Frogwhompers And Buffaloes

So… Greta is having fun with the Buffalo game. Which, frankly, is a cool game, but which I got to a bit late. My entry was “The New Vinton County Frogwhompers Marching, Singing, Strumming And Plucking Buffalo, Incorporated” (If you read Greta’s rules, you’ll understand).

The Frogwhompers (for short) were a “New-Grass” band–bluegrass, but with modern influences, from the Beatles to the Grateful Dead to The Monkees… I saw them in concert, and bought (and had autographed!) their album.

So… First off, the Frogwhompers– “Sweet Ohio”, by Jim McGaw (one of the Frogwhompers, so one of their original songs):

This was within a year of when I saw them, so these are the Frogwhompers I remember. Original songs, but also traditional and covers. I don’t know whether “Dark Hollow” counts as traditional or as cover, but the Grateful Dead did a version, and so did the Frogwhompers:

The Frogwhompers were fantastic… which musicians did you see locally, who could have (we won’t go into “should have”) made it big? I have another band I’ll save for the comments; I want to know yours.

Wanted: Strong Demand

Update: Here’s the link to the product page. (currently they have the image mis-attributed; Mike McRae is, of course, the designer of the Cuttlefish With Quill, and I modified it for the emblem myself.)

Ok, so yesterday’s “Prototype” post included the facetious note to the EvolveFish people that this is what they were missing.

The one thing I was not expecting was that they would read it and comment:

I think we can have a vinyl cutout version of this on EvolveFISH.com by Wednesday noon. If there is strong demand, we can have an injection molded version in 5 weeks.

Shit just got real.

I know *I* want this to happen. If it does, of course, I expect my original (the Lassiter version) to be added to the Smithsonian collections… or something.

What all well-dressed cars will be wearing this season...

The Year In Cities

I am not one to often do memes
(It’s just so hard to rhyme them, it seems)
But this one I’ll try
Cos the year that’s gone by
Has been better than even my dreams!

So, Chad Orzel at Uncertain Principles (love that dog!) propogates a meme: list the places where you spent at least one night in 2008 (other than home). Any other year, I would be too depressed at how short a list it was, to actually post it. This year?

Chicago

(Greece)
Athens
Nafplion
Olympia
Delphi
Kalambaka
Thessaloniki
Ouranoupolis
Kerkini

(Bulgaria)
Sofia
Veliko Turnovo
Varna
Bourgas
Plovdiv

New York City
Canastota, NY

Yeah, next year is gonna suck, but I have my memories… So, where did you go this year?

The Meme of Eights…

CAE tagged me!

You cannot be a cuttlefish
And hide in pixels, or in ink,
While still appeasing those who wish
To ask about the stuff you think.
And so I turn to camouflage
To hide a little—or a lot.
I write a verse that’s part mirage—
Some of it’s true, but some is not.

8 Passions

I’ve a passion for food, and a passion for snow
(I will go out for ice cream at twenty below)
I’ve a passion for poetry—also, for Greeks
(The Odyssey’s best in the words Homer speaks)
A passion for travel, but also for home
(A place to come back to, and places to roam)
A passion for language, a passion for culture
(Both living and dead—I’m a bit of a vulture)

8 Things to do before I die

First, eat some of every food in the world;
Then do that again, one more time.
To learn to play bagpipes, and then mandolin;
Find someone who’d pay me to rhyme.
To act, as Iago, and Caliban, too;
Learn a language, start a new trend.
Or trade all of these for the chance to go back
And start over again with [my friend].

8 Things I often say

“That’s a really great question”,I often will say,
And of course, “I do not know the answer”
“You know that a horoscope’s nothing but lies”
“Well, of course I think that—I’m a Cancer.”
“In my humble opinion—which also is right”
And yes, “It’s my job: I’m a Dad.”
To my dog: “what, again? Hey, I just took you out!”
And though it seems dated, “Egad!”

8 books I recently read

Fabulous Females and Peerless Pirs;
Of course, Eats, Shoots and Leaves;
Frans De Waal’s Our Inner Ape;
Shermer’s How We Believe;
Towing Jehova; Dr. Tatiana’s
Sex Advice To All Creation;
Magic In Theory; and last but not least,
Behavior Modification.

8 Songs that mean something to me

All of Tom Waits, or just “I Want You”
Elvis Costello and “Almost Blue”
“Wake Up And Dream”, If I may be bold,
And “Ghost” by the Indigos never grows old
“Grand River Lullaby”, by Alex Bevan
“Once In A Very Blue Moon”—sheer heaven
There’s Lucy Kaplansky’s “Guinevere”
And “The Promise” the last, not the least one here.

8 Qualities I look for in a friend

I’ve never really looked for friends,
Held tryouts or auditions;
The people whom I love the most
Seem random acquisitions.
For every stand-out quality
(Believe me, those are ample)
Another friend is there to act
As opposite example.
With so many people whom I love,
So many I hold dear—
Although the question’s very good,
You’ll find no answer here.

8 People whose blogs I enjoy

Of course, there’s the people I list to the right,
So don’t neglect them, although this poem might.
I’m choosing some others to list in this verse,
Like Moon River, Dienekes, and The Head Nurse;
One I read from years ago, one I found today,
One you probably know about, but I’ll list anyway
One that needs poking, to get him to speak
And one that I love, though it’s written in Greek.