Charlie's Books

Charlie's Books
Buon Giorno, Amici!

Our motto ...

Leave the (political) party. Take the cannoli.

"It always seems impossible until it's done." Nelson Mandela

Right now 6 Stella crime novels are available on Kindle for just $.99 ... Eddie's World has been reprinted and is also available from Stark House Press (Gat Books).

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The Allman Brothers … Magic City Muscle … Speaking of Drafts … Speaking of knees … Death Panels …

Amici:

The Allman Brothers … a few years ago, the boss forced me to go see a Bruce Springsteen concert at the Moonachie Meadowlands (where the Jersey Jets & Giants play). I remember parking in the lot and not wanting to get out of the car because so many “old” people like me where there and acting all excited; it was one of those gut check moments when one is forced to realize how silly they too must look going to a rock concert at the age of 50 (or so). It took a while, but eventually I got over myself and we went in and had a great time. Last night the Principessa bought tickets for the PNC center in Holmdel, New Jersey (the most corrupt state in the union) to see The Allman Brothers Band … now I’ve always wanted to see them because I love their bluesy tunes but even more so because they use two drummers (that 2-for-1 thing). Then I almost had a heart attack last night on the ferry when the Principessa filled me in on the details … a) The Doobie Brothers are playing with them (I nearly upchucked my pretzel—I am not a Doobie Bros. fan but they may surprise me) … more importantly, however, was b) … the tickets cost $111.00 each …

“Are you f—king kidding me?” I said (very loud).

“Calm your Jets, Hojo,” the Principessa Ann Marie said. “That’s what they cost.”

“I was figuring thirty ($30) or forty ($40) bucks. What the f__K?”

“Because you act like a twelve (12) year old, you think it’s still nineteen-sixty-eight (1968).”

Oy-vey, amici … I can’t even imagine what opera tickets cost these days …

Review next week … and at least one of those bands (or the f__king drummers) better be good.


Magic City Muscle … once upon a time I lifted with a few of these guys at a powerlifting meet in 1974 … I was a rookie breaking his cherry (so to speak) but these guys were the real deal (record holders 36 years ago and they haven’t stopped since). I remember Brad Weber’s 420 lb. raw bench in the linked picture because I was there (I strained to bench 320 at that meet and I was at least 20 pounds heavier than Brad). Gary Clock’s name was already legend in Minot by the time us rookies showed up. Check out the squat racks in the pics, by the way. Those’ll make your knees shake.

Brad and Gary have continued to lift themselves into the record books and at age 60, Gary squatted 601 pounds not long ago.


Speaking of drafts … anybody catch T.O.’s debut as one of my beloved new york state buffalo bills the other night? Have you ever seen such a gifted received streak across the field with such athleticism and aplomb?

Yes, I had to look up aplomb.

It was ugly, amici … it just might be a very long season.


Speaking of knees … the ugly one has an appointment for new knees next week … well, the examination part anyway … yeah, getting back into squatting was a real smart move. I was at the gym bright and early this a.m. (4:15 a.m.), but only to start lifting medium heavy on the bench. Lady Gaga was singing to me so loud I thought my head would explode. Then I was driving home humming the tune and had to consider driving the Stellamobile into a wall to stop myself.


Death Panels … as much as the ugly one is in favor of ethical suicide parlors and/or retroactive abortions (up to age 45), one can only assume Sarah Palin’s use of the term “death panels” is yet another desperate attempt to scare middle America away from helping themselves. Her purposeful misrepresentation of watered down health care legislation is too absurd to give credence. Caribou Barbie has become a poster child for ridiculousness. If the DOC was right about that 30% of McCain’s 48% vote for the Republican Presidential nominee last election, it still leaves them 23% short of a tie (for another loss). I suspect the 18% DOC attributes to McCain will be running the other way if Palin is anywhere near the campaign, but the healthcare industry need not fear anything, Obama and his Democrats seem perfectly content to leave “nearly 46 million Americans, or 18 percent of the population under the age of 65 … without health insurance” (this a 2007 statistic) … with so many out of work these days, you think the number went up or down?

The only death panels regarding health insurance in America these days are those who continue to get to deny insurance to at least 46 million Americans … in the year 2009, after all of OUR money this government (both parties) gave to Wall Street, et al., with all of OUR taxpayer money being absolutely burned to absolutely no purpose in both Iraq and Afghanistan (way to change things, Mr. Obama), 46 million uninsured Americans is nothing less than criminal.


—Knucks


And the DOC says ...

Personally speaking, Chaz,

Not that you fucking pay attention to what that signifies. Before you see the Allman Brothers check out Warren Zevon's tribute to them

About a month ago I went to a concert with the Doobie Brothers and Bad Company up at Woodstock. I was never a big Doobie Brothers fan either, but keep an eye on their young guitarist. I think his name is McPhee. We were in the second row and the look on his face was riveting. He was just so absolutely delighted to be getting paid for playing the guitar and have people clap that he didn't know whether to shit or go blind. I have never quite figure out the logic of that expression, but it somehow conveys the plight of not knowing what to do. Go figure.

I know I never smiled like that while I was writing programs and I'm sure you never smiled like that while you were performing your girly typing tasks.

Doc