The Gift of Mullet

I remember it well.  It was 1989, my sophomore year in college and all was fantastic.  My mullet was coming in nicely, my tiny gold hoop earring would sometimes catch the light and sparkle its ass off.  I was a master at cuffing my acid washed jeans and I could roll up the sleeves on my striped pastel shirts like a madman!    I was also involved with the campus  radio station WCCB... "involved" doesn't really sum it up.  I became obsessed.  I loved it.  I got elected to the board of directors my freshman year (an honor usually bestowed on upperclassmen) and the result of that was the campus newspaper, The Clarion Call, did a write up on me.  I really have no idea why...

So I show up for my "photo shoot" all pastel'd and mullet'd up when the photographer suggested me posing with the teddy bear.  It was the Christmas issue after all.  Well it really seemed like a good idea at the time...  As you can imagine there was some mocking.  My friends and total strangers took to calling me "Teddy Bear" for a while but, ultimately it passed and was forgotten.

Then MANY years later I show it to my friend and bandmate Marti.  I don't remember exactly how long she laughed but it was quite a while.  Understandably so.  It is awesome.  

So Marti, this is for you.  May it make you smile whenever you need it. 

    

I'm a Merry Christmas guy, but may the season find you healthy and happy!

Top Ten Things About Being Sick

I don't know if there can be anything "top" about being sick... but it does have its benefits.  Yes, by the way, I am currently enjoying Flu like symptoms...  I am only talking about the inconvenient kind of sick.  Colds, sniffles and flu type, over the counter medicine, 24-48 bug kind of sick.  Pain in my ass kind of sick...  which brings us to number ten.

10)  Being a pain in the ASS:  everyone is allowed a 48 hour window to be cranky when your illness de jour settles in.  Be it a summer cold or my annual February sinus infection, it's ok to say things like "do you mind going to the store and getting me something that I won't find nauseating to eat?  Even though I'm really not hungry, more bored than anything, and I have no idea what I might even want to eat if I were hungry... Oh and  magazine too!  Something that will interest me..."  Yeah, you have minimum 24 hrs, maximum 48hrs to say ridiculous things like that.  Enjoy.

9)  Sleep your ass off:  Most people are under rested.  Hold on, let me Google it...  Ha!  If you Google: "US population under rested"  you get several articles on the US penitentiary system.  Funny.  Anyway, it is a loose figure but somewhere around 70%  of us is estimated to be sleep deprived. So sleep!  For the next 36 hrs sleep  as much as you can!  Several studies suggest it's probably the reason you are sick in the first place.  Hit the snooze button, it's good for you.

8)  Read an actual book: It really goes hand in hand with step 9.  When not sleeping, read one of those books you keep stacking up on your dresser in your bedroom.  We are not that far away from books and newspapers going the way of the walkman.  Enjoy a book while you still can.  Your Kindle/Nook/tablet can wait.

7)  Drop a few pounds:  Nothing will lift my spirits like stepping on the scale and seeing a slightly less me has survived the fever breaking sweat naps I've been taking.  Yay!  Thinner...

6)  NetFlix Online:  It's really quite awesome.  Watch wretched one star movies to your hearts content.  Better than the endless loop of Sports Center or Two and a Half Men (that darn Charlie Harper!)  Also a ton of great documentaries and decent new releases and old classics.  Also you can do headphones so you don't interrupt anyone else's  viewing schedule.  Seriously.  It kicks ass.

5)  Let yourself go:  Shower?  I don't need no stinking shower!  The non shaving/non bathing routine of illness is kinda awesome.  You already feel bad, you might as well smell bad! The unknown benefit is on day three when you have to re-enter society and you clean up and take a shower you feel AMAZING!  At least for a bit...

4)  Watch TV mindlessly:  Clean out the ol' DVR or watch all those movies that you have been meaning to get back to your friend who loaned them to you but it will be awkward when they ask if you liked them and you didn't really watch them.  Really anything to just waste the time until your immune system kicks in and gets you back up and running.

3)  Eat whatever:  Cheese popcorn and ginger ale currently tickling your fancy?  Dig in!  Diets don't apply when you are sick. Which is cool!  However, you really can't exploit this either (currently the thought of a Sausage/Pep with a side of Krispy Kremes sounds disgusting and as you both know that is not usually the case!)   You just want what you want.  Try to have fun with it.

2)  Busy work:  This is really a nice thing.  You can come out of your illness completely caught up on emails and other things procrastinated.  It goes well with that shower on day three!

And finally.... Number One is:  Track Suits

I have wanted a track suit for years but never purchased on for myself.  Little Fun Fact:  We tried to get custom matching track suits written into one of our record deals.  We thought it would be cool.  They didn't.  I did however get, not one, but two track suits a few Christmases ago.  They are everything I had hoped they would be.  In all honesty I don't wear the suits as a set all that often.  When I do, I feel like Tony Soprano (the lead Character from HBO's "the Sopranos") and I will also wear the whole set on special occasions like Christmas morning or New Year's Day.  You feel real classy!  I had not, however, worn my track suit while under the weather.  Much better than flannel pj's or sweat pants.  Plus they feel silky on your skin!

Feel better everybody and load up on vitamin C!

Can you make that out of gold?

Well my "30 BLOGS in 30 DAYS" campaign kinda lost it's way, came off the tracks, took a wrong turn and any other cliche that you deem fitting.  This whole endeavor has been a tremendous learning experience and an excellent experiment.  I have, through blind stumbling around and trial and error, determined what I would like to change and ultimately do with this blog.  A few days ago I went back and reread all of my posts and there were some I actually liked and some that were crap.  Well lady and gentleman, we here at the Can I Get That Covered In Gravy HQ have heard you and our mission is to make your valuable time spent here, reading these babbling's of a mad man, MORE BETTER.   I will probably coast through the holiday season then start making improvements and revamps in the new year.

One of the things that will definitely make it in the new improved CIGTCIG 2.0 is the addition of what music I am or am not listening to.... am not... amn't?.. nope doesn't work... anyway today it is the newly released Fractured Love by Jordan Rast.  I really hate Jordan in a lot of ways.  Naaaa... Hate is too strong.  I am jealous though.  He's a great singer and song writer.  I mean REALLY great.  He's young... too young to be on his THIRD original release! I've never met him but have heard nothing but awesome things about him.  Sigh... He probably rescues kittens.  Kitten rescuing aside, his record is very good and I'm currently trying to coerce him into playing on my next record.  If you haven't figured out my subtle hints check out his record and support an "indie."  It's good for you!

http://www.woodstovehouse.com/jordan-rast-fractured-love/

if "anyone" has a better link to Jordan's record please leave it in the comments.  Thanks!

I don't listen to much music when I drive.  Strange for a guy who has made his living with music over the last several years, I know, but it's true.  It doesn't help the cause that my daily driver is not radio friendly.  It's loud and rumbly so I find other ways to occupy my time on long drives.  One is... jeez... I'm not sure I should let this one out of the box.  Eh...

Ok.  I give interviews.  To no one.  I don't talk to myself.  I talk to the person "interviewing" me.  Wow. That seems crazy.  Maybe that is why I really like talk radio.  Those guys are just talking to themselves.  Hell this blog (and other peoples I'm sure!) is just me writing down my internal dialog.  I don't know maybe I'm just rationalizing now....  Well the reason I brought this up was to talk about Chris Gaines.

I always thought it would be hilarious, in an interview, to sight him as a musical inspiration but never did (I have been interviewed before and did well due to all my practice!) for fear of pissing off Garth Brooks.  You see, if you didn't know Chris Gaines was the fictitious alter ego created by Garth Brooks to explore his rock aspirations... or something like that.

At the time it was suspected that GB had LOST his mind.  In truth I think he was just bored.  He did the Gaines record when he was on top of the world and had nothing but money to burn.  I believe he still keeps his house warm burning bundles of hundred dollar bills.  My mind can not comprehend the kind of money he has.  Buy a country money.  So maybe, in his shoes I would have done something dumb like dress up like a pretend rock star and put out a record.  I would have done something probably even more stupid.

Do they make toilets out of gold?