76 thoughts on “BAH HUMBUG!!!”

  2. OM – When I worked for Amaco I worked at the Evanston sour gas plant, that wasw the early eighties. Before that I worked at the fields outside of Rawlins.  Driving in the Red Desert, completely without humans for many miles, was very nice.

  3. United and Delta cancel flights just before Christmas Eve – CNN

    (CNN Business)Three airlines in the United States have canceled flights just before Christmas Eve.
    On Thursday, United Airlines (UAL) said it had to “cancel some flights” because of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
    “The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation,” said a United memo obtained by CNN.
    United has canceled more than 150 flights, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.United said it is “notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport,” according to a company statement. “We’re sorry for the disruption and are working hard to rebook as many people as possible and get them on their way for the holidays.”
    Later Thursday night, Delta Air Lines (DAL) also canceled flights. The airline has canceled more than 100 Christmas Eve flights, according to FlightAware.
    Delta said the cancellations are due to multiple issues including the Omicron variant.
    “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their holiday travel plans,” Delta said in a statement. “Delta people are working hard to get them to where they need to be as quickly and as safely as possible on the next available flight.”
    Additionally, Alaska Airlines said in a statement that it canceled 17 flights because of Omicron and more cancellations are possible on Christmas Eve.

  4. I’ve never cared for the “Little Drummer Boy” carol, I always found it stupid and boring. Then I ran across this video with African drumming, it is like a different song.
    Here is my whole Christmas play list

  5. Driving across country was always one of the best facets of playing music on the road.  
    Bob axed a good question last night which I have been thinking about trying to have one definitive answer which has as yet eluded me.  The query was (to paraphrase): “when was it in your life that you never felt more alive?”
    The answer eludes me because there were so many times; but all those times for me involved the playing of music in a band, or driving across the country to get there.  Going to think further and see what pops up.

  6. I’m down to the last load.
    Today, I load the fridge, stove and last of the junk. Do a little cleanup. Then tomorrow morning, load my bed. turn the keys over to the new owner. And head down the road. 
    Every 15 to 20 years I’ve made major changes in my life, we will see how this one goes.
    My only access until I get my internet set up will be my phone. So I will be reading but I hate typing on the phone. takes too much time.
    Jack

  7. Going along with topic of the day, an internet classic, I first saw it when social media was called Usenet. over 20 years ago.

  8. Seeing somewhere disappearing in the rear view mirror for the last time (or at least for the time being) has always been a nice feeling.  I’ve brushed the dust of somewhere off my feet so many times, hardly ever with regret.

  11. I gave Bob’s question a bit of thought and to tell the truth, I really don’t have one of those moments.
    Although Ms Jessie, (a longtime activist in the Black community) telling me the other day, that she was going to work with the young folks taking over for me so all the work that Sherry and I did in the neighborhood doesn’t get lost.
    May come close. 
    Jack

  12. Three shows on Broadway have decided to call it quits, permanently. I wonder how long before others follow? The Music Man just opened for previews this week.

    Rather than the Carol of the Bells da-da-duh-da, it’s more like ominous dunt-dunt-dun.

  13. Little drummer boy Meme:   Mary, exhausted, having just gotten the baby Jesus to sleep is approached by a young man who thinks to himself:  What this girl needs is a drum solo.

  15. about that CBob question with regard to memorable moments traveling: heading north (no matter from where or whence) always stirred the inner joy juices for reasons unknown –  perhaps ancient stirrings from ancestors way past?

    jack, bon voyage to your new chapter

  17. i felt rather alive doing speeds i’ll not declare on MO-13, way back when.  Good work in KC, Jack, have a safe trip- i recommend going half as fast as i used to😬

  18. Jack… thanks for that version of Little Drummer Boy.  It’s my favorite Christmas carol because of it’s meaning…  the greatest gift that anyone can give to another is a piece of themselves.
     
    I don’t believe Jesus existed…   but I do celebrate that above meaning at this time of year.  What could possibly be more important than to spend time with friends and family.  So in that spirit…
     
    I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

  19. I think it is entirely possible that a dude like the blblical jesus did exist in that space and time, and thanks to his having been probably much like he is depicted by the red words of the bible he became a real pain in the ass for the local jewish and roman leaders of that time and in that place it is entirely believable that they strung him up for it.   
    Just the red words, not any miracles, virgin births, or coming back from dead and all that, um, nonsense…..that kind of stuff just don’t really happen.

  20. Most alive moment: My first trip to NYC.
    I was 17 and I was filled with awe and gratitude.  I still get the same feeling when I visit.  When I’m there, I don’t feel like I was dropped off on the wrong planet. 

  21. I believe he existed.  A teacher with a works view that was, as Sturg said, a pain in the ass for some.   All of the teachings and miracle stories make perfect sense if you look at them as happening internally.  Any mention of water is consciousness. The number five (porches, husbands, etc.) are the physical senses. When I read it that way, it is incorruptible.

    All of the old, Christmas episodes are airing and they are comforting, although there is an occasional reference that is now cringeworthy.

  24. Jack

    Little Drummer Boy isn’t one of my favorites either except for the Crosby/Bowie version duet with Peace on Earth because it shows off the purity of Bowie’s voice.  He could have sung any style.  Your African version tops even that.

     

  26. It took many years after I realized I had died (August 4-5,1980) that I came to enjoy life. That was sometime in the summer of 2011.  My shrink was to the  point “you are feeling what people normally feel”  I had a job, I was somewhat healthy, and, I was owner of my sailboat.  I was happy for the first time in my life.

  27. I was pretty high on life at 18 playing in the band for these girls….they weren’t lip-syncing and we were hot.  

  28. Having one or two hits to travel around the country on is fine, but when you have to fill up a full hour for a show you gotta pack a lot of “padding” and do a lot of other stuff…..these girls did an effortless 2 hours of other people’s hits.

  31. Last night I watched the musical “Forever Plaid”.  If you can, watch it online.  The whole soundtrack is on You Tube, but it doesn’t have the show clips performing.  One of the numbers is down below.  The premise is a “boy group” of the 1950 who died in a car wreck before they became famous get to come back for the concert they never gave.  Afterwards I ended up on Amazon Music adding all the groups I had forgotten I missed.

     

     

  32. Huey and his gang rolled in late. Huey was one of those who carried his own band so we just watching and playing in between.  Joint is smash-packed.   We’re on stage with a cooler, Huey’s guys in the dressing room drinking Richard’s Wild Irish Rose……

    It was so packed they couldn’t clap THIS way [sideways clap] they had to clap THIS way [vertical clap]
    They couldn’t laugh “ha-ha-ha” ; they had to laugh “ho-ho-ho”.

  33. When they traveled with their own band as some did, I used to love to see them unload those giant Fender Dual Showman amps.  Those damn things could honk.

  36. Not a huge fan of “The Little Drummer Boy,” but Whitney Houston did a version with her daughter that was quite touching.

    I wondered if The Pogues would show up here this week.

    Sturg – You’ve had some nice experiences .

  39. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/new-years-eve-2021-celebrations-cancellations-pandemic/index.html

    2022 is cancelled

    “Public New Year’s Eve celebrations in Scotland will be canceled, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Tuesday, December 21.
    In a statement, Sturgeon explained details for post-Christmas restrictions on large events to blunt the spread of Omicron.
    Sturgeon said the move will “also mean unfortunately that large-scale Hogmanay celebrations…”

  40. I mean where else are ya gonna hear Maurice Williams sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” in falsetto.    

  42. Maurice had a strong falsetto but it wasn’t him singing it on the record.
    It was a zodiac, Henry Gaston.

  44. I met Henry Gaston and he was like this giant and gentle man.  He was a zodiac while Maurice sang the rainbow song.  

  45. All, it seems our beloved Flatus apparently is gone, as I suppose we all suspected. My efforts to reach his email are bouncing back, as well as other indicators. I wish I knew more and could provide better closure.

  46. Just saw a new version of an old scam, sob story send money.  This one is someone’s sister or friend is in the hospital with COVID and has, part of all the stories, a baby at home (so far nothing about the father) with her (mother, grandmother, friend etc) and all that is wanted is prayer.  One version is she is unvaccinated other versions have vaccinated to some level.  The poor girl is either a medical provider or unemployed, a key piece to overcome reluctance to help.  She is being prepared for intubation, in other words unable to breathe and possible dying.  Then there is a link to some type of funding.  Same story spread over a lot of social media, a couple versions have the same name foundation but different “numbers”, the old: scammer123, scammer125, ascammer124 type of naming.
     
    Of interest is that the algorithms of Twitter have sent the variations of the scam to my account over the last six hours. And, I thought my interest in weird things like elephant toe nail polish techniques and concealed carry purses would bring up other things than a scam.
    There is money to be had for criminals in any situation.

  47. My first beer in months and all I got is this effung polychromatic sonnyvavitchen horse puss Budweiser.   I mean, shit.

  48. Things I learned just today.  “Country Roads” while now an anthem of the state of West Virginia was not originally about that state but about the Western part of the State of Virginia. The composer was driving out of Maryland on the way to Virginia.

     

  49. If he was on the west va turnpike he’d a’ been cussin all west varguineaons to a faretheewell 

  50. Sturgeone – when I am drinking good old American stuff, including Colorado Kool-Aide, I drink PBR, or Blue for those in Wyoming.  Is it better than Bud(anything), eh, I don’t know,but I never did like Bud.

  51. Craig…  thanks so much for trying to reach Flatus…  if he is gone…   may he Rest In Peace.
     
    Hey… it’s Rick’s 70th birthday today…  I bought him a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue…  I hear it’s good stuff.
     

  52. I guess I wound up with bud by default…..first they came for Burger, but I said nothing because there still was Schlitz….

  56. Sturgeone – still have a Schlitz church key from buying a case in the sixties.  Growing up in Michigan, local to a lot of beers of the Mid-West, I grew up enjoying a lot of them.  Best was Frankenmouth Bavarian Dark, Frankenmouth Michigan.  But of the locals, weened on Strohs, lived on PBR, and suffered through whatever else was in my hand. 
     
    Any young around? when you bought a case of beer you could ask for an opener.  Those were the days of cases of bottles which were to be returned. And, you could not twist the tops off.

  58. … Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River”. In WV? Barely. The Shenandoah River runs beside the eastern border of the easternmost county of WV. The Blue Ridge is to the East of that in Virginia and Maryland. The Appalachians run along the western part of WV but the blue ridge part is really in VA, East of the Shenandoah Valley. Both are technically in WV but Virginia would rightly argue that they are both features of Virginia. And I’d have to agree. 

  59. I developed my beer tastebuds drinking Bud, treating myself to Michelob. Seldom drink them now but they’re tolerable. Prefer Yuengling but won’t buy it any longer. Enjoy Mich Amber Bock but haven’t seen it on shelves around here for ages. Aside from Michelob during the heat of the summer almost any beer I drink these days is craft brewed local stuff in a restaurant/bar/brewpub which what with the Covid stuff basically doesn’t happen. Shame, too. 

  60. craig, have you heard or read anything definite such as an obituary? the last message to the trail from flatus said he would be unable to communicate due to the newly developed health condition.  perhaps he is still with us. just not reachable by email. 

  61. Blue

    Sutton is out of Music Man for at least five days due to a positive test.  Hugh gave a great speech thanking her understudy who apparently did a great job.

  62. Watching an HBO series on 1968.

    53 years later and we get to have history repeating.  Add in climate change and Happy New Year to do it all over again.  

  63. Happy Holidays, Mixers! You all drive me nuts sometimes but i still love you all, and i’m sorry we fought, Pogo.  

    Yes, it’s the booze talking, but what’s the difference?  ❤️🌲

  64. Yes, there was some sort of uprising after the head of the Broadway guild or some organization made a disparaging remark about understudies and standbys.

    I feel for the guy who has to be Hugh’s understudy, but folks had best expect it to happen.

    It sounds like we’re all going to get this variant, but it won’t be bad for those of us who’ve vaxxed.

  66. Oh, i doxxed Flatus a long time, ago, he ain’t dead, he’s just being a butthead
     
    Xrep is prolly big RIP tho 😭

  67. i already poured out tons of good booze for him and Sweetie, though, he ain’t forgotten

    ok Merry Christmas 🎄🎁 😇

  68. yeah just double-checked, he’ll probably be out polishing the headlights on Rosie, tomorrow 😜

    if you wanna send him a New Year’s card i’ll give you the address 😎

  69. I’ve been looking for Flatus’s obituary but have never seen it.
    But I did just find this. From June 17, 2021. probate court, public notice
    Estate: CLIFFORD TAPPEN DONLEY 21ES4000874
    Personal Representative: SUSAN Y. KEY

    Clifford Donley is his name and Susan Key is his daughter.
    Jack

  71. oh, “estate” is a bad word😒
     
    Well, we’re all about to make it to twenty frickin’ twenty-two, which is weird, but we did it!

  72. Flatus said he was sick and wouldn’t be on the trail anymore.  I’d hardly call that being a “butthead.”

  73. Worst Christmas album of the year, IMO, belongs to Sia.  Although it’s not actually new, but has recently gained traction for some reason.

  74. Eloquence ain’t my strong suit🤷‍♂️
     
    Sia is amazing, haven’t heard her xmas stuff, though 🤔 
     
    Merry Christmas, BiD! 🎄😴

  75. OMG, that pic of Manchin with a shotgun is from a recent ad of his?!  
     
    This fuckin’ guy🙄
     
    Merry Christmas to everybody but him😒🎄

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