A to Z Challenge 2016: A is for Animal and a Battle

 


It is April Fool's Day! Welcome to my humble blog, I have my trusty jesters hat on and I am ready to kick off the A to Z: Challenge 2016! Normally on the first of the month I participate in another Blog Fest called the Battle of the Bands. This month is no exception.

Here are the rules are simple I usually pick a song and present a couple of bands battling it out with the song.  This time I am deviating a little. Today I am pitting to famous drummers against each other in a drum battle. You pick the one you like best by casting your vote in the comments. Why you voted the way you did and other comments are always welcomed. The musicians thought it was tie so your vote could settle the debate. This time round just one video, two drummers, man versus puppets.

Please check out the other battles I defer to the master list found on this site STMcC Presents 'Battle of the Bands'. It is also the place to sign up! I will post results on Sunday April 10 another deviation. I'm feeling pretty deviant today.

Tying in to the A to Z Challenge A is for Animal.  I have Animal who gained fame through The Muppets battling it against Dave Grohl.  I've placed him behind the drums like his Nirvana days and Them Crooked Vultures. No Foos today all fighters!

Please vote! Tune in on April 2 for something to do with B.

The Day Before the 2016 A to Z Challenge

No theme reveal here. Maybe one year. I just blog like I normally do accept I'll follow the A to Z format. It is all pretty much flying by the seat of my pants.

This time around the challenge appears more daunting to me. I've done the challenge each year starting back in 2011, so I know I can do it. Time is the battle for me. I know I will have at least 28 posts in April. Two Battle of the Band results and 26 A to Z posts. I know these posts will compete against time for work, time for family, time for other writing projects, time for other pursuits so time is the huge obstacle for the challenge. If you are doing the challenge what is your biggest obstacle?

If you want to join the insanity, I mean the fun you can still sign up here. The challenge has over 1700 bloggers signed up. I'm in there at #640. What's your number? I wonder how many will finish?

I do like the challenge of the challenge. I really enjoy meeting all the bloggers. I end up following a few more and some even follow me. The math with 1700 people doing 26 blog posts that is over 44,000 A to Z blog posts. I will only be able to visit so many.

Are you ready? Can you wait one more day? Thoughts on the challenge please share!

Favorite Book Genre

I responded to one of my friend's facebook quiz which featured 52 books everyone is supposed to read atleast once in your lifetime. She had read half of them, and I had read a humbling 12. I could just be waiting for my next lifetime to catch up.

Anyway she asked me what is my favorite genre? The question is straight forward, but it is one that made me think.

My answer was adventure trop fiction. Examples would be Hemingway, Benchley, Steinbeck, and Bob Morris.

Really any adventure would work as I really enjoyed The Call of the Wild and The Kite Runner.

I didn't go into nonfiction on my facebook reply but I will here. It is split between music biographies. That being said if I find someone interesting who isn't in music I will read that biography too. As I mentioned before I do alot of reading on the subject of business. My favorite business books are on the subject of leadership.

Since the question was a good one in my opinion. I will ask you my readers what are your favorite genres? Just for fun if you answer and feel like sharing what is your favorite book or author in that genre? 

The Month in Concerts: Joe Satriani

For my second concert of the month I went to another Saenger Theatre this time in Pensacola. The artist this time around was Joe Satriani who was dong a career spanning tour. Joe Satriani has been nominated for 15 Grammy Awards



He played a two set show with no opening act and played well over two hours.



The merchandise tables also sold Cds by the sideman who were performing with him, which I though was pretty cool. It was an enjoyable date night for me.

A Day in My Life: Easter Funday!

Sundays in general is my family day. There are exceptions. However, with Sunday being my only set off day it is the day that I am most available. My random day off in general is my day. Of course my day sometimes gets taken over by errands and family when available.

Well today was Easter Sunday, a traditional family day which we spent together as a family. The family day was much needed since my daughter just got back from a week long trip to Texas. Unfortunately for us the weather decided to rain most of the day.

My girls woke up to Easter baskets over flowing with goodies. Though the wife said the Easter bunt didn't like her as much this year as there was no wine in the basket. Well the girls all got all fancied up and we went to the traditional Easter Sunday Church service.



The church Easter Egg hunt was moved inside and then we went home and changed. Due to the weather her other Easter Egg hunt was postponed until the evening.

Then on to the less traditional things on the schedule. Certainly the Easter Bunny is important but sometimes it is important to realize other things hop, like a kangaroo...



I never knew kangaroos were so soft!

However, Easter has a lot to do with eating. I thought I would let my daughter feed a kitty cat...



I tried to explain to her that handling a tiger is a once in a lifetime opportunity. However, it was just two years ago when this happened...



I told her the fine print to that was unless you have a Dad like me! As for the Easter Egg hunt my daughter did pretty good finding 89 of the 97 Easter Eggs. Needless to say she is sound asleep as I write that. Well I hope your Sunday was fun as well!

R.I.P Gary Shandling

Gary Shandling an award winning comedian, television personality, film star and writer passed away suddenly yesterday at the age of 66. Best known for his television show s It's the Gary Shandling Show and The Larry Sanders Show.

They earned him 19 Emmy Nominations. He won a Primetime Emmy Award. He also won three American Comedy Awards.

A clip from The Larry Sanders Show ...

On The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson...

Here he discusses the difference between himself onstage and off...

Sad to lose him he will be missed. His legacy is archived and is influence is apparent.

This Month in Concerts: Robert Plant

I had mentioned I was able to catch a couple of shows this month and someone had commented on who I had seen. Well to start the month I caught Robert Plant in Mobile, Alabama. My friends and family knew I was going to catch this tour the mystery was where I was going to catch it. I chose the venue nearest my home.

Artwork outside the Saenger Theatre in Mobile...



I ended up with great seats..my view



The opening band was The Sonics which my Battle of the Bands friends may recognize from this post.

The Sonics in action..

Of course I was there to see this guy..

I am sorry I didn't catch another show on this tour since Robert Plant is mixing up set list on this tour. The pictures were taken by me, if you use them it would b cool if you gave me credit.

My thoughts on the show. He has stretched the songs making them more psychedelic. I liked his version of "That's The Way" the best.

The setlist included six Led Zeppelin covers and a few blues covers as well that teased Zeppelin. Only 4 songs were from solo albums. While his takes on his old band are bold and adventurist, I would have liked him to have performed more solo songs. However, the show was a fun time!