That friends is someone that'd viewed my site. And if they'd spent anytime here they could have found out from the FAQ that it's not me on the front page. The beauty of the internet is that stupid people visit your site.

Well, I've finally taken the time to start putting up what I consider my Top 25 albums. It's in no particular order. These first entries are ones that happen to be handy. Unfortunately I thought I'd write all these glowing reviews of these albums, delving into the nuances. The problem is, they're all good. What more can one way when you're listening to a filet mignon of music? Likewise, I had grandious plans of making the page something fancy. You'll have to standard with the standard RIMBoy.com black text on a white background for now. This site has never been about design. If it was you probably would have not pulled up the pink random background.

Anyway, since the bus to Tardville stopped by 1 RIMBoy.com Way today I figure I better close up shop before everything gets lifted.

Made up Band Name of the Day: Gout and The Goldbonds

RRC rocks. Harder than Casey's Goatfarm. Unless the goat-daddy starts updating his site ole Sean is going to make fun of the farm. I've seen a few of these trucker hats as of late, maybe it's because I've been hanging out where the Scenesters hang out and the Scenester thing to do is wear the trucker hats. Too bad ol Lou Reed passed away, otherwise the Scenester dream of getting their picture taken in a trucker hat whilst standing next to Lou Reed could come true.

You have to wonder about the google sometimes. Frasier (the dog) has been on a clepto streak as of late. He's stealing anything and everything he can get his mouth around, mainly paper products (this IS the dog that eats your homework). Anyway, I googled "why do dogs steal" and eventually I'm led to this. Could it be that Frasier has the Mansion family somewhere in his bloodlines? Frasier don't surf just does not have that ring to it. Frankly Frasier hates water. And wind. What dog hates those two items? Apparently my dog.

Earlier this spring I got hooked on these Lemon Pop things from Purity Daries. It's a TN thing this Purity Dairies (also featured on the Nashville episode of Insomniac with Dave Atell). Anyway, they're relatively well priced for a box of 12 and are mighty tasty. I'm going week to week feeding an addiction of these things (mainline if you will) when Jen brings home a box from the store. I dig right in, take a bite and I'm like, did you buy the diet version of these things? No, why? It's like a bad cross of Nutrasweet and Lysol or something is about the best way to describe the taste. Not the normal taste. I finish mine off and try another on the off chance I just had a bad one. Nope, it's something awful. Jen tries one and makes the puke face. Bad bad stuff. So we get another box, thinking it's maybe a bad box. Nope, it's bad too. Then get a box from another store. That's just as awful. Ok, there's something wrong.

Tonight I open up the freezer to find a box of those Lemon Pops. New box? Yup. I crack it open craving that special taste I came to know and love before the mix turned into some sort of Rocky Horror experiment. I take one bite and Nirvana is back in the form of a lemon flavored popscicle. It's sooo good I go back for a second, and then a third. When I get done writing this I'll probably wolf down another. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm glad things are back to the way they were. Maybe the guy in charge of the mix went on vacation or got fired and then Purity realized the error of their ways and hired him back. Maybe they let Dave Atell near the machine and in his drunk stupor screwed something up. All I know is the frozen dessert I've come to know and love this summer is back.

I took Jen to Fall Creek Falls last Friday to celebrate the 4 year anniversary (which was on the 21st). Good hike, though they've railed the entire hike and made it a little less strenous. No more sliding down the hill on your rear. I'm sure someone complained. It's the California thing to do.

Saturday night brought two great events: J3FF finally got married. It was an awesome wedding. Saturday night was also the departure party for one Naked Dave who is being shipped to Kuwait. What little I'm willing to say (and it's probably saying too much) is that I hope he's only over there for what he's been told he'll be there for and nothing more. I realize it's his duty and I support that fact, but Nashville needs the Nekkid.

It's brought me so much joy that Fox got clobbered in court over the Franken lawsuit and amazingly enough, they're being sore losers about it. Sounds like someone finally pulled their head out of their you know where and realized it would sell more books (which it has) and they'll lose "Fair and Balanced" (which they've never had nor were to begin with). The fact of the matter is Franken was part of a great group at SNL and was / is a heck of a writer. Sure, his movies have stunk, so have Carvey's. Very few SNL skits translate well to the big screen. Only two have done so to date, and both sequels have stunk. The Blues Brothers and Wayne's World. Back to my point. Franken's Rush Limbaugh book is highly entertaining and I'm planning to pick up his latest. Actually, I'd like to thank Fox for bringing it to my attention that he's releasing a new one. I'll be putting it on the mantle right next to my Michael Moore book. Daddy's gonna get his read on.

Made up Band Name of the Day: And Natural Flavors

Big news out of Mascoutah. A couple had their flowers stolen. I grew up down the road from these folks (just about a mile). It was always a treat to pick and eat their strawberries. Nothing like being able to eat while you picked (never sprayed). I would never guess that muggers of the marigolds would live in the area. Guess my dad needs to be on the lookout for posey purloiners.

Made up Band Name of the Day: And Special Guests

More or less what local Nashville TV personality Leland Statum (on left) said on the local PBS telethon. Generally I flip past PBS whenever one of its under-funded by our govt so we've got to pimp for dollars telethons are on. I remember when that stuff used to be on once a year. And they showed "It's A Wonderful Life" 50x a day. You know, Turner could just turn loose with a few of his millions and put an end to the telethon misery. After all, he put an end to "It's a Wonderful Life" (and can someone please explain how that happened since the copyright lapsed?). Casey (over there at the goatfarm) once had a great quote about Leland. Leland IIRC was one of Casey's list of "Manly Men". Leland's just got that kind of power. The power to summon frogs from the sky as I recall how Casey put it, but always with that smile.

So I'm flipping thru the channels and hit the PBS telethon and quickly realize it's a telethon. I change the channel immediately but then realize it was Leland (remember, summons frogs from the sky) and better yet, the people manning the phones were laughing. I'm like, that never happens, better go see what's going on. Sure enough, Leland's cracking jokes and everyone is laughing. Including people manning the phones. And then he drops the quote above. I'm like, YEAH BUDDY! Leland's quote is not only about CATS, it's better than CATS. I want to hear it again and again.

Cheers Leland, you made "...it a GRRRRREAT day!".

Made up Band Name of the Day: DOGS

Somewhere, someplace, Sunglasses at Night is playing. Sleep on that. Makes you feel good too.

I don't get The Flaming Lips. Like the Dave Matthews Band, I believe they could be (and given their lack of airplay, cannot totally go all the way out on this limb) one of the most overrated bands in music today. As I told a friend, I though the purpose of an acid band was to not have to take acid. You can get a pretty good trip with Pink Floyd without going the distance. In fact, I once worked with a dishwasher at a Ryan's Steakhouse that told me to stay away from mind altering substances when listening to Pink Floyd and better yet, when viewing The Wall. I trusted his opinion and trust it to this day. One of many important things I learned while working at Ryan's. Heck, even doing the Dark Side of Oz is pretty freaky. For the record, Dark Side of the Moon IMO is Pink Floyd's best album. Of course, I'll chronical this in my top 25 albums list that's been 2 years in the supposed making.

Anyway, back to my point. I saw the Lips play last week in Nashville. Eels were also on the bill and they were the reason why I went to the show (that and it was a $5 cover). Anyway, I went in with the mindset that this is when I'd be sold on the Lips. I'd hear their music and want to even purchase some of it. After sitting thru this amazing mess of a show (it could be summed up with "More Rock, Less Talk") I came to the conclusion that bands like the Lips (and pop-trash) are the reasons why P2P filesharing exists. I thought it was pretentious at best. Anytime video props up a band is the sign a band is not great. Rush has video, but they stand on their own. Video only enhances the performance, not what makes the performance good or great. While I dug some of the Lips video, the fact of the matter was that it was on screen only to make the band look cool. Oh yeah, I also dug using a leaf blower to blow up a huge balloon. All I can say about the Lips is that they were glad to be back in Nashville, and that they had some rude fans / groupies.

The Eels rocked. Not long enough though. I'd love to see them come back thru Nashville as the headliner.

I spent the better part of last weekend keeping busy to keep myself from spending all day on the recliner. Despite a couple of naps, I think I was pretty successful. Bruce and I went to Short Mountain Saturday morning to replace an ailing digipeater. Saturday night Jen and I hit Rotiers for some good burgers (and a filling shake). We then hit an art show opening whose focus was poster prints. There were some really cool Wilco prints there. Overall another good show for Nashville. Jen and I then trucked on up to Adams TN to catch the tail end of their bluegrass festival. Howard had invited me last year but I missed it. This year I made it. Great show and a great night for driving the convertible.

Speaking of great nights, Nashville is having a mild summer. I've never had a summer this mild in the time I've been in this town. And I'm not complaining. Highs in the 80's in August is not a frequent occurance. I'm just wondering what weather mess lies in store. Either that or the payback was on the front end with this past winter. As long as it keeps up, I'm good. Sooner or later, you'll hear me talk about Stag Beer. It was formerly brewed in Belleville Il, where more or less I grew up (I was in the next town over, but had family in Belleville so we were always there). I came across this review with a nice picture of the beast. It's not a tall though. It was a rare day to open my Great Uncle's fridge and not see a case of Stag sitting on the bottom. According to my dad, it's never been the same since they stopped using water from Richland Creek in Belleville. I recall reading at one point the power company had dumped / leached PCB's into the creek over time. Yeah, I guess it would not taste the same. If you've ever wanted to start a Retro Country station, here's your list. However, I'll agree with my Uncle Ken that under no circumstances should Anne Murray's music be heard anywhere at anytime. As the author points out, there are no wrong answers. I'll agree to that statement with the following modification: There are no wrong answers as long as it does not involve futhering Anne Murray's career.

Good to see Don William's masterpiece "If Hollywood Don't Need You" on the list (aka, the Burt Reynolds song).

Made up Band Name of the Day: The Capsized Gravy Boat

There are a few people in the world that have just a little too much time on their hands. I happen to be one of them, though I often don't put that time to good use.

On the other hand (har har) these guys do (Beware, Geocities pop-ups ahead for those using cruddy browsers). Anyway, it's interesting to see the supposed "ungamer" system of the Apple IIe destroying hands down the by far handiest game platform of the past decade. For not being known as a gamer platform (I'll admit that the C64 gets this crown) the educational beige of the IIe is still the turkey in the chicken farm... a better quality meat overall despite it's inability to be a great utilitarian. It's once again a testament to Woz that the IIe could out perform a system that by all accounts still see more use than the IIe does today. A system that was designed for one purpose and getting beat by a system that while not nearly as portable, employed older technology and had more to support.

Of course, this still does nothing to make a dent in the collection of IIe's that I have. I've stripped and seperated several for an art project, one that's yet to see me take any steps towards completion. Maybe that's what this weekend will be for. Of course, I'll end up sitting around with no motivation, like usual. I do have to mow the lawn though.

Made up Band Name of the Day: Alcohol of Biblical Proportions

What a crazy day of storms we had yesterday. Nothing happened at 1 RIMBoy.com way so there's really nothing else left for me to say. Although I must admit it was quite a light show on the way home. I dropped the top on the car (because if you don't take a chance you'll miss good weather) and watched the light show south of my destination. The cool part was the cloud that was covering the moon so it looked like someone was shining a spot light into the clouds.

The run today was no good. Because of my 3 runs in 3 days last week my body was out of wack. Yesterday my calf muscles were pretty tight. Today they were a little looser but the humidity was such that I was feeling queezy and my shin splints were acting up. I'll see how it goes tomorrow (my off day) but I have a feeling I'll forgo the Thrusday run, run Friday and see if I cannot get into the 4 day swing next week.

I lamented the fact to a friend that I don't have a lot of photo's on my website. I took a lot of photos in HS (too much some might say) and really don't pick up the camera these days unless I've got a real specific reason to. I even made it "big time". (Note, they spelled the album name wrong, it should be Idego, as in Id and Ego). It was one of the few achievements I had "industry" wise and proof that it never hurts to take a college photography class (or two). Anyway, I occured to me that I put up a great picture from my HS days. I took it on the trip back from the very awesome band trip to Chicago (yeah, I was a band geek, sue me). I put the camera on the floor and we all huddled around while the bus was moving (the window on our bus would later blow out but I don't believe it's related to anything I or others on the trip did). Anyway, I've got more picts that I need to put up, including the "Exibit coming soon" pict I took at the Shed Aquarium.

I'm also a train geek (as in the big engines that roar down the tracks) and I've got a few good picts to put up too. I need to get my scanner hooked up to my mac since it's not cooperating with my current incantation of Linux.

Made up Band Name of the Day: Three Reasons to Rock

From The WVSR comes the quote.

I've been doing a few drive by postings, and holding back everything that's been going on. Not that there's been alot. just stuff that been awaiting one big worthy post. Let's get it on!

2003 has shaped up to be a damn good year for concerts. The house rocking Kasey Chambers show (See 2/15 entry over in Feb03), a spectacular Rhett Miller show for Nashville Sunday Nights (complete with live cover of Ziggy Stardust) and this year's lineup for Uptown Mix. I decided to see a little history and I think I saw some history in the making at the X and Jason and the Scorchers show. X was good though the soundman turned it up way too loud. Scorchers were also good, albiet sans the cover of Take Me Home Country Roads, though Drug Store Truckdrivin Man was a highlight. What was in the making was the opening band (billed as power-pop on the flyers). I arrived about halfway thru their set, heard half a song and immediately wondered why I missed the first half of their show. It was one of the tightest sets I've heard in a long time. I purchased the 5 song EP and a T-shirt (going to find a place to wear it, you watch) and for a band that's only been together for a year has the most impressive EP you'll ever hear. Band's never-ever put out an EP this good. It does not happen. Sure, they've played in other bands before but this is still so good it makes me wonder how long it will be before someone takes notice. The question is, will they change the name?

Also this summer came a solo performance from Ben Folds (with Fleming and John on the bill too). Ben put forth a pretty good show. Quote "I'd like to think that when they look back at 90's music they'll say that they crunched a lot of numbers". If only they were listening a few yards over on Music Row. What Ben referenced (before launching into Rockin' The Suburbs) is the lack of talent and emphasis on looks, all being fixed by Pro-Tools (Alsihad, hehe). The sad part is, I kinda suspect Ben's right. We sure did crunch a lot of numbers (German Math as he also referred to it).

Up next is the Eels, which according to The WVSR put on a good show. Hopefully the weather will behave and we'll get rocked. It's been a good year so far, with the Kasey Chambers show making it into my top 10 of concerts. It don't get much better than that.

Well, I guess I can quit running now (though I won't, I'm liking what little heathly-ness has started to invade my body) since my 10 year class reunion was this past weekend. Timed in conjunction with the Mascoutah Homecoming und Augustfest, it's a big excuse to have a parade and get drunk. That's not my thing, and is part of the reason why I no longer live in the area. But it's fun to go back, especially when you've not seen some people since graduation. Of course, quite a few people I wanted to see were not there (especially after I looked thru my yearbook to see who was missing) but the few that were made it worthwhile. I came to the conclusion that John Hughes was not too far off the mark with Ally Sheedy's character. Sure enough, one of the people I went to HS with was still up to his ways, ways that made me remember that Ally's character (Allison) was a lot like him. It was good to see some people change, and yet others (for better or worse) stayed the same. As long as none of us turn into the guy on the class of 78 float we'll be in good shape. Thankfully we were not bless with disco when we went thru school. Instead we'll be doing the running man.

I'm going to go running 4 times this week. I've worked most of the spring and into the summer to get up to 3 miles 3 times a week. This from a guy who used to think nothing about running 6 miles 3-4 times a week. When you're packing an extra 50-60 pounds you've not had before it's a little more difficult. Anyway, I put in 3 runs in 3 days last week. Body told me that it's not up for that 3rd run on the 3rd day. I'm going to go for the Mon-Tue Thur-Fri schedule and see how that goes. Maybe by fall I'll be in good enough shape to do 5x a week. Of course, it'll be cold by then and I'll stop running. I'm not holding my breath on losing weight though.

Well, it's been a good July and not too hot by Nashville standards. I'm over my major hurdle for the summer. I guess I can start setting goals for that 20 year reunion.

Made up Band Name of the Day: The Square-dancin' Inbreds