Twenty One Pilots, Jack Kerouac, and Superstition.

     I would love to start out with a great act from America's Got Talent, but it came on an hour later tonight, due to the U.S. Olympic trails. I"m recording it, so hopefully, I will have a clip for you on Saturday night.

     Today we had another horrible terrorist attack, this time in Istanbul, Turkey. My heart goes out to the people of Turkey tonight. They are in a constant struggle for their way of life and freedom, and it has become for difficult with everything that has been going on around their borders. Be strong and know that I stand beside you.

     I'm going to see my favorite band play this weekend. Twenty One Pilots will be doing a show at the Amway Arena. It will be the largest venue that I have seen them play in. This will also be my sixth time seeing the. A mere 12 days after that, I will see them for the 7th time in Colorado at Red Rocks. I have been lucky enough to have seen a show there before, and it is amazing. The band I saw was someone that just happened to be playing when I was there, and I wanted to see a show there. This time though, I will get to see Twenty One Pilots play on that historic stage, with Denver as the back drop. I'll make sure to get at least one picture to post here so that you can see my view. I will only take that one picture though, I don't like taking my phone out during concerts. I'd much rather watch the show with my own eyes, and keep it as a memory, than to watch it on a tiny screen and miss out on everything around me.

     This was my view for that show. I'll try to get a better shot than this, but you get the idea. For those of you that don't know Red Rocks Amphitheater is carved out of a mountain. You walk up several flights of stairs to get to it, and you come in through the bottom near the stage. You then walk up several more flights of giant stairs to get to your seat, and when you turn around, that is when you see the stage, and Denver off in the distance. I"m not sure if you can see it in this picture, but right above the stage, you can see a straight line of lights in Denver. That is Colfax Avenue. It was once dubbed, "The longest, wickedest street in America". Colfax was where everything happened good and bad, and inspired several writers, artists, and just all around malcontents. One of my favorite writers, Jack Kerouac, wrote about it in "On the Road". This trip, I'm even going to make a stop at My Brothers Bar, which was an old hangout of Jack's. I'm hoping for a little inspiration of my own, but I'll settle for a great burger and a whiskey, beer, or both.

     My new helmet should arrive tomorrow, so I'll give you my review of the Arai XD-4 on Saturday. Although, there is a strong forecast of rain for the rest of the week here, so I may not be able to give that review until the weather decides to cooperate. I'll do my best.

     I bet you thought I was going to forget about My Favorite Song of the Week. Good news, I hadn't. I had a song in my head for the past two days, and I knew it was the one. We are going to go back a bit for this one. I love funk, and although this artist isn't primarily known for funk, he definitely brought it on this song. I'm talking about none other than, Stevie Wonder, and his song "Superstition". You can't think of funk and not have this song come across your mind. It has everything in it, the beat that makes you want to shake your booty, groovy guitar licks, keyboards that will melt your eardrums,  and a baseline that will curl your toes. Why am I typing so much, and not just letting you get to the song? Here it is, Stevie Wonder with one of the greatest songs of all times, "Superstition".

     That's it for tonight. Have a wonderful rest of the week, and more importantly, peace in and goodnight.

Helmets and Riding.

     I rode a lot this week, and I realized that I can't stand my helmet anymore. I have one on pre-order, but it was pushed back until the end of July I couldn't wait for that one to show up, so I ordered another one that I've been looking at. I think I'm going to be very happy with it. It's and Arai XD-4 It's a dual sport helmet, and is light weight. It has a billed visor with plenty of air vents to keep my head cool in the Florida heat, and has enough room inside so that I can wear my glasses or sunglasses when I have my contacts in. That was big selling point for me. My current helmet, I couldn't wear my glasses with it, and since I have a smoked shield on it, I can't really see very well at night with it. This new helmet will alleviate that problem. I can wear sunglasses during the day, and just use the shield at night. Here is a picture of the helmet

     I went with the black, even though they make one that is red, white, and black that may go better with my bike, but the red is a flat red, so black does just fine. I also have this key chain, that after yesterdays ride seems appropriate.

      I finally got Saki out on the highway, and it likes to go fast. I got it up to 95 MPH with no problem and very quickly. The weird thing is, that was the fastest I've been on a bike, and it didn't worry me in the least. I felt real comfortable at that speed. I of course slowed down, because it was far exceeding the speed limit, but I only managed to get it down to the low 80's. It felt real good and probably the closest I will ever feel to actually flying on my own.

     Back to the helmet for a second. I know what you are thinking, "What do you need with two helmets? Why not just wait until the other one arrives, or cancel the order and just get the one?". Those are great questions, and I pondered those in my own mind when I was deciding to buy the Arai helmet. The plain and simple answer is, I'm going to need two helmets anyways. I will have a back up if anything happens to either one of these helmets, and also, it gives me one if anyone wants to ride on the back with me. They are going to have go be able to fit in a medium sized helmet though, otherwise they are going to have to have their own.

     I went to the grand opening of a new craft brewery in the area last night. I have to say, that overall, I was disappointed. They only had one good beer on tap, and the rest were mediocre at best. They could always improve, but until I hear from someone else that goes back and has s good beer there, I won't be going out of my way to go there. A lot of people thinks that they can make craft beer, but it is very difficult to make it, and make it well. Fortunately there is a brewery in the area, that does it just as good if not better, than anyone else. There are two more breweries set to open this year, and I'm hoping for a better showing by them. The one that I like is quite a distance from my house, and the two new ones that are opening are much closer. One is even within bicycling distance. If they are good, then I will have more choices of places to get a good craft beer.

I did want to show you the actual video for Heathens by Twenty One Pilots. Hopefully this will work. Here is a link to the video, since I can't seem to find it in the drop down menu. Heathens-Twenty One Pilots And with that I bid you, peace in and goodnight.

Heathens

     How do I start this tonight? Well, I guess I just did, so let's get into it. I wanted to give a little applause to the band Panic! at the Disco. They have rereleased a t-shirt that gave a portion of the proceeds to HRC. It is based from one of their songs called, "Girls/Girls/Boys". All the proceeds from this shirt are going to the Pulse Victims Fund. They have been selling it on their current tour, and tonight is the last night that you could by it, but wait. They also are selling it on Teespring. You have the chance to order one, and help out a good cause, just go to Girls/Girls/Boys

     I watched America's Got Talent tonight, and there were some amazing acts. I will always try to pick one act that stands out, but there were so many tonight. I had to choose one though, and Jayna Brown was the one that I thought was the best. She is a 14 year old girl, that has the voice of a 45 year old soul singer. I think she has a shot at going pretty far in the competition, but I'll let you decide for yourself.

     Beyond her voice, she also commands a stage like someone with years of experience in front of a large crowd. That is what separated her from the rest to me. She just has that "IT" factor about her. Her presence and poise make her a top contender to me.

     I didn't have my Favorite Song of the Week last week, so that you could take a short moment of silence and reflection instead. The FSW (yeah, i'm going to shorten it from now on. it will make things go quicker) is back this week. It is from my favorite band. At a time in my life, when I was contemplating suicide on a daily basis, this bands album Vessel lifted me up and brought me out of it. Sure, there were other factors involved, but that album was important. That album also got me to pick up a ukulele and learn to play. I haven't put that ukulele down yet. Their songs speak about issues that a lot of people don't want to talk, or even hear about. Those songs spoke to me, and I could relate.This is a new song from the Suicide Squad soundtrack. They just released the video for it today. I would have liked to post that video, but for some reason, I can not get it to come up, so  fan video it is. Ah, let's just get to it already. This is Heathens by my favorite band in the world Twenty One Pilots.

     I hope you enjoy the song and the band. One day I will go into detail of what it is a like about this band and their fans in general. I've take up enough of your time tonight. Peace in and goodnight.

I'd Like You to Meet Saki.

     Remember a few posts back, when I was telling you about the Honda CBR650F? You know, when I said that I was thinking about getting it in a few months or more. Well, that didn't happen. It wasn't the CBR, but it is rather nice, and I fell in love with it.

     This is Saki. Saki is a Kawasaki Ninja EX650FGFL. It has everything I wanted from the CBR, with the ABS brakes, the color, and just great styling, for a much lower price. The sales guy, was great. He asked be what it would take to get me on a bike today (which was really friday). He knew that I was just there to look around and run a few question by him. I gave him, what I thought was an impossible number to hit, and he managed to hit it. I was a little floored, when he came up and said, "Congratulations". I thought there was no way they were going to hit it, but they did, and even came in a bit lower. We went through all the paper work, and then I had to wait for the bike. He was gassing it up, cleaning it down, and charging the battery for it's trip home. The sales guy told me it was going to take a while, so my drinking buddy, who had met me up there, took off to get some lunch. We wasted a good hour or maybe a little more, and then started heading back to the dealer to pick up the bike. Just as we were leaving, I got a call, saying that they needed about another 20 minutes. We wasted about 10 and then went back.

     They were ready for me. the bike was all charged up with the new plate on it. I was a little worried about riding it for the first time. I hadn't ridden in about 5 years, and I had never ridden a sports bike. I've seen all the videos of people getting their brand new sports bike, and then not realizing how much power they had, and spinning the tires and losing control, just to destroy their bike on their maiden voyage. I got my helmet on, and my buddy was going to follow me home. I got on the bike, which was really comfortable. My whole worry about the seat height being too high, was just not the case. I'm on my toes when I'm stopped, but I'm not leaning or anything like that. Anyway, I clicked it down in first, slowly let off the clutch as I rolled the throttle. I took off smooth as butter. It was like I'd been riding that whole time. I got out on the rode, and felt that freedom that only two wheels can bring you. As I was going down the road, I felt more and more relaxed. I was stopped at a light, when I decided to get on it a little to see just how much power this little beauty had. Before I knew it, I was going 65MPH in a 45 MPH zone. I backed off the throttle and brought it down to speed. If I wasn't wearing my helmet, you could see the smile from ear to ear. It was pure joy. It is real fun to ride.

     I didn't get to ride today because it was raining for most of it. I was heading to Intracoastal Brewing for their annual Bacon Beer Bash. They have 5 different beers that are made using bacon, and they are quite tasty. I only had 2 of them this year, the Maple Bacon Ale, and the Maple Bacon Coffee Stout. They were fantastic. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I will always try a coffee beer, just to know what it tastes like. The things I don't like about coffee are the very things that people do like about coffee. I often help people pick out beers at bars, and I can't tell someone what a coffee stout tastes like, if I have no idea what it tastes like. The only way to know, is to actually drink it for myself. This was one of those very rare cases, that I actually liked the beer. The maple killed the bitterness of the coffee, so that it was as strong as it smelled. It smelled like a cup of black coffee. The taste was much more mild. I'd have to say, that in my opinion, it was the best coffee stout that I had ever tasted.

     I haven't gotten much sleep in the past few days, so I'm going to try to keep this brief tonight. I did want to mention that the RAYS raised $300,000 to donate to the Pulse Victims Fund. The stadium was packed with people coming to gather to honor those that fell on that day last weekend and lend their support through donations and just showing that they won't hide away, and that they will live their lives by their rules, and not those rules of anyone that would try to harm them.

     I'm going to leave you with one more picture of Saki, from another angle, It deserves another look.

   Peace in and goodnight.

One Orlando United

     I wanted to write this on Sunday night, but I decided to give it some time, and stick to my new schedule. The first thing I want to do, and what I will always try to do in cases like this. is give you the list of the victims. I would rather you know their names, than the person who committed this atrocious act. Here is the complete list of names of the victims.

Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old

Amanda Alvear, 25 years old

Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 years old

Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 years old

Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old

Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old

Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 years old

Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 years old

Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old

Cory James Connell, 21 years old

Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old

Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old

Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31 years old

Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 years old

Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old

Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 years old

Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 years old

Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old

Frank Hernandez, 27 years old

Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old

Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 years old

Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old

Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old

Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25 years old

Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old

Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 years old

Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 years old

Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 years old

Kimberly Morris, 37 years old

Akyra Monet Murray, 18 years old

Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 years old

Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25 years old

Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old

Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 years old

Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 years old

Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old

Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27 years old

Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 years old

Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 years old

Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24 years old

Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old

Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old

Martin Benitez Torres, 33 years old

Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 years old

Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37 years old

Luis S. Vielma, 22 years old

Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 years old

Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 years old

Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 years old

     This was a terrible act. the City Beautiful has a scar across its face, but Orlando will rise above this. The people of Orlando as well as around the world have united over this tragic incident. I post the names of the fallen, because I want you to know who they are. I want you to read their stories when you come across them, there are several out there. Please, do not read anymore stories about the shooter. He does not matter any more. You will never see the name of one of the people that does theses types of things on here. I can promise you that. I am against feeding into their infamy. To me, they should be forgotten as soon as possible.

     There are many stories coming out, of the heroism that took place, but I would like to take this time to applaud a few of them here. First, I would like to praise the off duty officer that was at Pulse, and had the initial gunfight with the shooter. He stood up in the face of the unknown and did what he was trained to do. The Orlando Police Department were the first on the scene. They created a permitter, and helped any wounded that they could find. They were followed shortly by the Orange County Sheriffs Department. They worked as a joint force and went in with SWAT to take down the shooter and save the lives of the hostages still inside the building. The medical personnel at ORMC that called in their emergency response team, that saved so many lives. Last but not least, were the brave souls that were in the building, and pulled wounded people out. The wrapped wounds with clothing and what ever they could find to stop bleeding. They were in a horrific environment, and had the composure to stop and think of others, risking their own lives in the process.

     All of those people above, including the injured that are mostly not named, because they deserve their privacy as they recover, deserve to be known. Their stories deserve to be told, and as I find them, I will pass them on to you. Stories like that of Patience Carter. She was in the club when the shooter came in. She found herself in the bathroom in one of the stalls, when he burst through the door and started firing. Someone she did not know, got in the way of one of the bullets that was meant for her. She was shot multiple times, but managed to survive. She came forward today to tell her story, and read a poem about survivors guilt. I'm sure her recovery will be as much from her physical wounds, as it will be from the mental ones. She will rise up, just like the city.

     We are all Orlando. We stand united in love, because love always conquers hate. I have a few things for you incase you want to help out. The first is the Gofundme campaign for the victims. Gofundme as waived their normal service fee so that all of the money will go to aiding the victims. https://www.gofundme.com/PulseVictimsFund That link will take you directly to the page. The Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando, is helping out the victims, by taking in their pets as they recover. They are also taking in the pets of the fallen. The ones that their families just can't take care of their pets. You can help out, by going to http://petallianceorlando.org and donating. They are going to be working to find homes for those pets of the fallen, so that they will be loved and cared for. Lastly, if you are in the St. Pete/Tampa area on Friday. The Tampa Bay Rays are having a scheduled Pride Night. All remaining open seats will be $5, with all proceeds going to the Pulse Victims Fund. The RAYS also do a 50/50 raffle during the game. The process from the raffle that night will all go the the Pulse Victims Fund as well. Even if you don't like baseball, go out and show your support of the victims and their families.

     I would normally end this on this night, with the favorite song of the week, but instead, I want you to take the time you would listening to whatever song I posted and have a moment of silence. When you are done with that. I want you to live the life you want to, and walk without fear because you have love in your heart, because we are all One Orlando United. Peace in and goodnight.

Baseball, Dali, and a Singer.

     I'm sure that I've mentioned it before, but I love baseball. I got go to my first game of the season in St. Pete today. Unfortunately my RAYS lost, but tomorrow is another day, and you don't have to win them all, you just have to win series. The Trop may not be the best ballpark, but when the temperature is 90+ degrees and random storms in the area, that constant 72 Degrees under the dome, feels pretty nice. It was a good game even though they took the loss. They made an adventure of it up until the last out. It was exciting even though it went the wrong way.

     One of the other reasons I love going over to St. Pete, is that I get to stop in the Dali Museum. From the building to the amazing artwork inside, it is just a remarkable experience. I'm a member at the museum, so I flash my little card, and I get to walk right in.

     They generally house two exhibits at the museum. The main gallery is for Dali's works, and I can spend hours in there, just looking at the tiny features of each painting. I always find something new in each one of them, that blows my mind. The other gallery houses another artist that they can tie to Dali. The current exhibit, which ends tomorrow, is Disney & Dali. Most people don't know that Walt Disney and Salvador Dali collaborated on an animated film. It was called Destino. Money ran short on the project and it was scraped, but Roy Disney later picked the project back up in 2003 and finished it, and because you can find everything on the internet, here is the completed Destino.

 
     It's very short, and absolutely beautiful. You may have noticed near the end, there was a baseball player. I told you I love baseball. The Dali gift shop happened to have a 3/4 sleeve baseball shirt with a sketch from a piece titled baseball and ballerina, which was kind of a story board rendering for Destino. Below is the sketch to give you an idea. Oh, the shirt only has the batter on it, and has baseball stitching where the sleeves meets the body of the shirt. I of course, had to get it.

     Fun little sketch, right? They had the actual sketch in the exhibit, and it was fun seeing pen and pencil sketches by the master himself. They even had a book of Walt's that Dali autographed for him, but instead of a plain old ordinary autograph, Dali drew a sketch on the page in pen. It was outstanding.

     Now on to my favorite painting by Dali. It is none other than the Hallucinogenic Toreador. I stare at that massive master piece for at least 15 minutes every time I am there. I believe it stands 30 feet tall, and the remarkable thing, is that Dali only painted at eye level, and he didn't use a ladder. He rented two floors in a Manhattan apartment, and had them cut a hole in the floor just large enough for the canvas to slide through. He had a wench and pulley system set up, so that he could have it raised and lowered as he desired. If you've never seen it, it is hard to believe that someone could paint something so smooth. The brush strokes are nearly invisible.  Pictures do not do the painting justice, but here it is.

Last but not least tonight, is a clip of a little girl that was on America's Got Talent this past week. her name is Grace VanderWaal. I have a feeling that you will be hearing more about her. She has a truly unique voice. She did an original song on the show, which is a bit of a shock considering that she is only 12 years old. The song was good, and it really fit her well. While I was watching the video package that the put up for her, I kept getting this Taylor Swift vibe, and sure enough when the song was over, that is one of the first things that Simon said, "you could be the next Taylor Swift". Instead of me telling you all of this, why don't you just watch the clip.

     I think she has a great  deal of talent, and I hope to watch her career blossom. I believe I've kept you long enough tonight, and possibly given you sensory overload with all the video clips and pictures, but I do have one last thing to talk about. I noticed a trend with this blog, and I don't really like it. I originally started out to do this once I was done the 365, but I couldn't wait any longer and decided to do a post on Monday nights. I soon got restless again and asked readers of my 365 to pick another day in the week to put up a second post. They picked Saturday. Here is where the problem comes in. By the time that I get this written and posted, it is Sunday morning, and that means that I have posts on back to back days, where I wanted to have them spread out a bit. Here is the remedy to that problem. My intent all along was to have this a three day a week post when the 365 is over. The days that I have chosen were; Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. I'm making the move to Tuesday night starting this week. It was going to end up there anyway, and this will create a gap between posts. So, I will see you again on Tuesday night. Peace in and goodnight.

Hurricanes are the Reason for the Season.

     It's hurricane season in Florida, and that means, that the news outlets go crazy and overload you with information. They have constant news breaks during non news hours, and then during the news, they show weather updates for practically the whole hour. State Officials want you to make sure that your car is full of gas, your cell phone is charged, you have plenty of water and provisions, and that you trim all your trees back.

     Here is what the native Floridian does. We make sure we have booze, plenty of it, and maybe some hotdogs. We sit on then we proceed to have a Hurricane Party, and watch the storm go by. If you've lived in this state for any length of time, you have gone through a Hurricane, or at least the preparation for one that was over exaggerated by the local media. We tend to have a sense of what storm is going to do what, and have a pretty good idea of where it's going to go.

     The whole state is under a state of emergency, but in reality, the only place that really has any concern, is the northern part of the state, especially the part where the northeast side of the storm is going to hit. That is the side that does the most damage. Most of the tornadoes are found on that side of the storm. I am far below the storm, and we've really only gotten a combined half hour of rain at this point. I do have concern for my fellow Floridian up in the northern area, but I"m not worried in the least bit for myself.

     I'm sure that tomorrow, I will see several of the memes of the small outdoor plastic furniture with one of the chairs knocked over declaring that we survived Colin. If there is a lot of damage, we will do what we always do. Watch the politicians skirt the money to places that it isn't needed, while the rest of us pick up the pieces and rebuild. I've lived here my whole life, and I've seen it play out many times now.

     On to something a little more fun. That's right, it's time for the "Favorite Song of this Week". I'm putting it in quotes now, to make it seem far more important. In the middle of last week, Matt & Kim released a new video for their song, Let's Run Away. It's a fun little song and video that they did themselves with a new technique. The basically tied a go pro to a string and wooden hanger. Then they swung it around and did fun stuff. so without further adieu. Here is Matt & Kim with Let's Run Away.

     Peace in and goodnight.

Tape Face and Other Musings

     This week, America's Got Talent returned. There was one act that I thought was truly brilliant. It was awkward and funny, and that's probably why I liked it so much. Here is a clip of the act, so you can make your down decision about it.

     So what do you think about it? He is odd and quirky in a way that reminds me of Charlie Chaplin. I really want to see what he does next. Can he even do something as unique but different than that, or is he a one trick pony.

     I went to a birthday party for a friend of mine. He had me host a beer tasting for it, but I wasn't drinking tonight. Why you ask? Because last night was a enjoyable disaster. I met up with this same friend at a bar, and we had a number of drinks, then we needed to go beer shopping for the tasting. From there we just decided to bar hop the rest of the night. I wasn't driving, so I did put any thought in to over doing it, which I apparently did in spades. I was terribly hungover this morning, and still, even at this late hour, feel the affects of it. As I'm done here, I have the 365 to write and then I will sleep of whats left of this. Was it worth it? Maybe, we had a good time, and he has a story to tell everyone. I don't mind those kind of stories being out there of me. I own my degeneracy. He told it many times tonight, while I was there to confirm it.

     The party went well, and is still going on. I left with a few more people still there doing their things. One of them was my stripper friend. She sends such odd signals. She has a sugar daddy, who was there, but she acts as though she wants to spend as much time with me as she can. It's very strange, and I really don't want to get in the middle of something. It's just not my bag.

     Well, I'm going to keep this short tonight. As I said earlier, I still have the 365 to write, and then it is off to bed for me. I'm really looking forward to that. I already have my favorite song of the week picked out, so tune in Monday for that. It's a fun video and song. Peace in and goodnight.