Fun and Games Dept

Just in time for my first club gig in years, iTunes proudly announced today that they have the entire Madonna catalog available for download.

OH. MY. MADONNA.

As a baby DJ back in the late 1980s I practiced my mixing techniques with two artists. The first was “Stars On 45” and their infamous medleys. “Stars On Stevie”. “Stars On Abba”. “Stars on The Beatles”. It went on and on. They served their task of being the first lesson in mixing very well because of the hand claps on the 2nd and 4th beat of every measure, of every medley. You just lined up the claps within a 32-beat measure and voila!, instant club mixing. All the medleys were relatively the same beats per minute so that made the task that much easier.

Mixing up Madonna tracks was like moving to the advanced class. Madonna was THE dance artist in the mid 1980s. But she varied her tempo a little. Changed up the mood a little bit. It didn’t take long to learn that “Material Girl” was not going to mix into “Justify My Love” unless you pushed it really hard, which then would result in a train wreck. The 12-inch single of “Vogue” lent itself to sampling, since the “Ladies with an attitude…” lines were a cappella. You could drop those babies over anything. You could scratch them a little bit. It was all good times.

It’s so nice to have her catalog FINALLY available on iTunes.

Also announced today – the latest version of iTunes for both Mac and Windows, as well as the iPod Nano and the Motorola lots of alphabet letters and numbers mobile phone with iTunes built in.

Labor Day Weekend 2005.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Earl and I have spent the last two days basically relaxing. Yesterday we went for a nice drive (but not too long due to gas prices!) through a portion of the Finger Lakes, making a pit stop at A&W in Cortland for dinner.

The world would not be a good place if these old A&W’s ever went away for good. Small wonder I love Wisconsin and Iowa so much – A&W country!

When we got home last night we watched “Torch Song Trilogy” on the TiVo with a bowl of popcorn and a glass of iced tea. We then called it a night but there’s a rumor that Earl went to the casino after I fell asleep. I can’t confirm this rumor because he didn’t shower me with gifts from his winnings. Then again, it could be because he lost. I guess Lady Luck was on holiday too.

Today we planned on just kicking back and doing basically nothing when my dad called and invited us to a picnic at Selkirk Shores State Park near my hometown. So we hopped in the Jeep and trekked up there for the old fashioned we do an impromptu picnic – sub sandwiches from the local market, a bag of chips to share and a pitcher of iced tea. We had good conversation and walked the entire park, all four campgrounds and the cabin colony. It was surprisingly bare of people, but being late on Labor Day I guess that’s the way it should have been. What was surprising was that the lifeguards have called it a season and removed all lifeguard chairs, ladders, etc. from the swimming area. No swimming at Selkirk again (legally) until Memorial Day 2006 I guess!

All in all I feel refreshed and ready to tackle the short work week.

More pictures from the weekend are here.

The Great New York State Fair 2005

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Earl and I made our annual trek to the Great New York State Fair today. We decided to approach this fun differently. In the past we’ve gone in the morning and have been out of there by 6:00 or so. Today we went around 4:30 and stayed until 10:00. It gave us a fresh perspective on the whole thing.

First of all, the people are more drunk when you go later in the day. This can be a good or a bad thing. If you’re trying to cop a feel, you’re less likely to get slapped or slugged (depending on what you’re feeling). However, you’re more apt to have a buzzed person bump into you and burn with a cigarette or dump a Schlitz down your back. So there’s pros and cons to the timing.

The sun isn’t as big of an issue for a fair skinned boy like myself, so going later in the day was a welcomed relief on my shaved head.

We hit all the high spots. The sand sculpture is back this year in the Horticulture building after a very conspicuous absence last year. We also had our obligatory cups of milk for 25 cents. We played the Bingo-ball game thing where you throw balls in to the little grid to get five in a row and win a prize. I didn’t ride any rides this year, because the one ride that I enjoy, the “Top Spin”, was shut down. My favorite of all time, “The Tempest”, is long gone from the State Fair. It occasionally shows up at local field days.

Last year the free concert at “Chevrolet Court” (which I will continue to call “Miller Court” for the rest of my life because that’s what it was when I was a kid) was Cyndi Lauper. This year it was Bowzer and Sha Na Na. The first year I took Earl it was Captain and Tenille, which was loads of fun. Because after all, Love Will Keep Us Together.

Earl is so patient with me. I have to say hello to the various animals and give them reassurance for their upcoming show. I threatened Earl with “going Green Acres” on him and moving him to Northeast Iowa to start a farm. He laughed a little before looking nervous.

All in all it was a good time. I often remark that I don’t like the area we live in now. I dream of moving to other places in the country; Albuquerque, Denver, Oklahoma City, but the truth be known, I would be very content to relocate back to Syracuse. Earl is hometown proud of Philly, I’m hometown proud of Syracuse. It’s fortunate that we don’t live too far away and are able to visit often.

There’s more pictures here.

While we were hanging out with our friends Tim and Steve over the weekend, they told us about a “Boy Meets Boy” parody on MadTV from a couple of years ago. I found the clip online, I just love it.

Click “Andra” to enjoy (requires Quicktime).

J.P. and Earl at Hillside

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

While we’ve just arrived home after a relaxing, fun-filled weekend camping at Hillside Campgrounds. I need a nap, but we’re all smiles.

It was a great weekend with wonderful friends, delicious food and wicked memories.

Today I am taking some well deserved (if I do say so myself) comp time and enjoying a relaxing day off. While I thoroughly love my job, there’s something very special about being home without obligation while your peers are working dutifully at their desks. So I slept in until 8:30 or so, watched “Designing Women”, “The Golden Girls” and “The Nanny” on Lifetime. I know, the picture is not complete with bon-bons and a housecoat, but I settled for pop-tarts and naked. I’m not a huge fan of “Designing Women” or “The Nanny”, but I do love “The Golden Girls”. I truly believe it will go down as one of the best sitcoms in the history of television. It did get a little ridiculous towards the end of the run, and yes The Golden Palace is a little painful to watch, but the first five seasons or so were spectactular.

Actually, I’ve been quite productive this morning and I’m finding the whole affair quite surprising. Earl and I are going camping this afternoon and he left me a small, quaint “honey do” list on the kitchen table. I’ve gone beyond what was required of me and have collapsed (in a good way) the camper, packed up the Jeep and purchased some supplies we keep saying we’re going to buy for the camper but never do. (Any excuse to go shopping is fine by me.)

Yesterday Earl had business to tend to in Buffalo, but he took the time to stop by the Apple store and pick up a couple of the new Mighty Mice. I use a mouse on my PowerBook when I’m working at my desk and I must say that I love my new Mighty Mouse. I’ve kept it in single button mode, because the whole two button mouse paradigm is so “Windows” but I’m loving the little scroll wheel and the side buttons to make OS X’s Exposé pop up. A nice little addition to the Mac line-up.

Now I need to get back to my chores so that we’re already for our camping adventure at Hillside. I’ve even remembered to pack the Sony digital camera so I can take some pictures!

It’s amazing what a little extra sleep can do.

Tonight I had the opportunity to do something I haven’t done in a long time. Dad and I went flying together.

My father has been a private pilot for a long time. I’ve complained about flying in the past, but those complaints are limited to flying the commercial airlines, mainly because they herd you like cattle through a shoot. I also have another beef, no pun intended, about flying commercially. I don’t know the pilot. And I can’t trust a pilot I don’t know.

I’ve been flying with my father since I was six months old. My grandfather was a private pilot, so we’d fly with him, and then my dad became a pilot in his late 20s. Where most people have blood flowing through their veins, my father has aviation fuel.

When I was growing up, we started off flying in the pilot’s association’s Cessna 150 (which is still going this day, I might add) and then a Piper Tomahawk. Later in the early 1980s, my grandfather and father bought a 1940 Piper J5-A that my dad stripped down to the metal and rebuilt. He had that for several years, before building the plane you see in the picture, his Acrosport.

The Acrosport is a lot of fun to fly in, but it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s open cockpit, so you get to wear all the Snoopy gear. I had the honor of wearing my grandfather’s pilot gear tonight. The passenger’s seat has the ominous warning: “PASSENGER WARNING: THIS HOME-BUILT AIRPLANE IS EXPERIMENTAL AND THEREFORE DOES NOT MEET FAA SAFETY REGULATIONS”. Who cares. It’s rare that I feel that free as when I’m sitting in the passenger’s seat of my father’s airplane. Just be sure to sit low in the seat so the wind doesn’t blow your sunglasses off!

Right after take off, the engine backfired a little bit and did a little sputter thing, just as we were banking to the right. My father straightened the plane to the horizon and it stopped. Another quick bank to the right to make sure it didn’t do it again, then a zip around 180 degrees to buzz (that means fly really low and fast) my sister and Earl, who were standing along the airfield watching us, both waving. Did the sputter worry me? Absolutely not. I was in the capable hands of my father, so that meant there was nothing to worry about. He’s been in worse situations and has never had even a close call. Nothing to fear.

The rest of the flight was awesome. We flew eight or nine miles to the west of my hometown to fly along the eastern shore of Lake Ontario a little bit before heading back home. I wasn’t ready to take the controls to fly yet, though Dad would have let me. I used to fly occasionally with the club instructor or my dad when I was younger, given the controls of the Cessna or the Apache. And I’m eager to try my hands at a Cessna 150 or 172, but not his Acrosport. Not yet.

Afterwards, we had a wonderful meal with my Dad, his girlfriend Karen and my sister Jennifer. Great conversation, delicious food and a flight down memory lane.

A wonderful evening.

You can click on the picture above for more pictures from the flight.

For the past couple of days, I’ve been messing around in the music studio here at home, doing some club style mixing and basically just getting to know my equipment better. (I know the last part of that sentence sounds rather racy, but I’m too lazy to fix it.) I’ve been ripping CDs left and right into my PowerBook, doing some music purchasing on iTunes and updating my vinyl collection through ebay purchases. Plus, there’s this thing called LimeWire…

Anyways, I’m in the mood to do some spinning in a club again. I’m not really looking for a full-time, every weekend type of gig, but something that lets my creative juices flow and allows me to pump up a crowd for a Saturday night once in a while.

There’s a chance that I’ll be spinning in Buffalo next month at a Buffalo Bears Night. The regular DJ is unable to work that night, so I’ve been approached about stepping in. The trouble? “Buddies” is moving to “Buddies II” and it might not be ready for the bar night. If there’s no bar, then I would guess they probably won’t need a DJ that night. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the bar will be done so I can spin. I’m really, really excited about the prospect of spinning, especially for a bunch of bears in a city that hasn’t heard me DJ before. I spin best for those outside of the club bunny/twinkie circuit. Plus, it’s Rodeo Night so there’s room for a country tune or four.

Last month Earl and I ventured to Jones Pond to go camping, and of course there’s a “party barn” at the campgrounds, complete with a state of the art sound and lighting system. I heard a couple of songs there that I really liked, including “Don’t Cha” by The Pussycat Dolls and this techno version of “Waiting For A Star To Fall” by Boy Meets Girl. This weekend we’re going to another campground, this time Hillside Campground, where I’m sure we’ll hear another mix of music.

I have to admit I’m not a big fan of the videos. First of all, it’s nearly impossible to beat mix a video into a set and secondly, I’d rather watch the bare chested dancers sweating and strutting on the dance floor than watch a video of some fabricated pop star. Call me crazy, but I like my entertainment to be three dimensional.

Here it is Wednesday afternoon and all I can do is dream about the weekend. It’s not that I don’t enjoy my job or anything like that; its just that lately all I can do is think about the fun filled frivolity the weekend promises. To make things more confusing, I’m on call this weekend, so it’s not like I’m going to go out and be a wild man or anything like that. I’m just ready for it to be “Saturday”.

I think it has to do with sleep patterns. I’ve mentioned before that I’m wired for Central Time. When Earl and I were in Indianapolis last week, I went to bed at 11 and arose around 7, like I’m doing this week, but I just felt so much better. And that’s after sleeping in a hotel bed that was bouncier than a trampoline. Earl and I are big boys and when we toss around in our sleep, especially in a bouncy bed, we both bob around like we’re in a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean. (Tom plays the part of Leonardo DiCaprio, clawed in to the side of the bed hanging on for dear life).

I think I would enjoy my weekdays more if I was retired and could stay up until I was actually tired and then got up when I was actually rested. But I end up going to bed at 11:00, earlier than my body wants to and then dragging myself out of bed at 7:30 to be to work by 9 (at least this week). When I’m not on call, I have to be to work earlier, then its just awful. As it is I barely speak English before noon.

So we’re more than half way to a weekend devoid of plans, but I’m looking forward to it anyways. Next weekend we’re camping and I’m already looking forward to that as well.

Sometimes I feel like I’m wishing my life away.

Earl and I jumped on the freeway this morning and made the trek across Indiana and Ohio, arriving in Erie, Pa. this evening around 7:00 p.m. We’ve installed ourselves at the Holiday Inn Express on Peach Street near I-90. It’s a nice little hotel with internet access. Unfortunately they don’t have any Ethernet cables available for sign-out, and I seem to be missing my ethernet cable from my backpack, so I’m typing this blog entry in TextEdit and will upload it later.

It’s August 12 – I have to say “Happy Birthday, Mike”. I can’t remember if your birthday is the 12th or 14th, so I’ll just play it safe and say happy birthday tonight.

We had a great dinner at “Quaker Steak and Lube” which sounds kinkier than it really is. Mother Nature treated us to an awesome thunderstorm toward the tail end of our supper. After we finished up we drove through downtown Erie and along the lakefront, looking for signs of a gay bar. Not that we were going to go in or anything, well, maybe for one drink. Unfortunately the last time I was out and about in Erie was 1990 and gay bars barely stay put for one year, let alone 15. So no booty shaking tonight.

So now we’re catching a little television before calling it a night. Tomorrow we’re taking the short drive to Buffalo, doing some shopping and then meeting up with some friends for the night.