Deadheads

What do you get for the deadhead that has everything? Get them, Tid-Dye duck tape.
Wrap you pipes with the same tape that Bob Weir uses.

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

From The Ralph Rumpelton Collection.

Superman Red, Superman Blue

This was my favorite comic when I was a kid. When all my comics were gone I held on to this one. Over the years, I don’t know how but it got lost. I found a copy online a couple of weeks ago. They had only one left and I got it. I can’t believe my luck.
It came in the mail a couple of days ago and I brought it to work. Some of my friends are into comics. Once they saw this, they didn’t want to give it back to me. (lol)

A Charlie Brown Christmas (The Meaning of Christmas)

Triple Steak Stack

I went to Taco Bell the other day for dinner. They have the Triple Steak Stack which is excellent. It’s steak chopped up with melted cheese, on a soft flat bread. Put some hot sauce on it and your ready to go.
I drive up to the window and notice they changed the menu. I didn’t see the steak stack on there. So I asked if they had it. They said they don’t sell it anymore. I was in a panic. I drove all the way there to get one and they don’t sell it anymore. I had to get something else which wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the steak stack. Then when I went up to pay, I heard the girl on the mic say, “we don’t sell that anymore.” Everybody is asking for it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an Occupy Taco Bell movement going on soon. The only way it’ll end is if they bring back the Triple Steak Stack.

Justice Legue Of America

When I was a kid I bought comic books all the time. Always DC. I didn’t really buy that many Marvel comics. I always thought they weren’t superhero enough. They were always making some kind of dumb comments.
 I just started buying “Action Comics” and “Justice League Of America.” Everything is new, as of now, there is no JLA, they’re just meeting one another. The Green Lantern said something that I’ve been saying for a long time. He meets Batman and ask him what his superpowers are. Batman say I don’t have any. Lantern says, “Your just a guy in a bat uniform?” I’ve been saying that for a long time, he’s not a real super hero. He’s more like a glorified James Bond.
Later on it, it’s Green Lantern, The Flash, Batman and Superman fighting some alien robots. Flash says to Lantern (talking about Batman), “What’s his powers?” Lantern says, “He don’t have any.” Flash ask Batman what he’s doing here. Batman says, “I keep everybody focus.”
 What is this? You got a bunch of people running around with superpowers and they can’t focus! This reminds me of the 70’s Yankees. Batman is the Billy Martin of the club trying to get all the prima donnas to work as a unit.
Another thing. It seems like the Green Lantern has a hard time concentrating. When he doesn’t his ring powers becomes unstable. Just what we need a guy running around with a power ring he can’t control.
Now I want to talk about the style of the artwork in the comics. I don’t like it. It all looks like the Heavy Metal comic book artwork. Most of the color is in blue and there’s fighting going on in each panel. I find it dark and very hard on the eyes.

A Little Christmas Movie

I made this movie last year for a music group I’m in on Yahoo.
The song “Hooray For Santa Claus” is from the great, great movie “Santa Claus Conquers The Martians.”
The song never gets played on the radio. If I owned a radio station, every Christmas this would get played.
BTW, there’s two Grateful Dead references in this movie.

Billy Joel > U2

I heard on the radio that Billy Joel is giving these Town Hall concerts. It's
part song, part question and answers. Somebody asked him about U2. He said he
was at a U2 concert and found out that they have a band underneath the stage
supplementing.
This is the first I'm hearing of this but I wouldn't be surprised if it was
true. I remember seeing BTO back in the 80's. I had this really big telephoto
lens. From where I was sitting, I could see a guitar player hiding behind the
amps playing with the band for the entire concert.
I think if bands were going to do something like this, they should just have
the other musicians on the stage. I think people realize that what you do on
record a lot of times can't be done on stage without other musicians to fill in
the music.

Tonight's The Night

Neil Young's "Tonight's The Night."
From the Ralph Rumpelton Collection.

Christmas Music

Since I work in retail, I’ve been hearing Christmas music non-stop. I wouldn’t mind it if they mixed it up a little, but they play the same songs by different singers over and over. I must hear “Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer” fifty times a night.  There’s one version by Dean Martin where he calls Rudolf, Rudy.  No wonder Rudy has a red nose, him and Dino been drinking down at the bar. If Rudy is to drunk to drive, I’m sure Dean’s nose will be red enough to take the lead.
Then there Sammy Davis Jr. doing “Jingle Bells.” He sounds like he’s pissed that he has to do the song. On one of the chorus he says, “Everybody.” This usually means the backup singers are going to join in. Nothing. It’s just him singing.
When you think about it, the scariest one is “Frosty The Snowman.” If I was building a snowman, and put a hat on it and it came to life, I’d take the first train out of town.

"One Size Fits All"

On the left, Cal Schenkel original album cover. On the right Ralph Rumpelton’s microsoft computer painting.

J&R Music World

One of the big things I miss about working in Manhattan is going to J&R Music World. J&R is one of the only stores that have a deep catalog. Go to any other music store and they only have the latest releases and maybe one of the popular albums. J&R has all the CD’s.
I also learned all my Classical music stuff from J&R. They had their own separate store for Classical. I became friends with the people that worked there and they told me about composers and the music. They also had a big budget section. Most of my Classical stuff is on the Naxos label. For a budget label they got high reviews.
Jazz had it’s own floor with a big budget section. This is where I found out about Chico Freeman. I got a bunch of his CD’s for $1.99.

Jose Reyes and The Mets

What’s the point in watching The Mets anymore? They let Reyes go to Miami (with their ugly uniforms), now they trade Angel Pagan. Pagan wasn’t no Mickey Mantel but he was an exciting player with a career .280 average.
Here’s my theory, when The Mets  have a lousy season this coming year, they can say, “at least it wasn’t with the same guys.”

Dave Brubeck

Am I missing something with today’s music? Drum machines, samples, samples of samples, auto tune mics, American Idol where people are stars in 5 minutes.
 There’s noting like live, real music.

Grateful Dead - "Europe 72"

From the Ralph Rumpelton Collection.