Happy Valentine's Day

Happy St. Valentine's Day to all you lovers out there. Young or old, hopeful or found, be sure and tell your sweetie how much you're kinda sweet on 'em.



Kind of rough and tumble like all good drunken serenade's should be.

And a Happy Day to my Balentine. She knows who she be.

Talk to you soon.

Song for Monday - "Clay Pigeons"

After we've bathed the last couple of weeks in "Nemo: the Classic Comics Library" and steeped ourselves in classic comic strip lore, it's time to hit another spot Inside My Head and shift gears for at bit.

All my songwriting heroes and the guys who's stuff always makes my head happy. I don't know what I was going to say after that. But there you are.

Today's "Song for Monday" is sung by John Prine, but is one of the rare occasions it's not one Mr. Prine wrote. This song is by the late Blaze Foley.

When John heard it he says he wishes he had stayed home and written this one. High praise indeed.

Enjoy.



Talk to you soon.

Jeffy Music Monday - "The Marvelous Toy"

A couple of things this past week inspired me to drag out this old chestnut for "Jeffy Music Monday".

First off was the release on DVD and BlueRay of Pixar's "Toy Story 3" this past Tuesday. If you missed my post here you should know that I believe Pixar is officially allowed to change it's name to "Our Movies Don't Suck"! If you haven't seen it, go ahead and tell yourself you won't cry...I won't tell anyone when you do.

Secondly, there's been some rearranging of things here at "The Steamy Grotto/The House of Whacks" this past week as the landlord wanted to do some tenant improvements, and of course everytime pack-rats like me move long un-moved boxes of our stuff around, we find hidden treasures we had forgotten we buried.

It is a wonderment to folks like my fellow blogger Ivan G. Shreve Jr. (and to me sometimes as well) that I had a mother who didn't throw all my childhood treasures away...and I'm eternally grateful. This song was originally performed by "The Chad Mitchell Trio" about 50 years ago (I still have my brother Bob's 45 rpm record of it) that I used to play ad nauseum as a kid...and it's still wedged in my head. Here it is...

"The Marvelous Toy":



Talk to you soon.

Meet Jeffy's Angels - and Jeffy Sings a Song!

As you'll remember from last week (though you really don't need to, you can just look back through the blog) Jeffy drug Superman to Ye Olde Drink Hole to get him help from Jeffy's Angels!...read on...

Talk to you soon.

"Imaginary Larry" with Garfunkel and Oates

This "Music Monday" I'm forgoing my usual warbling and share with you a great new video by Garfunkel and Oates. A short musical (about 14 minutes) that's' as funny as it is quirky with songs that cling to the meneges wrapping your brain.

Billed here appropriately under their true names of Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, I first became aware of them as Garfunkel and Oates, funny, ingeneous, and let's face it boys...funny girls are HOT!

Enjoy!

Imaginary Larry (Animated) from Riki Lindhome on Vimeo.

Kate Micucci could be my insane imaginary frined any time she wants.

Talk to you soon.

"Tillamook County Jail" - Singing Todd Snider on a Jeffy Sing-A-Song Monday

It's "Jeffy Sing-A-Song Monday Morning" again. Songs of inspiration, contemplation, damnation, subjugation and elation. Musical masturbation that won't be found on any other station.


I hadn't learned to play any one's songs in a long while and felt I needed to refresh my play list. This Todd Snider song about a vacation-gone-wrong to his Mom's house in Oregon with his newly acquired wife has been sticking in my head for years so I thought I'd give it a try.

May not be the kind of song you want to hear to start off your week, but I beg to differ. My job is making me feel a little trapped with no way out of late, and this song puts a little humorous spin on the idea of knowing you're where you might not want to be.

Enjoy!



Talk to you soon.

New "The Telepone Song" Video - Now With Production (If Not Values)

Ah memories of Labor Day. The last paid day off between here and Thanksgiving. Harrumph!

Last week I reported that the Saturday of the holiday weekend was hosted by myself and roommate Mike here at "The Steamy Grotto" and a motly crew assembled for a day of beer, music and Italian Beef sammiches. Pictured below in a hackneyed panoramic shot are most of the players. Left to right Mark Crowley, me, Scott Michael Campbell (my sister's number 2 son), Frank Terando Jr. (my panoramic gave him 3 arms...betcha he brags about it) and Mike Crowley.


Taking the picture was Kelli King, taken here from a surveylance video at the mall I presume.

As the afternoon got greasier and drunker and clear thoughts seems few and far between...someone remembered us making a big to-do out of my "I Love Rachael Ray" song in video form and inspiration struck.

The audio is punchy in places, apparently the sound guy was as drunk as the rest of us, but here's the end result. A full cast version of "A Phone Call We've All Made (The Telephone Song)" an Uncle Jeffy composition...

Thanks guys. I dig the hell out of this stuff.

Here's hoping next Labor Day is as good.

Talk to you soon.

Get Your Kicks on Route 66

Did I ever tell you about the time I drove down Route 66?

This is a question which causes many humans I know to cringe with fear and seek hiding or even seek easy-at-hand methods of suicide to save them from hearing my adventuresome tale of my quest for America again. And again. And...........again.

Back in August 2007 I flew to Chicago, Illinois where I met my sister and her youngest son Brian, who had driven there from their homes in Missoula, Montana and Great Falls, Montana respectively, and we spent the next 10 days riding down historic Route 66.

"The Mother Road".

"Main Street of America".

"The Will Rogers Highway".

From Chicago to L.A. (Santa Monica to be exact) more then 2,000 miles all the way.

We were in search of America so to speak. But mainly we were just looking for a nice drive.

Here's my sister in front of "The Art Institute of Chicago" at the beginning of the route and our adventure. Her real name is Vickie, but our family has 6 boys and 1 girl, so she became "Sister" early on. I tried calling her "Vickie" once after I'd grown up. It felt creepy.

And here's Brian and myself all ready and rarin' to go.

You'll note the smiles and good natured camaraderie expressed in these photos. 10 days later, after spending every waking AND sleeping hour no more then 10 feet from each other, we weren't quite as hail and hearty as we began.

And that's the story I'd like to tell you all.

Buckle up readers...the next bundle of blogs (what IS a collective of blogs called anyway?) will be full of tales of heartache and woe, happiness and joy, history and legend.

The story of how 3 people made the ultimate road trip, nearly killed each other and lived to tell the tale.

This will not be your father's vacation slide show...though there ARE 3900 photo's documenting the spectacle.

Talk to you soon!

Jeffy Sing-A-Song Monday - Willie and Buffet Covers

Today I continue my battle with my cranky modem, I thought I'd flash back a bit.

Here's a couple of short songs I have been playing since I first banged on a guitar and tried to make noise on it. 1 and 2 verse songs that are always great party songs. I felt a bit more at home in these songs when I looked more like this...

I'm not quite the "party till you drop and then rally for some more" guy I once was. It's not that I don't have the desire...I just can't find the time! When the hell did we get all that boozin' and carrousin' done anyway???

Anyway, here's a couple that used to get me in gear. Since they're so short and in the same mode, I thought I'd lay them both down today.

First up, Willie Nelson's anthem for the non-apologetic drunk who tells you "why" anyway..."I Gotta Get Drunk":

And a Monday morning is not the traditional time for this song...at least not unless you can "think outside the box"! Jimmy Buffett's "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw?". The song he pledged not to write, he used the nom de plum Marvin Gardens to shoulder the blame...but YOU can blame ME if ya want!

Have a good Monday and remember those halcyon carefree days...or nights.

Talk to you soon!

Jeffy Sing-A-Song Monday - "Relax Your Mind"!

Happy Monday everyone!

Yesterday was my 47th birthday. I am officially past the "halfway-to-dead" mark.

Economics being what they are at present time, this is my first birthday in decades that I am not able to spend the week being a human "Being" and am forced to go to work and be a human "Doing". Aw well...I'm more fortunate than most, in that I have a place to go "Do" something.

Still I can't help hearing Leadbelly's sage advice running through my head.



Have a great week everyone. And put the brakes on that mind once in a while. It does you good.

Talk to you soon!

Jeffy Music Monday - "A Pirate Looks at 40"

Happy Monday to all you hard working folks out there.

In my quest to practice singing and playing more, I reflect that next week is my birthday.

I was 32 before I ever picked up a guitar and tried to make a noise come out, and back in those days when I thought it as all about memorizing a chord progression, this was the first song I ever sat down and memorized.

I had to hold on to it for 8 years till I was old enough to sing it.

This year I'll be 47 and I'm still singing it.



It means different things than it did 15 years ago when I first played it. It still means lots of good stuff too. If you're old enough to sing it and learned enough to see the beauty in it...you're winning!

Happy one year older to everyone else out there too.

Talk to you later!

Music Monday - I Just Got Here A Little Too Late

I just don't dedicate enough time to singing or writing songs to suit me. And if this blog is here to give me the discipline to do so, so be it!

If I'm going to forge ahead and make up some new stuff (which is just good therapy for me) then I suppose I ought to empty the coffers of the old stuff.

This is maybe the first song I ever wrote without a partner waaaaaaaay back when I was young and dumb. It still has a lot of good rhymes in it, even if the sentiment is behind me.



Ya see...I was young and sensitive and fell for a woman, then I learned she was already married. The young adults tortured soul burns to be expressed and so I did.

Talk to you soon.

To Believe in This Livin' is a Hard Way To Go Monday

It's been a while since I've sung a song on here. And that's not good for practice.

It reeeeeeeeeeeeeally feels like Monday around here and here's a good song for it. John Prine's "Angel from Montgomery":



A little rough around the edges, but not bad for being stale.

This might be the best thing today has in store for me.

Talk to you soon.