Fat Bastard

I was headed to work this afternoon from Davidson and received a text message to my phone with the above picture attatched. It was cousin Lee sending a picture of himself with a message saying, "The fat bastard 4 ur blog." I haven't seen Lee in two or three months and I don't know that he looks any bigger, but I'm guessing he's packed on several since he was moved to send this picture. Maybe we'll see you in a coulple of weeks you fat bastard.

Loud Noises

Jennifer and I took our folks to dinner Saturday night so everyone could meet everybody and tell stories about things we did when we were little and stuff. It was a good time and our parents got along, too. At one point the conversation turned to plays and shows. I think my mom mentioned that STOMP! was in town this week and she didn't have tickets but really wanted to go. Yesterday she called and said there were still tickets available for this Sunday so Jennifer and I told her we'd go. Turns out there were only two tickets left for Sunday so mom and sister Anna will go. By this time Jennifer really wanted to go and was excited about it so I turned to my old friend Craig and found a nice lady named Wendy who wanted to sell her tickets to Saturday afternoon's show.

I met Wendy this afternoon in Davidson. I introduced myself, "Howdy, I'm Adam." Wendy said she recognized me from this blog which was weird since I didn't know Wendy and we'd only responded via email for about two hours this morning. She googled my name this morning to make sure her Stomp tickets weren't going to some jackass. After reading this blog and forwarding it to her sister in Thaint Louisth, she miraculously concluded I'm not a jackass. That's amazing. I took a picture of Wendy but for some reason didn't save it on my phone, which makes me a jackass. I saw STOMP! ten years ago in college and look forward to watching a bunch of dudes make cool sounds by beating the shit out of trash cans again.

Super Bowl Party

Thanks to the Panthers sucking almost all year long it was time for the Travers' Annual Super Bowl Party. Jim knows how to throw a party. He spent hours Friday night, Saturday and Sunday getting the basement ready for beer drinking and football viewing. Being the television geeks we are, Travers went the extra mile for the party. On TV#1(my enormous tube that's been in his basement for several months now) he had an HD feed with two computer monitors on top. On those monitors was a split screen view of the Fox production truck as the crew punched the game. It was badass. Evidently one of Crum's former students was in the truck so we all watched him work his magic.Travers, Tim and myself brought Jim's 50 inch plasma downstairs for TV#2. It featured the best picture of the evening and served as the primary viewing spot. I realize it looks like God's about to strike Campbell but it's just the flash's reflection off of a sweet street sign Trav has in his basement.
TV#3 is my favorite. It's the shitter tv. Unfortunately I only had to pee one time.
Travers ran a ton of cable for TV#4. The outdoor television is where tv's Kris Cook and Mike Solarte watched the game. Cook may or may not have had some cash riding on the game.
He was in Vegas for NASCAR testing last week and took the plunge on a parlay taking the Giants and the points and the under. Touchdown!

Hitched

I met The Lady's dad for lunch Friday. This may sound normal to many of you but in almost two years with The Lady, I've never had lunch with him. He was pretty sure why I invited him. Less than 90 seconds after my arrival I said to him, "I bought your daughter a ring and want to make sure it's alright with you she wear it." He responded saying he was honored I asked. He then gave me four quick requirements of his daughter's husband. We worked that out before I even ordered a sweet tea. With that out of the way we spent the rest of lunch talking about things that really didn't have anything to do with marriage. We talked about work. He's retiring at the end of the year so he's excited about cutting grass at the golf course so he can play free golf. We talked about how nutty local tv news is. It was a nice time. Your friendly neighborhood police officer Tim and I visited Diamonds Direct Southpark, the official jewler of the Carolina Panthers, before Christmas and found a stone I thought she'd like. Then about three or four weeks ago I went ahead and paid for it. I knew I was going to ask The Lady to marry me, I just didn't know when I was gonna do it. I figured it'd be sooner than later, but I didn't know when. It hit me during the middle of last week that I'd better hurry up and ask. I don't think she was getting impatient or anything, but I was ready to marry this womern whom I'm deeply in love with.
My pockets are always full of things some may consider crap but they're important to me. In my right pocket sits my big assed wallet. In my left pocket resides lip balm, keys, gum, camera and phone. Friday night, I added a small box with a ring inside. Usually I'll sit down on the couch with the lady and she'll quickly tell me to empty my pockets because they poke her hips when she sits next to me. Well, it took about an hour Friday night for her to ask so I stood up and pulled out the box o' ring first. She gave it a weird look and didn't realize what I was doing. When I opened the box she let out a few excited sqeals as I proposed. Oh, she said yes, too! We're looking at a fall wedding. There's already a website(which she agreed to use www.thisweddingmayormaynotsuck.com for but we decided for our parent's sake we'd keep it simple. She's handling all of the website duties.) but not an exact date or location.

Saturday we made a bunch of phone calls and went on the tour of families to make the announcement. Then Saturday night we had sister Anna's birthday party. Anna was a great sport about it. It didn't dawn on me until midweek the engagement would fall on Anna's birthday and I felt kinda shitty about it, but she was cool. Happy Birthday Anna!

Now that The Lady is The Fiancee, I reckon I'll simply call her Jennifer from now on. I've been practicing my yes ma'am's and whatever you think will be just fine with me honey's. I'm getting pretty good at it.

Mel Brooks

Al Sharpton visited Charlotte, USA Thursday to weigh on in the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office debate. Here's the quick rundown. The Sheriff retired to take a job in DC with homeland security. He was a democrat, thus the county party elects a successor via precints. The guy that wasn't supposed to win creates a shit ton of new precints and wins by a landslide. Oh, and he's black, too. I wish that wasn't an issue, but it is according to a lot of black people and more than a few white people in Charlotte. Anyway, the media starts uncovering folks who were allegedly in these precints and voted for the guy that wasn't supposed to win, but those people didn't remember signing anything or joining a precinct. A couple of democrats complained and a democratic state review panel decided Saturday by a vote of 10-2 the election was invalid.

The board of county commissioners will likely appoint the guy that was supposed to win Tuesday night at their regular meeting. He isn't black and that will likely cause even more controversy, but at least most of that controversy will hopefully be in the courtroom where cameras aren't allowed. By the way, Al Sharpton is pretty entertaining and didn't even offend me regardless of the way I feel about the issues he discussed. You could almost consider me an Al Sharpton fan. Some of the other local leaders tried to make me feel bad for being a member of the media and for being white. I smiled when they looked at me.

I wish everyone was the same color, or didn't give a shit what color we all are.

I Miss Music

Many of you know how much I love Sirius Satellite Radio. Many of you also know how much I love Howard Stern. Both of them are life changing if you spend more than ten minutes in a vehicle every day. I spend no less than an hour in a vehicle every day, and some days as much as four or six hours driving. I drive 25 minutes to work, then put my satellite radio in my live truck. Howard's show starts at 6 a.m. and typically goes until 11 a.m. It's then replayed all day so most of the time I'll hear the entire show in my daily travels.

Listening to so much Stern keeps me from listening to any music. Thank God Howard takes Fridays off and I make it all music all the time Fridays. Last Friday morning after leaving The Lady's my favorite Sirius channel ripped off thirty minutes of absolutely whip ass music. It was a run of tunes that set my mood for the rest of the day. I smiled a sincere smile on the interstate as I guided my pickup truck to the house. I loved it.

It made me realize I need to listen to less Howard and more music. I don't think it's going to happen since the Howard Stern show makes me piss my pants and entertains me so much on a daily basis, but I at least need to give it an effort. Through Wednesday I've still pretty much been all Howard. Wish me luck. Please.

NBC Nightly News

I celebrated MLK day by hopping in a live truck at 6 a.m. with Johnell Johnson and getting it down I-77 to Columbia where the Democratic presidential candidates were campaigning for Saturday's primary. It started with a church service downtown and was followed by Barack Obama marching with hundreds of others to the state house where the NAACP held a big assed rally in honor of Dr. King. It was a very, very busy day for Johnell and I so I didn't have a chance to snap any good pics. Except for one. I was scanning the huge crowd and noticed a distinguished white haired dude about 70 yards away.
It was Tom Freakin' Brokaw! They don't make them like Tom anymore. I like to think I don't get starstruck after ten years in this business, but it was cool to see Brokaw. More Americans watched him in the post Cronkite era than anyone else. He was interviewing a bunch of people in the crowd. I'm not sure what for, but it was nice to see a legend in action.

A Grand Opening

Saturday didn't suck. Unfortunately, The Lady was called in to work to help with inclement weather coverage which meant I had a Saturday with no plans. A quick call to tv's Kris Cook turned into three hours of beer drinking and video games which is the right thing to do on a rainy Saturday. For the record, Cook beat me in both Madden and college football, the former in an overtime thriller. I beat him in hockey and soccer.About 10:00 I rolled over to Central Ave. for the Thirsty Beaver Saloon's opening night. The parking lot was packed so I had to park across the street. That's a good sign for business. I walked inside and saw a bar that was slammed with people enjoying themselves. Brian greeted me at the door and I filled out the government required membership application. Since Brian and Mark aren't selling food at their establishment, state law forces them to be a private club which means everyone has to fill out an application. Brian ran out of membership cards early in the evening and ran out of applications by eleven. Obviously they weren't expecting the sizable crowd that showed up.
Mark was a busy man behind the bar pouring drinks and opening cans of domestic beer. Those beers included Pabst Blue Ribbon, Miller High Life, Miller High Life Light, Miller Lite, Budweiser, Bud Light, Coors Light and Yuengling. One of their pals in the neighborhood is the Heineken rep so they carry Heineken and Heineken Light in a separate refrigerator next to the bar. Anyway, thanks to the shit ton of people that came out Saturday, the bar's opening was an enormous success. I think a part Brian and Mark are still can't believe they own a bar and actually made some money Saturday. Whilst making my way to the bar for another High Life Light the nice young lady pictured above stopped me saying, "Excuse me, I know this sounds weird but I think I commented on your blog today." It turns out she and her boyfriend Shane met a dude earlier Saturday that told them about the Beaver, so she googled it and up came the previous blog post. I'll be damned. Christa and Shane were nice folks and seemed to be having a good time.
Everyone was having a good time. Campbell was enjoying High Life Lights along with Heather, Brooke and Chris. I'll probably get to see Heather more now that The Beaver's open. Hell, I'll get to see a lot of people more now that I don't see often enough. I see Brook and Chris about twice a year but I damn sure enjoy their company those two times a year. Good people. The Thirsty Beaver whips ass like everyone knew it would. The bar is an extension of Brian and Mark's personalities which means it's full of good times. If you're own Central Ave, drop in and ring the doorbell. One of them will be behind the bar to let you in for a can of cold beer.

That Beaver Looks Thirsty

There's a new bar in town. It opens Saturday night and I'm stoked. My pals Brian and Mark Wilson open the Thirsty Beaver Saloon tomorrow, and it's going to whip serious ass. They've been working for several weeks on the dive bar they've always wanted. Brian painted the beaver himself but tells me it's not finished yet. It will get a cowboy hat, better cowboy boots and a bigger beer mug before the doors are opened. I called him yesterday for details as he was placing an order at the ABC store. That's right, in North Carolina you can only by liquor from the government. Socialist Fuckers. Anyway, Brian said he was tired of spending money so it was time to open up and make some. There will be country music(real country music, not any of that Toby Keith bullshit,) cheap beer and zero cigarette smoke. Yep, Brian and Mark are opening what's likely the first smoke free honky tonk in the country that wasn't forced to be by the government. If you're in Charlotte, USA with nothing to do, roll down Central Avenue near Hawthorne and have an iced cold beer at the Thirsty Beaver.

TBP

Covering Mayor Pat's announcement gave me the rare opportunity to play poker at Travers' Tuesday night. Absolutely nothings changed. Well, except for a new table which may or may not have had Smithwick's spilled on it. And everyone's a better poker player, too.
Jim also has a sweet new logo on his tournament manager software. I played a lot better than I thought I would considering it was only the second time I'd played in probably eight months. I ended up finishing third which would have put me in the money if we were actually playing for money.
While the poker tournament is important, more important was the beer drinking and gas competition. Television's own Kris Cook and Travers opened with impressive efforts, but the newly humble Tracy Hollifield blasted one that covered the entire table and even sent one player outside. Congratulations Tracy!

Jamestown

I don't talk about politics much on this blog. I may have to start since I'll be covering a ton of politics for the rest of the year. Mark Smith and I hit the road Tuesday morning for Jamestown where Charlotte USA Mayor Pat McCrory grew up. Mark drove on the way up. I'm not really a great passenger in a live truck. I'm so used to driving it feels weird sitting in the passenger seat. Luckily Mark's somewhat of a geeky driver like myself. And by geeky I mean he and I are the only people I know after buying a new vehicle, the first trip we make in our new vehicles is to an auto parts store for blind spot mirrors. So, since Mark's a good driver, I felt fine in the passenger seat. Anyway, Mayor Pat was there to announce he's running for governor after winning his seventh term as Mayor a few months ago. There's been a ton of speculation the last few years that McCrory would run for a higher office so this wasn't a huge surprise, but I'm really glad to see it. An extreme fiscal conservative I don't often agree with the very moderate Republican Mayor Pat, but dude as many things done for Charlotte as Peyton Manning has for television commercials. Mayor Pat is a political machine. A good looking, likable dude who doesn't seem like the high powered politician he is when you talk to him.
North Carolina hasn't had a governor from the western part of the state since Jim Martin in the 80's, thus any place west of Raleigh tends to get shat on when it comes to many state funded issues. Hopefully Mayor Pat or whoever wins can change that. The campaign made the right decision holding the announcement in the central part of the state. Damn near every station form the state's three largest markets were there for the festivities. Luckily our Greensboro station did most of the work for the live stuff leaving me to the always important cutaway duty. Shawn Flynn and I turned a package for 4:00 and were back in Charlotte shortly after 6.

Pete Kaliner and his news gathering Ford Taurus joined made it a convoy back down I-85. Flynn did a fine job snapping pics from a live truck moving at 75 miles per hour. They should give Pete his own show. It would get me to tune away from satellite radio for three hours every day.

Whoremet

Sunday night The Lady and I typically watch football. Yes, I realize how effing awesome that is. The love of my life enjoys sitting on the couch and watching football. With the regular season over, we've no football to watch which means we're done watching The Amazing Race by about 9:30. By then, we're bored. I headed towards her place around nine and got a feeling I should cook dinner. It's not something either one of us do often because we both work nights. Even then, I cook far less than she. I dropped by the Lowe's Foods and decided on stir-fry tofu with couscous. I shat on tofu for years as not tasting good, but after years with vegetarians, it's not so bad. There's not much taste but when you fry it up in steaming hot sesame oil with vegetables, it's filling and tasty. Bored with rice I grabbed a box of toasted pine nut couscous. It was stupid easy to make and tasted great.

After ten minutes of cooking I realized the food I'd prepared looked really good. The Lady tasted it and agreed. I wish it had actually been hard to make. We watched The Food Network later on and I was feeling all badass like I could cook. I realized all I did was dump tofu and vegetables in a pan and stir them around for 12 minutes. Then I boiled some water, stirred in some olive oil, spices and semolina wheat pasta and proceeded to let it sit there for five minutes. There was zero degree of difficulty. At least it tasted good. I think I may cook again next Sunday. Maybe I'll do something more difficult. It may suck.

I Want to Be More Like This Guy

The first time I visited Bryan Frank's blog a couple years ago, I thought it was boring. Maybe it was a couple of posts I read and took the wrong way, but it didn't do much for me.

A few months ago I checked the blog again and I freakin' love it. BFrank is a news photographer in Los Angeles who does something most tv photogs like us don't do very well. He takes professional grade still shots while he's out on his assignments. But this isn't really what I like about BFrank. He enjoys simple things in life, then writes simply about them. He subtly mentions how much he loves spending time at home with his wife Dellis and how he didn't realize how much he'd missed his kids until there was a bunch of noise Christmas morning when they were home from college.

He's the kind guy that really wants to get fed up with his job some times. He wrote, "Miller time wouldn't even begin to describe what leaving the station felt like today. I'm at home, it's the weekend, and if I'm lucky, the station won't need another (truck) operator to cover the rain. It's been a long week." But two lines later, you can tell he sincerely loves what he does adding, "You know, if they do need an operator, I'm in."

He loves drink and good food. "The news was on and I was eating dinner. Grilled salmon on a bed of lettuce with ranch dressing, corn on the side and a glass of shiraz from the Barefoot label."

That quote describes this guy for me. A simple pleasure enjoyed simply.

I think it's partially because BFrank works in LA, a place that I desperately want to visit. He often talks of the pain of driving on the freeways during rush hour. Takes pictures of the town and generally shows and speaks of things your average East Coaster doesn't know about Southern California.

Check out my new favorite blog. BFrank appears to be the most content man in the Republic of California. That's a good way to be.

Holiday Wrap

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. The Lady had to work early Christmas morning so we spent Christmas Eve together. We didn't give big presents since we spent all our money going to New York City for a few days earlier in December, but we had a nice evening and Christmas morning regardless. I was at the Butler Homestead by 9 and we opened presents before lunch. I'm holding damn near everything I got in my arms in that Christmas Morning picture. Highlights were a digital picture frame and a big package of Big Red. Oh, and a personalized Bobcats Jersey and some running shoes. We ate lunch and I headed to work for an easy eight hours of holiday pay. I took a bunch of leftovers in with me so I didn't have to eat Chinese.
Christmas night there was a murder in Mint Hill at Rookie's Sports Bar. It's in a newer strip mall on the north side of my hometown. It's weird to cover murders that happen fifty yards away from where you shop for organic potato chips, apples and ass paper. Fellow Mint Hill native Broders and I did our best, "I'm shocked! I can't believe it happened in a quiet place like Mint Hill" impressions. I suppose it is pretty shocking for the average Mint Hillian. It appeared to be some sort of drug deal involving some trashy folks. Gunfire ensued. Hooray!!!I used my final vacation day of the year New Year's Eve. I hate working that night. I always end up physically kicking people off the hood of my sat buggy. One year some dude thought Travers hit a pregnant lady and wanted to kick his ass. By the way, Jim finally put up the Halloween 2006 Party Pics up a couple of months ago. Anyway, kicking drunks off of your work unit is not a great way to celebrate the new year. We began the evening at Blue, a fancy uptown restaurant. We had a nice dinner with friends Mike and Erika. I ordered the whole sea bass with some sort of risotto. The waiter filleted it at the table and it was quite good. The Lady went with some sort of falafel and pita. it looked pretty good but I didn't' try it. I also tried Grolsch beer for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it. We left Blue and dropped by Bill's house for a glass of wine and visitation. I hadn't seen Bill in a while and hadn't seen his wife since their wedding more than two years ago. He also got to meet The Lady and informed me the next day that I out kicked my coverage.

We got home around 11:30 and uncorked the 15 dollar bottle of champagne I picked up earlier in the week. We drank the bottle and went to bed pretty early ending what I think was a spectacular 2007. Except for the Panthers missing the playoffs. That sucked.

Christmas Eve

I had a 0700 wake up call Christmas Eve Morning. A quick adjustment at the chiropractor was first on the schedule followed by an uptown Christmas delivery Dad and I had to get done by eight. I'm glad Dad came with me. We don't talk a ton, but driving around Charlotte is something we can both talk about. As usual, Dad took the long route back to Mint Hill. Both of us do that sometimes. I mentioned some houses around his office were pretty neat so we drove by and looked at those. Then we drove through some other neighborhoods talking about stuff along the way. It was nice. Once arriving in the Hill Aunt Bibus and Uncle Ben got to the house. We ate a big assed lunch and opened presents. Bibus got me a dress shirt from Belk's. It's probably the first shirt that she's purchased for me in years that I actually like! I love Bibus. I left shortly after that and headed to work. I don't mind working holidays, plus The Lady was working. I love her, too.
Tim Baier mentioned Saturday night at The Gin Mill that his mom was flying in Christmas Eve and they were having dinner and we were welcome. Since Tim lives a low, screaming four iron away from the back gate of the station, I gladly obliged. I got to Tim's place a little late thanks to your average holiday interstate fatal accident but there was still plenty of food. Mama Baier had whipped up some cheesy potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and green beans to compliment the ham Tim took care of. Jared brought an award winning chocolate creme pie. Producer Rachel(she left early to go back to work) and I brought only ourselves. Oh Billy it was good food! Thanks to the Baiers, Christmas Eve was great!

Merry Christmas Everybody

Saturday brought forth another family Christmas celebration. Dad, Sister Anna and I(mom was sick with a fever) got in the car early in the morning and headed to Lincolnton for lunch and presents. Every year before we open presents, PawPaw reads the Christmas story like any other good 83 year old Methodist minister would. PawPaw rarely preaches anymore so it's great to hear him read in his preacher voice. After he's done reading, he closes his good news bible and says a prayer. PawPaw prays in an aching baritone that almost sounds like he's crying. I think he just does it for effect. Whatever it is, it works.

Merry Christmas everyone, and if you haven't' opened all of your presents yet, PawPaw has something he'd like for all of us to hear..

Grey Wednesday

I'd like to apologize to the readers about the poor photo quality featured since the blogs' resurfacing. I need to remember to start carrying the point and shoot with me every day. You've been looking at poor cell phone pictures. This will improve by the end of the year.

Your friendly neighborhood police officer Tim and I went to the mall Tuesday morning. You know, to go Christmas shopping, and shit. Hey, that reminds me of another time Tim and I went to the mall. This was probably back in 200 when my old roommate Brad, Tim and I decided to park my Mazda Navajo at SouthPark mall and drink beer until we almost peed our pants, then go shopping. That was a good time.

Anyway, Monday Tim met me and the mall and I quickly realized we were both wearing blue jeans and grey sweaters. Good thing I had a team colors polo in the truck or we would have looked like clowns walking around the mall. Maybe even gay clowns. Sure enough when Tim got to the Gin Mill Wednesday night for Christmas Karaoke Night, we both were wearing the same blue jeans and same grey sweaters. Then Campbell took off his jacket and he was wearing blue jeans and a grey sweater, too. Oh well, it was dark so I don't think anyone noticed. Except for when we all posed for this picture.

Oh, and a big Happy 29th Birthday to Tim Baier. By the way, Tim dated Christine Lakin of Step by Step fame in Junior High School.

Days of Yore

Your average news photographer knows a ton about local restaurants. The last three or four years, the Charlotte restaurant scene has greatly improved. Johnson and Wales moved their Charleston Campus here a few years ago and whip ass restaurants have sprouted all over town. This post is about none of those.

I typically bring my dinner to work. It's cheaper and healthier. Wednesday I didn't bring dinner so I was faced with the tough decision of where I was going to eat. When this happens I take the sat buggy down South Boulevard and see where the good Lord leads me. Sometimes I make a left turn somewhere and end up on Park Road, but Wednesday took me to the Skyland Family Restaurant. I used to go there a lot when I worked overnights for NBC. It's your typical 24 hour diner with an enormous menu that has damn near anything you'd ever want on it. Situated in a tiny shopping center with a pool hall and gay bar it looks like it's been open for fifty years. It smells like a smoking section. The plates look old and the food is slightly above average. I just looked at their website and they've only been open since 1994. Their site is really professional and flashy, too. Weird. A greek man named Jimmy Kakavitsas owns the place. He's a hell of a nice guy that fed 2,500 people at Thanksgiving a few weeks ago. He plans to feed 5,000 next year.

Anyway, I walked in and saw the wall of former professional wrestlers that's always there. It's full of signed glossies from wrestling legends. My favorite one is of Nelson Freakin' Royal. A nice waitress handed me a menu and told me to sit anywhere I'd like. Of course I choose a table by the window where the sat buggy was parked so I could keep an eye on it. After ten minutes I settled on a dinner salad with a side of spaghetti. The salad was the finest iceberg available in December and was soaking three or four pints of italian dressing and the spaghetti needed three or four more ladles of marinara, but I loved every bit of it. I miss old school Charlotte.

Extra Trips

Bryan Allman made his way to the Queen City via his home state of New York. He honed his shooting skills in Binghamton, Ft. Myers and Albany, NY before making his way to the one four along with his wife and two young boys. Bryan often talks of his multiple daily trips to the shitter and I'm certain it's 100 percent because of his diet. BAllman often downs pop-tarts and soda for dinner. This afternoon he grabbed a packet of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate Mix with marshmallows, ripped open the top and and poured the entire son of a bitch down his gullet. He went home for dinner and returned with a Tupperware full of macaroni and cheese. Only there was tuna, onions and hot sauce in it mixed in. Wow!!!

74 East

I'd go through a long, drawn out explanation about why I haven't written in more than two months, but I don't really have one. I guess my muse went away and I'm not certain it's back. I'm going to try writing some in hopes it will return!
After an exhausting Friday covering the nutty Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office race I put on some long pants and a sweet assed shirt and burned up Highway 74 to Wilmington for a rock show. Cousin Lee recently moved back to Wilmington from Atlanta and got the band back together. He and his pal Brent added a few new members to create the Monkey Junction Band.
I rolled into Wormwood's Bar and Grill about 45 minutes into their first set and I'll be damned, they didn't suck! In fact, they're actually pretty good. Lee does a good job fronting the band and sings with a lot of soul I didn't really expect. Along with a string bass and percussion, they've a fine sound.
Cousin Ty came down from Carey for the show. Ty can party and she's not skeered to let you know it. It'd be fun to party more with Ty. She oozes good times. Lee's sister, Cousin Anne and her hubby Cliff were there, too. This was the first time in the 16 years they've been married I've hung out with them somewhere other than a family holiday or event and I'm glad we got to see each other. It's a bit weird to see us all grow up and change in little ways, but I love it. Now we talk about careers and kids and drink beer together. It's great! Early Saturday after the show(I think around 3 am) Ty, Lee and myself were back at Lee's house having a few beverages, talking about old time and future times. It was great, something we all need to do more often. I think we will.