This ain't mundane

I know I violate my own aesthetic credo all the time, but I just have to pause to say something significant. Last week I found out that my wife Sarah and I are going to have a girl this summer. I'm very excited. It's not that I wouldn't have liked a son -- that would have been great too -- but knowing that it's a girl makes the whole thing much more real to me. And I'm not saying that people who choose to be "surprised" (by not finding out the sex in advance) are mssing out or are wrong in anyway -- that's exciting in a different way. Anyway, just thougt I'd share my excitement, corny as it may be.

anthrax as kiss decades ago

Here's something interesting.

In looking through an old issue (probably from 77 or 78) of 16 Magazine, I turned to the "reader-star lookalikes" section. Here, readers of this fine periodical would send in pictures of themselves in which they claimed to resemble such personages as Leif Garrett, Kristy McNichol, Shaun Cassidy, and various members of the Bay City Rollers.

A number of folks (mostly young women actually, but a lot of men) got themselves up as the members of Kiss and sent in photos.

One photo of such Kissitators came in from the Bronx, NY. The boys in the picture looked to be about 12-14 years old. Two of them were names Frankie Bello and Charlie Benante.

Frankie and Charlie are members of Anthrax -- I thought that was pretty neat.

mundane song from my past

I once took a bus trip to Dallas (I think back in '92) from SF with my good friend Albert. A few months later, I believe, we wrote a song to commemorate the journey. I think it's pretty much all about what food (usually processed, fast, or from some kind of machine) we ate. Here are the lyrics to the musical/poetic log of our journey, "Desert Angels":

Chorus:

desert angels on a greyhound bus
oh the wonders we would see
san francisco dallas ride with us
might be cheap but it sure ain't free
said it might be cheap but it sure ain't free

1
midnight ride to l.a.
the ride was smooth and the talk was gay
headed east on highway ten
off to places we had never been
stopped in blythe at mickey d's
for a coffee with some sugar please
dozing off in the desert dawn
and phoenix was the next big town

2
stuck at stuckey's in the benson heat
damn that pecan log was good to eat
off to lordsburg we did ride
for a big mac coke and a side of fries
eastbound freeway in the late afternoon sun
who could have foreseen the end of our fun
stopped in old el paso and the bus it would take us
to that dreadful hamlet we've come to know as pecos

3
cursed be that coffee machine
that stole our change and spewed caffeine
a change of clothes and some mighty scowls
and a homesick grumbling from our bowels
woe are we oh the demons that vex us
will we ever make it to dallas texas
fear not for greyhound guarantees
leave the driving to us if you please

Thanks to Albert for preserving -- and sending -- these lyrics.