I’m still kind of lost for words when it comes to this whole Michael Jackson issue.
Over the past week I’ve been over run like all of you have as well by the two extremes on the subject of how do people feel about MJ and it’s become clear to me I’m somewhere in the middle of it all.
I never was a huge fan. I thought he was a talent but I stopped really liking his music after the Jackson five did “dancing’ machine”.
I can give him credit for becoming one of the biggest entertainers in the history of exploited music. And His Charitable efforts set records for donations. And yes I do still feel he really did care about children.
But that old “did he or didn’t he” question will linger in my thoughts forever. Yes he was acquitted of the criminal charges, but after he did that interview talking about having no problem with kids sleeping in his bed, well that’s exactly why the question will linger for the rest of my days.
I have to say that the massive amount of media attention and the over blown tribute at the Staples Center was just way too much for me.
Did I watch it? Yes I did, being in the media myself I felt I had to see what it was all about. Did I like what I saw? Not much, the endless line of people coming to the stage who all had their own questionable pasts, or ulterior motives for being there actually made me ill. Sheila Jackson Lee, one of this country’s most inept and hateful Congress women from Houston Texas speaking at MJ’s salute? I mean WTF?
Al Sharpton telling me that if it weren’t for MJ we white folks would still only be listening white performers? (Damn Al I was a fan of Al Green, Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, Smoky, Stevie, and all of Motown before I was into rock and roll!) So I’m not sure what he was talking about, but then again I never really do understand him other than he’s such a self serving pompous ass that I can barely watch him without breaking out laughing. I was just surprised that no one blamed MJ’s demise on the Bush Administration, or that Al Gore would find away to claim that the earth just got hotter cause Michael died! I mean it all would have really meant a lot more to me if Weird Al Yankovich had come on stage and played “EAT IT”, now that would have made for great TV!
I will say this; all the sudden Michael Jackson became real to me, when at the very end, his daughter came to the microphone. That brought it all home on the human level. These kids lost their dad and that’s very sad. And for those kids and Michaels mother this is a very sad time. But for a 40 year housewife from Kansas City to buy a plane ticket, show up outside the staples center, just so she could be close to MJ, and for all those shedding tears and feeling such a great sense of loss at his passing: WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE! We have young men and women dying everyday to protect our way of life in two battlefields half way around the world. How about saving a few of those prayers and tears for those brave men and women and their families. Now that would be worth a tribute or two! Oh and now the city of L.A. is asking people to donate money to help cover the 1.4 million it just cost them to hold the event. Can you say bail out?

So the second half of my trip back to the land of ERRRRRR involves family and friends.
What and incredible weekend it was for both. To be able to come home and finally catch up with my sister who now lives in England with very her cool Husband. They happened to be coming in for a stay at the same times so it was yet another good reason to head home. Seeing Meg and spending time with her was wonderful she’s not my baby sister anymore and it was a joy to share conversation with her and her husband and get all caught up on things again. Then having a second sister living right in town behind my parents home made it so I could spend time with her, her husband and two great kids. Got see my niece and nephew who are growing up way to fast. It was wonderful to just sit and chat with my sister Patsy. And just being able to enjoy every moment I could spend with my Mom and then Fathers day with my Dad. It was just more than I could have hoped for to have that much quality time with family.
And then there was this little gathering of some of my old friends at a little joint in town called the rivers bend. This place has been there on the edge of the grand river in various forms it seem like as long as I can remember, and so this was just the right place for all of these people to gather. I will admit to being a little apprehensive as I headed out to this party. Some people I’d seen not long ago and stay in touch with fairly often. But the majority of this gang I hadn’t seen in quite some time like 30 years in some cases! So as I walked in and began to scan the room for familiar faces I started to see what was about to happen, a real great evening of conversation, laughs, tears and lots of smiles as I was excepted back into this great circle of friends. Man at first I felt like I was the only one that had changed. I could recognize just about everyone of course like myself of course people looked different, but it was the personalities that what make it so easy to re-connect with these very important people in my life.
The old stories start pouring out as everyone tried to spend a few moments with each other. It felt a little intense at first like we needed to hurry to catch up with everyone before time ran out. But as the drinks flowed and we all sat down to eat the evening just got more and more enjoyable. I loved to old stories and how sometimes you had a whole different memory of the same thing that a friend was talking about, and then you start to talk about what the hell you’ve been doing, family old teachers and start to see just how much all these people effected you’re life, this place you grew up in really does have a place in your heart. And these Friends are still the best friends a person could grow up with. Then as you decide a group picture is needed before some have to leave we all gathered together for a “team picture” and it’s just as silly as if we were all seniors again. You couldn’t get this group to stop laughing, making faces, making smart comments, (ok Jeff and I were the biggest culprits on those points) as the evening just kept making its move towards the sublime. I wish I could go into more detail, but that wouldn’t be fair to my friends. And I wish I list them all here on the page, but that would mean I’d forget someone and that wouldn’t be fair either. I just want to say to all of them how privileged I feel to be able to call all of them friends, old dear friends who I feel so lucky to have grown up around!
I will say one more thing, just for those who came to this gathering and that are this. I really do hate pickles, but for one crazy night in one crazy little town, I was more than happy to take a bite out of one of our cities historic symbols! The smell of Heifetz in the summer is about only thing I don’t miss about the land of ERRRRRRRRRRR! Thanks for the wonderful time gang and I look forward to enjoying my next chance to see you all again. It was a very positive charge to my heart and we are all even closer than before!

Well whoever it was who said   “you can never go home again” is just flat out wrong when it comes to my home town Eaton Rapids or as we called it back then, “the land of ERRRRRR”! 

     A few months ago several old friends of mine mentioned to me that they were all going to get together for little mini reunion this summer and asked me to come up. Now mind you I have gone back home to visit my family over the years and occasionally I would run into a friend here or there, but I hadn’t gone to any reunions since my 10^th which was a long time ago. I decided to think about going but really didn’t feel like it would be a big deal if I didn’t go. I mean why spend the money on a trip like that was it really worth the time, effort or money? Well as the time for the gathering started to get closer some things started to happen in my life. 1^st, one of my friends started posting old pictures of all of us when we were kids. Wow there I was with all that hair, skinny as a rail, braces and zits, but with this big old smile on my face. And there were all my old friends laughing it up and it made me think of the fact that a lot of my memories about school days seemed to only be about, the guilt over bad things I did or that I had hurt some ones feelings back then or embarrassed myself doing something stupid (which was a pretty regular thing back then), and heck I didn’t stick around to many years after school, I was headed to Texas just a few years after school and would end up never moving back. So really what reason did I have to come back and see these guys? Well that answer was in those pictures. Those smiling faces of me and my friends started to bring back the fond memories again of the good times and the old friendships I had left behind. I mean some of these people I’ve known since we were 6 years old!  And it was then that I started to think this trip might just be a fun thing to do. Add to that the fact that my Mom and Dad were celebrating their 55^th anniversary and my sister was coming in from England AND it was Father’s day and well, I sure didn’t need any more convincing, I was going up.

     When I arrived in town it was storming outside and I thought “great another cloudy cold weekend in Michigan!” And then another element came into my big weekend home. I was home only like 15 minutes when a tornado hit! It was like the wrath of hell had descended on my parent’s neighborhood. The power went out, we heard what sounded like explosions and then it was over. Well we could go outside cause of the rain so we all just went to bed. When we got up at the ungodly hour of 7a.m., it was then we saw what had happened. Giant trees down everywhere. In the streets over power lines, in the back yard crushing the fence and another slammed into the back of my folk’s garage. And that was all just in our yard! All over the neighborhood, trees or power polls had crushed cars, covered the streets and it looked as though a bomb had gone off. I thought first of how lucky we all were that no one had been hurt, and then thought of how long it would take for all this to be cleaned up and what a long ordeal these people were in for waiting for the help to come and begin cleaning things up, it would be weeks before this neighborhood would be back to normal. Boy was I wrong!

      You see this is small town middle America, it’s the kind of town John Mellencamp would write a great song about, this is a place where people know who lives next door, where hard work is part of one’s life, where you learn to do whatever it takes and don’t sit around whining and bitching about things you just go do it! And as the sound of chainsaws began to fill the air, I stood in the street watching everyone come out of the houses and come from down the street and started gathering down at the end of the block. Without any organizing or direction from official of some kind, these people started going from yard to yard helping each family clean up. Ok so you know I first thought I don’t have a stake in this, hell I don’t live here anymore, but then I thought about my mom and dad and who was going to help them clean up I mean at 77 years old they are going to need help for sure, and that help was going to be me! “Damn it I didn’t come up here to move trees this weekend”  I thought, but it was just a moment later that I walked down that street and started to help with this great group of people. Oh I took a little ribbing from my friends who were there for being late to the gathering and but I was quickly apart of the “crew”. We cut, dragged, piled, and stacked our way down the block. House by house this growing gang of wannabe lumber jacks worked through each yard. We even got a guy with a wood chipper to come out once the street was clear to start grinding up the debris.

        I want to tell you, that that block was cleaned up and ready to get on with things by mid afternoon. It was incredible. Even some of the people put out food and water for us when we finished! It became clear to me that this was just one of the many amazing things I was supposed to be a part of this weekend. It was so moving to just experience what I had lost touch with over the years, good people just helping each other through a bad time. It was a privilege to be one of the crew that day, and my hats off to all those great people who gave up a good chunk of there Saturday to help out a neighbor in need. My pride swelled knowing I was from this place, this “small town” in the Midwest that seemed like it had died years ago was alive and kicking and it was a pure joy to see.

But what about the party BB? Did it happened? Oh that’s coming next in part two of: My trip to the land of ERRRRRRRR!

Well it’s not officially here but with the weather the way it is and the pools being open it pretty much feels like it’s here. Another thing that makes it feel like summer is the smell of BBQ in the air. Man Is there anything better than walking along and catching the aroma of something on the grill. You salivate, you smile you forget what you were just thinking about and begin to figure out what exactly you’re sniffing. Is it burgers? Is it chicken? Is it your neighbor’s unbelievable ribs and a hint of beans on the side? Or maybe it’s that great sausage you had at your buddies pool party the other night? Wait, maybe, just maybe it’s a thick juicy rib-eye steak and it’s on your grill right now!

      Whatever you are smelling there’s a good chance it has something to do with the BBQ sauce that’s makes it smell so damn good. And makes it taste out of this world. And around here it’s a very good chance its probably Uncle Pete’s BBQ sauce. Uncle Pete’s BBQ is quickly becoming the only choice for great tasting BBQ among Rock 101 listeners. And if you haven’t had the pleasure of enjoying  some Uncle Pete’s BBQ sauce then it’s time to join the rest of us. Just got to www.unclepetesbbqsauce.com and find out where you to get it in your neighborhood, or order a case right there on line. Starting tomorrow I will share some of the great recipes we’ve start to receive from our listeners who have used Uncle Pete’s for all the favorites you enjoy on the grill!

        Weird news of the week:

Dateline Florida: Man catches air to air missile with fishing poll. Takes it home on his boat where it sits in the marina for ten days till he tells a friend. Man finds out that the MISSILE IS STILL LIVE! Bomb squad disarms missile in empty parking lot!

Question? What is the legal limit on air to air missile catches?

Comment: To the old lady who just about took the side of my truck off this morning cause she wasn’t looking and drove right at me, @#$%^%$#@$&*())

Oh and have a nice @#$#$%%^&^&**(&^%$$##@ ‘n day!

       I know that must be shocking to some of you. Blades doesn’t have much to say, well it’s just that I’ve come to realize I just shouldn’t speak about certain things, so I don’t get all worked up and go off like an A-bomb. Like all the things going off in North Korea, Iran and at  America’s southern border. I hear all kinds of words being said but I don’t see any action. When is it time to take action? Do we react like we did with the economy, wait till it’s going so bad that it’s almost too late to fix? All I hear every day is Blah Blah, Blah about of these serious issues confronting our country and the world for that matter and then no action at all. Imagine if we all did that in our everyday life, damn what a world we’d be living in. But wait, damn what a world WE ARE LIVING IN NOW! 

       Good things to talk about:  Well we’ve finally got some rain in the upstate and that has made for a much better summer on the lakes at the golf course and in the yard, even though we’ve got more weird things growing and making my allergies go nut’s I’ll still take the rain, and since I no long live in a house, I don’t have to mow the yard twice a week and I like that too! 

       Single again! nuff said!      

 My daughter just finished kindergarten and her big dance recital! You can’t find a prouder dad than me. Just wish she was closer to me so I could see all these great things in person. But I will be heading there soon to see the wonder that is my little girl!     

   MY Hockey team is 2 games away from winning back to back Stanley cups.Something positive for myself and all my homies back in Michigan, who have had a damn tough year up there. Speaking of which I have a very talented friend back home does these incredible carvings and I want to share her amazing work with you all. Her name is Carrie and if you take a look at the following page you will see some of her work, and then you can join her face book page to find out how to purchase some of her great works. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=19464&id=1250444301 

And finally I am always in search of a great cup of coffee and I think I might have found the best around at the Coyote Café in Easley. Man what a great sip a Joe they have going on and you might also try the chicken salad for lunch. It’s another great local place that you should get out and support.

Some people just seem to have “It” while others like myself are doomed to never experience the feeling of winning big $$$ !       Last night one person in South Dakota won the Powerball worth $232 million.While the other day a New Jersey Grand Mother stepped up to the craps table at a local casino and proceeded to roll and win for the next 4 and a half hours winning a huge pot of cash laughing and giggling all the way to the bank.      For me the whole idea of winning at any of these games of chance or legal betting is just a pipe dream. I have never as much as won $5 on a scratch off game. I’ve tried them all, been to Vegas, even tried a little Bingo once, but after the old lady next to me kept winning card after card, I just walked out with my head shaking. I remember being on a gambling boat in Louisiana drop quarter after quarter into a slot machine and at one time actually filling up my collectable cup and feeling like I was on the roll of rolls. I look down the row and see this guy, who looked like hobo all dirty and smelly and I noticed how each time he slotted a quarter, boom money would just pour out of the machine. He must have had 6-7 collectable cups full of quarters. So I proceed to attack the machines with all my one cup of winnings and within minutes, I didn’t have enough left to by a cup a coffee.      Then there was my short stint as a high roller at the dog track. I was living in Houston, and they opened up one of the largest dog tracks in the country. Well you got to at least go out and give it a try I thought to myself. I remember my first wife’s grandfather from Wisconsin was supposed to be really big into the dogs so we talked to him about how to get out there and win. What special things we should look for when researching dogs before making our bets. He said “if the dog takes a dump on the way to the starting gate, run to the window and drop a bet on it to win!” I thought, “hey now, there’s a true strategy”.  I’ve got the edge now I’m going give it a shot. I went out there to the track and bet on every dog the went to the bathroom, and you know what? I was winning I mean I was wasn’t  Mr. Big but I think I won something like $200 half way through the night.I’m even sharing my “secret” now with other people who think I know what I’m doing. But just as I began to think of how I may have found a new way to make a living, I started to get cocky; making that trifecta bet’s or big money on one dog to win etc, and as the dream of living the high life faded along with my winnings I ended up shelling out another $75 for drinks and food and left the place in the hole that much.        So you see, I think some people just have that great thing called dumb luck and others like myself, well the best thing we can do every time we start thinking about winning the big lotto,  just walk up to some stranger and hand them the $5 bucks you were about to spend on a some quick picks. Of course then you’ll see that person in the paper a few days later standing there holding one of those giant checks worth millions and the headline of the story says…  stranger gives man $5 who then uses it to buy lotto ticket and wins millions!

One thing you got to say about the “New World” of Obama and the so called unbiased press is this; its sure fun watching all the dancing, deception and dodging that is taking place. From the beginning of this presidency I just felt in my gut that it would be would an interesting sociological study in human behavior. How would the press handle the onslaught of controversial changes that would be coming from this administration and how would the voting public who fell in love with this man react as well.       It wasn’t real clear how the public would feel or how it would be covered until the Tea Party issue. Then it became very clear how this was going to be a long four years for this country and for many people who were already struggling just to get by. Many of you voted for this “change” and well you got it. I know many of the things that this President has offered up as change or as new solutions may just make some of you happy still. Government run Health care, strengthening the unions by strong-arming the “rich” investors and bond holders of the auto companies into taking bad deals that favor the unions but leave the companies the union members work for hanging by a thread or at the very least dependent on foreign dollars to stay alive. And the whole bail out deal with the banks. Changing the term we use to describe what we are doing in the Middle East the battle formally known as the war on terror. And this latest fight over releasing documents and photo’s from our alleged bad behavior when it came to dealing with enemy combatants. Or the newly proposed tax on items that contain sugar in them.     To me this president has already done a lot of things I felt he would do and therefore didn’t vote for him. And I’m not surprised how the press has spread the thick manure of positive support for anything he does. What surprises me is that more people aren’t a little more upset that President Obama lied or deceived them into voting for him. Or that People like Janine Garafalo would call anyone who exercised they’re right to freedom of expression and protested the proposed tax increases and use of our tax dollars as bigots or racist’s. Being against something like raising taxes makes you racists? Or how about the trash mouthed skanky and in my opinion never been funny Wanda Sykes telling a joke in front of the press core and the president  accusing Rush Limbaugh of being a terrorist and wishing he’d die while the president and the press core yucked it up at the “joke” ! Look I don’t care if you hate Limbaugh you have to admit that was at least rude and insensitive let alone disgusting. Gee dare I say it was UN P.C.? Yet nobody seemed to giving a flying * about it. What Miss U.S.A. said got more press coverage than those remarks did.       I say all this for one reason. Yes I did support our previous president but was never afraid to be critical of his mistakes or the things I didn’t agree with. But you people out there who are hiding because you just don’t want to face up to the fact that you voted for this president and that he’s already made you mad are just not doing anybody any good. Sure you voted for him but that doesn’t mean you can’t disagree or get upset about some of his decisions.  You rode Bush right out the door and hey a few times I was right too there unhappy with his decisions like you.  But if you just take everything our current president dishes out like you wanted it, or are embarrassed to say you don’t agree with something he’s doing then you just aren’t ready to be a real American. I know you all don’t want universal health care, I know many of you don’t want higher taxes, want our country to be safe from terror attacks and I know you want the job market to get better, but at what cost? HMMMMMMM?Just cause you voted for him doesn’t mean you have to follow him over the cliff! How about being honest and speaking up before we’re all drug over the damn thing with the Lemmings you’re herding with right now!

So when I combine my favorite Family guy Episode with my frustration with a certain

Political figure, I find such joy. I can laugh again woooo hoooo

<object width=”425″ height=”344″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/0ewZcj1pvrA&hl=en&fs=1″></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/0ewZcj1pvrA&hl=en&fs=1” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”344″></embed></object>

      Well if it’s spring time it mean only one thing for this sick yankee, it’s Stanley cup playoff time for me. I know a lot of you can’t begin to relate to the game of Hockey like those of us who grew up around it playing it and watching it. Let me just say that we puck nuts get into it like you would the NCAA basketball tournament or Cock Fighting (at least that’s what I hear!)      I’m lucky enough to have grown up having one the National Hockey league’s greatest and oldest franchises as our home team. The Detroit Redwings are an institution for us. We had some lean years when I was a kid but our Redwings and Detroit tigers were all hero’s to us as kids. Well jump ahead a few years and the Wings have become one of the great organizations in all of sports. Winning 4 Stanley Cups since the 90’s, and making a record 18^th appearance in the playoffs in a row. So it’s almost like the Kudzoo coming back every spring down here, you can count on another playoff run from my boys. They sliced through the Columbus Blue jackets (what the hell is a Bluejacket by the way) in 4 straight games but then drew the wings latest playoff rival again in the second round, the Anaheim Ducks, (formerly the “mighty Ducks”). This means late, late, nights for yours truly when the wings have to play a game in California that doesn’t start here till 10: firkin 40! Thank god I had something to do till then as I pulled out the grill and grabbed me a bottle of Uncle Pete’s Hickory BBQ sauce and made me some BBQ Burgers ala Pete! Man I was so stuffed after enjoying those I actually took a nap before the game! Uncle Pete’s BBQ is a South Carolina Original based right here in Simpsonville and available at finer food shops and specialty shops around the upstate, and now you can find it at the Carolina First Farmers market each  Saturday. I just went to www.unclepetesbbqsauce.com for the recipe idea and bang I was having some seriously good burgers. Check out the sight and the sauce my friends, you be hooked for sure. Hey even e-mail me your Uncle Pete’s BBQ recipes at bblades@entercom.com and I’ll put your great tasting ideas on the blog for everyone!      Well back to the game. Wings lost, game ended at 1:30am I woke up crabby as hell, but started smiling knowing that even though the Wings lost I’ve got another game this Thursday night starting at 10: firkin 40 which mean I can make another great meal with Uncle Pete’s BBQ sauce before the game! I’m thinking Uncle Pete’s ala Anaheim Duck? HMMMMMMM

I wanted to spread some love for some great people involved in local businesses and events this week on the old Blog.       First I would like you to get out and support the Third Annual Mac Arnold Cornbread and Collared green Blues Festival. It’s four night of great music all to raise funds for the Ronald McDonald Houses of the Carolina’s Mac is a True Blues Legend and one of the most giving and hardworking people I know. His Band, Plate full of Blues is equally as cool and dedicated to helping children through music. So please go to wwwmacarnold.com and check the schedule of shows running through Saturday and find out about the raffle for one of Mac’s signature “Gas Can Guitars” a very special item anyone would love to have.      Second of all I wanted to talk about a great South Carolina original and a product that will just knock your socks off when you try it. It’s Uncle Pete’s BBQ sauce. The family owned company has been passed along through three generations of the family and has represented our State as a National Award winner from The National BBQ Association Award of Excellence! They are Based right here in Simpsonville so you’re supporting a great local company and let me tell you you’re enjoying some incredibly tasty sauce. Use as a dipping sauce, cook with it, marinade, pour it your baked beans and try it on all your favorite things to grill! It’s a little sweet a little smoky and tangy.  I tell you it’s even replaced Marinara on my Meat ball sandwiches. I’m also looking for your special recipe using Uncle Pete’s sauces as well so once you try it e-mail me you recipe and name to bblades@entercom.com  Uncle Pete’s BBQ sauce in three flavors available at The Cider house in T.R. Rey’s Market and Bistro in Greenville, the New York Butcher shops in Greenville and Greer And you can find it at the Carolina First Farmers Market Downtown Greenville this weekend from 8a-12p. Stop by and load up and say Hi to The owner Tom and his great family!And I also wanted to say congratulations to my old Friend Chris Martin and his wife as they take over ownership of the down town Greenville Institution the HOT DOG KING! Located down on Main st. It’s been a favorite for many for years and years and it couldn’t be in better hands. Please stop by and say hello and have a Hot Dog or 5 and tell Chris that Brian sent you by to say congratulations!      Great people doing great things right here in the upstate. Let’s show them the support and appreciation so they can continue to grow and give back to the Upstate for years to come!