Ride with me if you will, through the gauntlet that you, YES YOU the other upstate drivers laid out in front of me this morning for my drive to work!      While backing out of my driveway a person was stopped right in front of it, looking at something on the other side of the street. Guess they couldn’t see me or for that matter hear my horn since I had to get out of my car and ask them to move. At the end of my neighborhood there is an unusual 5 way stop. And as I watched the 4 other cars do this kind of nervous twitch go-stop-go-stop move, I looked down at my watch and realized it had just took me 5 minute to get out of the neighborhood. After two more herky jerky 4 way stops I come to a railroad crossing that today is under repair….right where I need to cross. I don’t know what’s wrong for like 20 minutes because the line to the intersection is so long. After getting turned around I try to find another way across the tracks and decide to use the little tunnel that goes under the track about a block or two down the track…OOPS, seems everyone else new about that way too. I was stuck trying to get through the single lane tunnel for another 15 minutes..OOPS.     Crap now I’m low on gas and I have to stop for gas, I’m zooming down the local highway towards a gas station with decent prices before I run out, a Jack ass in a little red pickup pulls out in front of me! I slam on the brakes thinking it was about ditch time cause I couldn’t swerve to my left since the Semi Truck I had been following a few miles back that was in the left lane going only 40 was now coming up on my side. After pulling up to the next light and letting the A**Hole know how much I appreciated his stupidity, after waiting in line at the gas station for the guy ahead of me in line to look at all the scratch off games before deciding not even buy one and after having yet another big truck pull out in front of me and once again block the left lane so no one can get past him, I realized I better try the southern connector to work to make up some time. Yes it was going to cost me a few bucks but damn I need to make that time up, plus I had the correct change to use the fast lane at the booths… OOPS! As I entered to freeway behind a dump truck going less than 30 miles an hour and racing up to the first toll booth, SURPRISE! There in the exact change lane was another 18 wheeler, trying to back up, cause I guess he just knew I was coming, and in a hurry! Ok fine, I’m now only one toll booth and about 8 miles to work. Last stop, the toll booth. I’ve got that correct change again and I’ll just get in that lane and… OOPS! What’s this? Cones? Men working on the coin catcher? ARE YOU ****ING KIDDING ME???       So here I am, at work, almost an hour late but glad to report that No humans or animals were injured or killed in the making of this blog….YET!

Wanted to give some recognition to a couple of local music legends for recent events they held that benefited local charities and helped support the under-appreciated musical talent here in the upstate.First a big thanks to Blues Legend and sweetest dudes I’ve ever met, Mac Arnold, his band Plate full of blues and all the great people involved with Mac and his Corn Bread and Collard greens festival. For the second year in a row Mac and crew gave us 4 days of amazing music that featured some great legends of music along with some of the area’s top young musicians and the proceeds from this great annual event this year went to the Greenville memorial children’s hospital. Please go to www.macarnold.com and find out more about Mac, his band and all that he gives back to the community and to the kid’s especially!          Another true local legend and one of the coolest people I’ve ever got to know in music is long time Marshall Tucker Band drummer Paul T. Riddle. Paul and his long time friend who is also another jewel of the upstate music scene Steve Watson put together a new organization to help musically talented upstate kids get some exposure and to help raise money for scholarships for those kids as well as donate money to area charities buy holding show case concerts featuring some of these kids playing with some our area’s top professional musicians. The first of those show case event took place last Saturday night. It was held at the Greenville Little theater which donated the building for the event and we thank Alex and Suzanne at the little theater for doing that. It was a rousing success as the house was full, funds were raised for a local soup kitchen and everyone got to see and an exceptional young man named Chase Carpenter play guitar with Paul, Steve, Mike Rogers and many other local musicians. It’s called: UPSTATE MUSIC CARES and please keep listening to my Sunday show Fresh Tracks for more information on this great new organization.

 1^st I want to thank all my listeners here in the Greenville/Spartanburg area for all the wonderful and overwhelming support you’ve given my show. You made it #1 in the afternoons and I can’t thank you enough for that. I’m as jacked up as one can get when it comes to my Detroit Red Wings. 7 more victories away from yet another Stanley cup for Hockey Town.      Can anybody please explain to me why Hillary Clinton will not just except reality move on with her life and get out of the race for the nomination. She’s like pretending she can’t hear the fat lady sing when she’s sitting right next to her.        Oh mom, how much do I love thee…? Mom you are so special to me. You have  always been there for me, you’ve always listened you’ve always cared, and most of all you’ve always given me so much love and support and have never failed to get me pointed back in the right direction. From those days long ago when you had to deal with my whining, my bitching, my stomping of the feet, just to get what I wanted. To all the times you would talk me through hard times in my life and support me no matter what I decided to do cause you helped me think things through so I could do those things These are all part of what makes you the most important influence on my life. I don’t have the words or really enough time left in my own life to give you back as much as you’ve given me in the way of support and love. But I hope you don’t mind if I keep trying to catch up with you show you my love for you each and every day.       And to another mom in my life. This might shock you these days but, thank you for being such a great mother to our daughter. Despite our differences and our problems I know our daughter is safe and happy and you are the reason for her being such a wonderful little girl.       And to one other mom I’ve gotten to know recently. Happy Mother’s Day.  You are an amazing mom and wonderful woman and my best friend! I wish you nothing but all the love and the best for you this Mothers day

OOP’S OUCH DAMNIT!I wonder why it is that some people are and some people aren’t.  How can one person do something and come away better for doing it, while another person can do that same thing but pay a much higher price for identical results?      I’m referring to those of us who are known as “accident prone”! Or like I like to call us, members of the Shleprock club! Remember old Shleprock? He was Pebbles and Bamm Bamm, friend whose mire presence could cause disaster at any moment. Things would fall and crash to the ground, blow up, fall apart, or for the individual cursed with being near the Shlepster there was some form of bodily harm just moments away.  Other than Comedian Tim Allen in his role as the bungling handy man Tim Taylor on the show Home Improvement I believe I might be a close second on the list of longtime members to the Shleprock club!This blog space is just too small to list all the stupid Freak accidents that have resulted in a wide variety of injuries for me. From being electrocuted more than a dozen times, burned,  cut, scrapped, bruised, and broken (as in bones) to numerous concussions, gouges, and sprains of all kinds, I have reached gold member status among my fellow Schlep a ters!       Within my family I have become a source of entertainment with my  vast collection of stories recounting the long history of oop’s in my life. There’s the rolling on the log that ended in a broken wrist and hand that happened just days after having a cast removed from my leg after breaking that weeks earlier at a Michigan/Ohio State game. Or the back injury suffered while mocking the dance moves of the male dancers in that famous scene with Dom De Louis in the movie “Blazing Saddles” resulting in long term back problems! It’s these stories that have brought friends and family especially my beautiful mother to tears of laughter after hearing me recount these tales.      So it is after doing some handy man work around my girl friend’s home this past weekend that left me with a large blood blister on my index finger after pinching the end of it with a pair of pliers, that I have decide to ask the membership committee of Club Shleprock to please remove my name from the roster of Members. Wait; hold on just a second here. I’ve just been informed that if I maintain my membership for the next several months, that I could very likely receive a nomination into the “Accident Prone “Hall of Fame! Ok so look how many times do any of us do something enough to get a nomination to some kind of “hall of fame”? I mean, I can take a few more whacks, bruises and even a cut here and there in order to reach such a great honor as that. I just draw the line at electric shocks. I’ve just had enough of those to last 2 life times, but…