Air Supply back in Lincoln City!!

Well, it took 5 1/2 years, but this past Friday and Saturday "my boys" finally made it back to where I started with them. The shows were wonderful, and Russell made comments both on his web site and on the official site about how beautiful it was even though it rained like crazy Saturday. (well, and most of Friday...LOL) Graham mentioned in both shows about how much he liked it here. (i knew that...he loves the beach and I was really hoping for some decent weather while they were here.) He said it was very romantic watching the waves crash on the shore even though it was pouring rain. He spent the afternoon sitting at his window...feeding seagulls....LOL..he said they were probably waiting for him to get back. He said he called room service and ordered 4 loaves of bread. ROTFL.....

Russ was pretty darn good! I had a couple friends there who were drooling over him the whole time. LOL...They had me paying a bit more attention to the man and his muscles. LOL... I was really wanting to meet him. Perhaps next time around. I did get "Jed Hugs" both nights. Ran into him before the shows. Tracey spotted Mike (who I did talk to after the Friday show for just long enough to welcome him back...he said he was very glad to be back!) before Friday's show.

The guys were "dismissed" for Fridays M&G which I HATE when they do that! (did the same thing at Spirit MT last year) They had the stupid thing outside the showroom, which i have never seen at this casino before. They always have it inside. Security was hustling people right along. (sheesh) Saturday they didn't do one at all. Some of the guys in the band were jamming with the house band at the lounge in the hotel.

Amazing Anglesey pictures!

Well, I've had the wonderful fortune to connect with an incredible photographer who lives in Anglesey. (Wales, for the uninitiated) His name is Glyn Davies, and he has actually published a book of Anglesey pics. I'm looking into the possibility of actually purchasing it, but haven't gotten that far yet. http://www.glyndavies.com/shop.php?l=0&fp=49286&gid=280

Wanted to get it down on here first. Go check out his work. You won't be disappointed!

Technology gets it right!

Well, thank you to the people at VSO Image Resizer for Windows Vista! I actually like it better than the one from XP as you can do a bunch at one time! Pretty cool! It's about time someone developed one that worked well on Vista. I was begining to think I'd have to spring big bucks for a photo editing program that had one in there. (the 2 that i use don't have that feature )

Song of the Day: "It Won't Be Long" by the Beatles

Quote of the Day: "Sign in the box and touch OK" (anyone who cashiers at Wallys will understand that perfectly since we have to say it 800 times a day)

Photo of the Day: Shark at Sea World

Not enough time for posting

Well, I realize that I have been neglecting this page due to my recent emergency trip to Idaho, as well as my new obsession with FaceBook. I have been connecting with a lot of people from my past (think RHS and "Good Company" days) and crazy as it seems, I'm really enjoying it. It's quite fun to see where people have ended up, and what they look like now. There are other I would like to find; perhaps with time and patience (and the internet) I soon will.

No word on our class reunion for this summer, and now it's too late for me to do anything about it anyway. I've made vacation plans for Utah and Vegas, so unless it happens to be the same time, I won't be going. Nobody seems to know anything about it anyway. (you'd thing some of the people who are still in the Rigby area would know something..."do ya hear me Craig???")

Concerts are in less than 3 weeks now, and I must admit I'm ready for one. (ok...2) I'm looking forward to picking up a good friend at PDX, as well as spending time with other long lost friends who will be attending. Some people from Wallys are going also; that will be fun to share my "midlife crisis" with them. If nothing else, they will enjoy watching me watch the guys. LOL....

I'm also on a kick to get some old pics scanned into Mr. Computer. I didn't realize I had so many of them until I started going through albums. (dang, I was a cute kid! LOL.....)

The 2 Russells

Well, I hear from reliable sources that the newest addition to Air Supply, guitarist Russ Letizia, sounds great with the band and is a nice guy too. (once again I'm guilty of swiping the pics, this time from Russ's MySpace page.) I'll get the chance to see/hear for myself in 4 weeks. (Assuming he will still be around by then.) :d)

Frankie

OK...I had to go get nosy about just who shot that UTUBE video I stuck in the previous post. You'd think I'd learn not to ask questions like that, but NOOOO.... Anyway, regardless it was fun to watch him. I've decided that he looks like a cross between Jonni and Jed though. LOL.... He is a cutie, no matter how ya look at him. (I swiped the pic from his Facebook page...sorry Frankie, but hey...good publicity, right? heehehee)

Air supply video

A nifty clip of Air Supply last weekend in California . Thanks to my dear friend Khan (who was at this show, but did not film this clip) for providing the link. Some good views of Frankie Moreno who is filling in for Jed this month, (and looks remarkably like Jed) also new guitar player Russ Letizia. I've never seen Graham in short sleeves in any of the shows I've been too; different look for him. The guys look and sound great as always, and whets the appetite for next months shows here in Oregon. (The person who filmed this was apparently obsessed with Mr. Moreno...LOL)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUuc7sosZLY

Snow on the coast

Well, today it snowed in Newport. Lots of snow. (well, not a lot stuck on the ground, but lots fell) It was just beautiful for several hours. Big, honkin', huge snow flakes...used to call that "Christmas Eve snow" back in Idaho. It was really fun to watch, and because it was snowing, it was very slow at work. We had plenty of time to stand around and watch. Tomorrow is inventory day, so we were glad we had today to sing some Christmas songs. heehee

Lazy/not hazy day

Well, Mom had her first eye (cataract surgery) done this morning, so we are just hanging out at her house. When my friend had hers done, she was really sleepy all day long, but Mom is very awake and alert and doing fine. I was able to stay with her while they were prepping her and it was quite interesting. There were about 12 people there filtering in a few at a time starting with us at 6:30am. We were glad she was 2nd on the list! We were out of there by 9:15 and she refuses to stay quiet!! (typical) I keep insisting she stay down like her instructions said to do, but she keeps hopping up. (guess she doesn't think i can make toast by myself, eh?)(no comments there from anyone...) We get to go to the dr's office at 1:15 this afternoon to have the patch removed and eye checked, and she can't drive for 24 hours. 2 weeks from now the other eye will be done, so that will be nice to have it over. She was pleased there really wasn't anything to it. The actual procedure only takes 10-20 minutes. By the time I was called back in there, she was in a chair drinking juice and doing fine.

Well, hopefully I will be going to SLC this summer, then on to Jackson and Yellowstone. I'll know if my time is approved in the next week or so.

Speedy album arrival!!

Well, I wasn't even going to go to check my PO Box today, cause I didn't think it would be worth my time. Then I was checking www.airsupplynowandforever.com and several people had gotten their "Take Time" album today, so of course I had to journey off to the post office and mine was in the box! Woohoo! It sounds amazing! So much better than the original recording did. It was charming to hear Sydney and Russell sing together on "Only Time Will Heal A Broken Heart", and a wonderful surprise to find a recording of "I Can't Stay Away", which was an Air Supply demo from 1984. Wonderful album photos by Lady Jodi Russell. In the liner notes Russell states that Sydney was only 6 when it was originally recorded, which puts it around 1995. (give or take....LOL) Of course Windows Media player couldn't find any album info, so I had to enter in all, but I certainly could live with that.
Well done, Russell!

"Take Time" on the way!

Well, after all these years (now that sounds familiar to Airheads, eh?) Russell's "old" new album is ordered and hopefully will be here soon. Limited addition signed by Russell and daughter Sydney Rose, who appears in a special duet of the song "Only Time Will Heal A Broken Heart". I had planned on having Russell sign it at the March shows, and probably still will, but it will be fun to have Sydney's too. Check out http://www.russellhitchcock.net/ for a sneak preview and to order the album. (just click on his album on the right side of this page, and order away! heehee

(above pic from Tacoma, Feb 2007)

It's not just me

Today most of the customers in our store had the common sense of sand. For instance, someone with a lot of stuff in their cart gets through the check-out, looks down and says..."Gee, you got all that in 1 bag!" (yea, not counting the 5 other bags you have here!) Funny thing though, when one of us is having a day like that, we are not alone. Most of the rest of us are having the exact same kind of day. For those of you who don't believe in the "full moon syndrome", let me assure you it is very real. Now I honestly don't know where we are in the current moon cycle due to all the clouds we have had the last few nights, but today felt like a full moon to me. When it gets really bad, we wander through the back hall of the store with dazed looks and lots of muttering to ourselves and anyone who will listen. (or pretend to listen, anyway)

A guy came up to me and said..."where are your batteries?" I pointed to the big stand of batteries right in front of him. He looked at them, looked back at me, and said "oh". It's hard not to roll your eyes at things like that.
Another time a man bought a mailbox. Mailboxes are big...it stood about 2 feet high as I placed it on the top of the bag carousel. That was the only thing he had. He paid me and started to spin the thing around looking in all the bags. "Where is my mailbox?" (he said indignantly) I patted it on it's top and said "right here". He didn't say a word, just picked up his mailbox and left. (deep breath here)

The first of the year Oregon implemented a $.05 bottle deposit for water bottles. A lady today paid for her case of water, then held out the receipt I had just given her. I asked her if something was wrong. She said "here's the receipt now give me my bottle deposits back." (really big sigh and biting the inside of my mouth) I explained that she had to drink the water first then bring the empty bottles back to the store for the refund. She scrunched up her brow...thought for a minute, then said "I guess that's OK", and left with her water.
You can't make this stuff up.

Airhead humor (?)

Taking a cue from an Air Supply fan web site where someone came up with the idea of "You Might Just Be An Airhead if........" (aka Jeff Foxworthy humor) I have made my own little list of things. The first one I "borrowed" from that other list because it's too true to be funny. Ready??

You Might Be An Airhead if....you have pictures of the band in a photo album next to pictures of your family.
...you can't remember what you are wearing without looking, but you can describe Russell's last 4 stage outfits.
...you can name that Air Supply tune in 2 notes.
...you sing along with the elevator music when it's an Air Supply song.
...you live for your next "Jed Hug".
...you already know all the words to Russell's "Take Time" album, and it's not even out yet.
...you're the only audience member who can sing along with "A Little Bit Of Everything".
...you understand the term "Jedilicious".
...you don't screw up the words to "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All".
...you're already at the stage before Russell has finished the invitation to come forward.
...you still miss the "red pants".

Yea, I know...but hey, I can think of worse things I could be doing for my mid-life crisis!!! LOL........

Vacations (or lack there of)

Well, another day in the neighborhood. Might be snow tonight, but I'll believe it when i see it. Heard from someone who went to see Bette Midler at Caesars, and about all they could say was WOW. It would be great to see her show! I don't know if i can make it to Vegas this year. Will all depend if I do Utah/Idaho/Yellowstone/Jackson in August.

Graham Russell announced he will be part of a show in Park City at "Zoom" in August also. Sounds exclusive. (read..EXPENSIVE) I'd love to go to the Wendover Air Supply show the end of February, but airline tix to SLC are outrageous again, so probably not. I doubt I'd recognize Wendover now. It was just a bump in the road when I was last there is 1990. (Now it's a BIGGER bump, eh?) There are still concert tix available for that show, but sounds like Jed will be absent for all of Feb. I've been looking around to see if i can find some symphony stuff for him, but haven't found anything concrete yet for that week. Would be interesting to see his replacement though...Frankie Marino from Vegas filling in. Janet Robin on guitar is out...Russell "somebody" is in. (From Marino's show) (Sorry...don't feel like looking that name up at the moment.heehe) Lots of changes in the band, but hopefully we will get to hear some new songs at our March shows.

Well, I have pics to edit, so that's all folks.

Song of the day: The Osmonds "Through The Years"
Quote of the day: friend from work said we "Work the Red Line District" (ya had to be there for that one...LOL)

Nothing to say today

A few random Air Supply pics from over the years..Jonni, Jed, Mike.

So..because of the title, I'll likely ramble on here for pages and pages....

Song of the day: Neil Sedaka-"Me and My Friend"

Gripe of the day: Our nearest Home Depot and Borders are over an hour away, and I didn't feel like driving that far.

Wants: Go to Yellowstone Park again before they ban cars like Yosemite.

Good thing from today: I did not get hit by a truck.

Blast from the past

As unlikely as it seems to my mind, this summer I will have been out of high school for 30 years. EEEK! I have been reconnecting with some old friends these past few months and it's funny how little (and how much) things have changed. We've all had life altering experiences, yet we are basically the same people we were in 1979. It's also funny how the mind tends to weed out the bad memories keeping only the good ones in the forefront. I read an interesting term the other day..."friendemies", which is what you have become with those people from high school that you didn't really like then, but now they want to be your best friend. Then there are the ones who really were good friends back then, but somehow you drifted apart and are genuinely glad to reconnect with them now.
I'm tempted to go to the reunion, (if only to see how old and fat the basketball players have gotten) but perhaps the only ones there would be the cheerleaders who have NOT gotten old and fat like everyone else, and they would spend the entire evening telling me how much they have missed me.
Ironically, in grade school, i was good friends with one of those cheerleaders, but by the time high school came along, we didn't speak 2 words to each other those 3 years. I was "middle class" in high school, mostly due to my involvement with music/and or/drama, and I was content with that. I had wonderful friends and retain some great memories of those days. I'm not sure if I want to subject myself to those "friendemies". I'll consider...

Russell's "Take Time"

OK...go check out Russell's web site. There is a nifty video of him putting to rest all the rumors that it "really isn't his site". LOL... He says the Unreleased album is titled "Take Time" (which is a great song, by the way) and is on the way soon, claiming it will make a great Valentines gift. No word on where to get it though. I checked http://www.cdbaby/ where Graham has his solo album, but nothing yet. (i would imagine that is where it will be sold, but we'll just have to wait and see)

(Picture is from a show in North Bend, Oregon a few years back. Gee, I miss those red pants....LOL..)

Small town error

Well, I have a new printer courtesy of Staples.com. Did all kinds of research before deciding on the thing. So far I'm happy with it, even though it's much heavier than the old one was. I thought technology was supposed to make things smaller...not bigger. It prints good pics, but ya need an electronics degree to run the thing. I imagine I'll get used to it eventually.

Now...that's not why I am writing here. I'm writing to gripe about my local Staples store. I went in to pick up my printer and the girl behind the counter had apparently worked there for about 18 seconds or so. She kept running over to another girl for help...then would peck away at her keyboard for awhile...then run back to the other girl...you get the picture. After 3 or 4 runs like this, she asked me what I had ordered. I told her an Epson printer. She went to the other end of the counter where my Epson was in a big box, dragged the thing over and said "here it is". Never once did she ask for my name, order #, identification, blood type, or any other thing that might have proven that this was indeed my printer. I picked up my big box and left the store.
So...my point is anyone could've wandered into the store, saw my big box behind the counter, said "that's mine", and left with it. Perhaps this store doesn't get a lot of dotcom orders or something, and yes, this is a small town, but I strongly believe that they should have at least asked for my name!! Sheesh.

Happy New Year and all that stuff

Ok...another year come and gone, and with the big winds and horizontal rain we had here today, we are off to a wild start. Last Saturday presented me with the opportunity to get my tickets for our March Air Supply concerts in Lincoln City. It was a very frustrating experience; one that I have never had in buying tickets and hope to never repeat. I begged with my supervisor so I could go to lunch a few minutes early to be home in time to get my tix. I was all ready....then put on hold (normal for this experience)...they hung up on me. I called back...was put on hold...they hung up on me again...I called a third time...said "NO... you CAN'T PUT ME ON HOLD AGAIN cause you hung up on me twice already. She apologized and said she would take my phone number to give the operaters and they would call me. (sheesh) I decided to go online and try my luck there, though I don't really like that option, as with this casino you are at the mercy of the computer for seat assignments.
I got some seats, which I was really not that happy with, then failed to complete my account set-up within the 5 minute time limit, so my seats were released. AAARRRRGH!!!!!
The people still had not called me back, so i tried online again, searching numerous times for better seat assignments. Finally decided I'd better cut my losses and take what I could get as I was rapidly running out of time to return to work. Got the darn things completed...still not too happy with the positioning of said seats, and was 5 minutes late getting back to work. I've gone to several concerts at this venue and never had such problems before. I guess I can attribute them to the wild popularity of Air Supply fans wanting seats and clogging all their systems, eh?

Russell Hitchcock album

Well, this has been an interesting week. Air Supply's Russell Hitchcock officially announced the upcoming release of his "Unreleased Solo Album"!! (I'm embarrassed to say I don't know exactly when that was originally recorded...best guess is early 1990's following the release of his first self-titled solo album in 1988) Anyway, he says specifics are forthcoming, so we do not yet know if those 2nd album songs have been re-recorded or are the originals. Stay tuned to http://www.russellhitchcock.net/ for details as he releases them. (and yes...I have heard these songs and they are quite enjoyable, though as none of us SHOULD have heard them....forget I said that.)

So...all the "Airheads" are quite happy about this bit of news, and this "Airhead" is smiling and saying to herself...."Never Say Never".