This Season I Really Give Thanks...

What a Thanksgiving! Up until two years ago, what is left of my small family, got together each year at my aunt's house for Thanksgiving. The family consists of two brothers, one halfway across the country & rarely showed up anyway, and two cousins. Once one brother and a cousin got married and had kids, time had to be split between my aunt's and the "in-laws". So the experience had been declining in recent years as a big family get together. Now that my aunt has passed on there is no real reason for us "kids" to get together since half of them have to take the real kids to the grandparents on the major holidays. This essentially leaves me with no plans for the holidays this year. I didn't realize Thanksgiving could be so great. To add to the experience, my girlfriend makes a ton working holidays, so she was taking the holidays to the bank while this was my first year in over 30 that I had 4 straight days off for Thanksgiving. I have always had to work all 4 days prior to this. No worrying about needing to let my dogs outside, no small talk, no drinking limits, no driving, no going outside in the cold to smoke and no more losing at Rook. My four day nirvana began on the way home from work. I picked up a 30 pack of beer and loaded up on two dozen Johnsonville Hotlinks, horseradish sauce, two tubs of frozen shrimp, cocktail sauce, a couple bags of salad, two bottles of peppercorn ranch dressing and various munchies that included a bucket of KFC, Salt & Vinegar potato chips and other equitable edibles. I spent the next four days going through bags & boxes trying to organize my recently moved life while in the background "Spike TV" had the foresight to treat me to a full 5 days of nearly every James Bond film...except my second favorite, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (why is that one is always ignored?) and buffered them with Three Stooges shorts. When I didn't want to watch certain Bond reruns, I switched between the Food Network and The World Poker Tour marathons while playing for play money on the internet, where I won $43,076...if I could only do that with real money. By the way, Alton Brown, you are my hero and Rachel Ray, you broke my heart when you got married, but I'll live through it. I only follow baseball, so football was not even an issue here....although I can understand other men's obsession and for them that would have replaced part of my chosen tv fare...but I digress. It was just me, the pups and four days of 007, poker, junk food and a healthy dose of Stooges. What more could a single guy ask for?

The CMA's Rocked !!!!!!!!

November 15th, 2005, Country music invaded the Big Apple to prove that they are not only a major music force but they are the new Top 40 & Pop Music. Top 40 radio, from it's infancy through the '70's played not only the best rock & pop tunes but also adorned itself with the likes of Roger Miller, George Jones & Charlie Rich. Top 40 meant the Top 40 songs in the nation, regardless of format. You could hear The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Glen Campbell and Johnny Cash all in the same hour of programming. How great was that? That happens no more. Radio is too narrowly focused to try something so challenging as plays a diverse selection of music as the latest 40 best songs. Unfortunately, I know too many people who like Rod Stewart AND Merle Haggard AND Rosemary Clooney who can't find a radio station to listen to. Thanks for the automated, over-analyzed blandness Clear Channel...et all! With the influence of parents & friends,and the advent of cable/satellite tv and the internet, people have developed tastes beyond the boundries of one format. The CMA Awards invaded New York and took over. Artists were on Gotham based talk shows for nearly a week pre & I'm sure will be, after the show. The country artists proudly welcomed pop & rock greats like Bon Jovi, Paul Simon and Elton John as their own, just as they already had accepted Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, B.J. Thomas, The Eagles and the legendary Buddy Holly into their fold decades before. Just as Ray Charles, Dean Martin & Ringo Starr recorded the tunes of country greats to reflect their influence, the new country artists acknowledge their pop rock influences on this years ACM Awards. Well done kids! Now that I have made the argument to restore Top 40 radio to it's former glory and show the "big music circle"....on to the awards show. It is 10:26pm on the east coast as I write this and I think that the CMA has finally gotten this overtime-boring award show thing figured out. There has been damn near 2 & a half hours of music & entertainment & I can't honestly say I have seen more than 5 live awards presented. Most of them were presented in "an earlier ceremony" and were announced during commercial buffers. It looks like they are just awarding the major awards live & filling the rest with great entertainment. Again, well done kids! The end result has been a tight, exciting and most importantly, an entertaining program. Congratulations country music. You invaded New York, dominated live & talk tv, kicked ass on all awards shows, bland radio and showed that the rest of the music industry has a long way to go to catch up with you. A quick P.S. An Aussie was the big winner....how freakin' universal is that? Long live country music....the new Top 40!