Anyway, I'm back on line after some mail server problems at Kodak. Some fun things have happened since the last time I wrote. Last weekend, Margaret and I drove out to Boston to do some hurried visiting and frantic sightseeing. It's hard to absorb much of Boston in less than a weekend. And if you ever decide to visit Boston, for God's sake DON'T DRIVE IN THE CITY!!! Boston is unquestionably the least car-friendly city I have ever seen. I've driven in NYC, LA, San Diego, Washington DC, Minneapolis, Toronto, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Philly, Baltimore, Tampa, and most of the other cities in the country and nothing is even remotely close to the pandemonium of Boston driving. (Thank you, Boston people, for being good sports and not charging us for all the stuff that we broke.)
Yesterday, Margaret left for Tucson; I will follow on Thursday. Yep, I don't have a whole lot of responsibility for those wedding reception plans, and I must say that it doesn't bother me one bit. I didn't even WANT a reception, but Margaret did. So be it. I'll show up in my tux, eat some food, pay the band and the caterer and the cake person and the flower person and the photographer and the room people, and fly back to Rochester. No pressure on me at all, since Margaret is taking care of all the arrangements. Should be fun. And to top it all off, I'm not missing any work at all - Friday is a holiday and I'll be back here Sunday night. No time for a honeymoon this year (not enough vacation days anyway). Maybe next year.
I saw Quiz Show yesterday. Outstanding movie, and I recommend it to everyone. It makes me glad that the U of R's radio station (WRUR - where I do Crap From The Past weekly) has no corporate sponsors to kiss up to.
Speaking of CFTP, this week, we celebrate Biz "Just A Friend" Markie's birthday. The Biz turns 32 on Monday. Sing it with me: "OOOOHHHHH baby YOOOOOOOOOOU... You got what I NEED. But you say he's just a friend. But you say he's just a friend OOOOOOOOO BABY YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU....." Last week was MC Hammer's birthday (did you know that his real name is Stanley Burrell?) and next week I go crazy nuts for Dave Edmunds's birthday. Woo-hoo!
In music news:
- New Dave Matthews Band song. Excellent. Album due out at end of the month.
- New Aimee Mann album, "I'm With Stupid", is excellent. Radio ignored it, much to my dismay.
- New Tears For Fears album, "Raoul and the Kings of Spain", is pretty good. Radio ignored it also.
- New (old?) Brand New Heavies album, "Excursions: Remixes and Rarities" (or something like that) is great.
- New Joe Satriani album is excellent. He plays with a live band (finally), and keeps his singing down to only one song. It's produced by Glyn Johns, who has worked with the Eagles and some southern bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, I think. A terrific mellow album from The Guy With The Big Guitar.
- New Barenaked Ladies album, "Born On A Pirate Ship", is out and is excellent. This must have been an abnormally good few weeks.
- I picked up the last 'til Tuesday album, "Everything's Different Now", from 1988. It's extremely melodic, and accurately previewed what Aimee Mann would do as a solo artist. I love it. The two albums preceding "EDN" aren't so hot, however.
Well, I'm outta here; I have to go get married. And to all you east coast people, I'm sorry you can't make it. There are only four people showing up from anywhere east of Colorado, and my parents and my brother count for three of them. Sorry, but I won't be saving you any cake...
Ron "I do. No, make that I already did." G
