanks Bruce & Beth) at the JW Marriott - I decided to book us a room along with dinner reservations at the 616 restaurant located in the hotel.   You check in here - I love the curved walls. If you want to be at the JW on NYE, I suggest you make reservations early. When I reserved the room a couple months in advance I was told the "river side" of the hotel was full. So I asked for a room as high up as possible on the downtown side. Julie and I were very pleasantly surprised when we found out our room - 1704 - was a CORNER room with a spectacular river view as well as a peek at downtown out of the smaller widows in the corner. (Someone must have cancelled and we were bumped up - maybe an advantage to having a Marriott Reward Card?)   This was the layout for our room on the 17th floor. They provide very, very comfortable beds....