How I Spent My Summer Vacation (Part 3 - Offline)

Fortunately, one of the reasons I haven’t been blogging is because I kept pretty busy this summer, with something going on just about every weekend, and sometime during the week. Here are a few highlights – with photos!

I hosted my second Father’s Day back in June, and that was lots of fun, indoors and outdoors. We followed that up with Father’s Day-related family outing to the Phillies game in July. In between the two were a couple of days at the beach with some of the family.

In August, we saw Rebecca awesomely play a lead role in her children’s community theatre production of "Beauty and the Beast, stirring the high school theatre memories of her Uncle Mike.

The biggest family news of course was the birth of Ella Grace Armandi on August 21. Rebecca is the big sister she always wanted to be! Lots of girls in this family!

And finally, I spent a long overdue day hanging out in Burlington with the youngest old people I know, Cioci and Unk, hearing lots of old stories and memories of days gone by. Highly recommended.

Other fun stuff
Besides all of this family stuff, I did a few other things worth noting along with the usual time-killing summer activities.

I joined my brother and friends to see the Apples in Stereo show at World Café Live, that was a just a fun time of hanging out with great live music, spent a Saturday at the Princeton Record Exchange, the biggest used music store I’ve ever seen, where I bought about $50 worth of cool music (top picks: Jerry Lee Lewis, REM and the Everly Brothers) that will find its way onto mixes for years to come.

A few barbecues, lunch-time concerts and extended after-work happy hours, not to mention a few ill-fated dates, round out the summer.

I finished off the summer on Labor Day weekend by going crabbing in Barnegat Bay in Long Beach Island, NJ. Caught a few crabs, had a few beers, had lots of laughs. A great way to cap off the summer.

So, I didn’t blog at all, but I kept myself pretty busy with a lot of new things – and that's even better.

Bring on the Fall.

Special thanks for the photos to my brother's Flickr page. After scouring through my hard drive and e-mail inbox for hours, I finally realized that almost every photo I wanted to use he already posted online, making them much easier to grab. Thanks Skip!

Make your own online mix tape

There's a site called Mixwit.com, where you can make and share your own online mixtape. Here's my first attempt:

The Redwalls on Letterman in January

Chicken Payback

R.E.M. on the Colbert Report

Funny interview and great performance ("Supernatural Superserious") by R.E. M. last week on The Colbert Report.

The Raconteurs release "Consolers of the Lonely"

R.E.M. Concert @ South by Southwest Festival

In advance of the release of their new album, Accelerate, due April 1, R.E.M played a 90-minute concert at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, TX on Wednesday night, April 12. Here's a review of the show.

NPR. org has put the entire concert online.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees: Dave Clark Five and The Ventures

In honor of their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame tonight, here's classic footage of the Dave Clark Five:

And here's the Ventures:

Very cool!

"Daydream Believer" writer dies

John Stewart, member of the 1960s folk act, The Kingston Trio, and writer of the Monkees' "Daydream Believer," among other pop songs, has died. He was 86.

Here's a clip of the Monkees doing "Daydream Believer":

And here's the Kingston Trio in 1966 on the The Andy Williams Show, singing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone":

Scorcese to direct Rolling Stones documentary

Here's a trailer to Shine a Light, a documentary about the Rolling Stones, directed by Martin Scorcese, due in theatres on April 4, 2008

R.I.P. Ike Turner, the First Rock 'n' Roller

Ike Turner died last week, his musical accomplishments overshadowed by his spousal abuse of Tina Turner. on the event of his passing, let's remember Ike for his contribution to what is considered the first rock 'n' roll record, "Rocket 88", from 1951.

From Newsweek:

Among those eulogizing Turner, who died Dec. 13 at age 76, were music producer Phil Spector and rock 'n' roll pioneer Little Richard, who described his friend as "one of the greatest musicians I have ever met in my life." Richard said that Turner's breakthrough rock 'n' roll hit, "Rocket 88," "shook my soul." "I took that same introduction and made `Good Golly, Miss Molly,'" he said. "I took that same thing and made a huge hit."

Rest in peace, Ike, and thanks for helping to create rock 'n' roll.

Beatles Remastered "Help!" hits this week

Apparently it didn't come out last week like it was supposed to, but the remastred Help! hits DVD this week. Director Richard Lester notes the direction they decided on for the new film - and why:

"We didn't want to repeat A Hard Day's Night. The next logical step would have been to show them in their real lives. But by that point their real lives were X-rated, or what would have been considered X-rated at that time. So the only thing left was to have them become the passive recipients of an outside threat."

The merits of the story can be debated, but the quality of the music of the film cannot. With the enhanced audio of this release, Help is indeed on the way.

Remastered Beatles' "Help!" due in October

From Billboard:

The Beatles' second film, 1965's Help!, will be released in a
double-DVD edition Oct. 30 via Apple Corps Ltd and EMI Music. The movie was released on DVD in 1997 and again in 2000, but has been off the market ever since due to rights issues.

The first disc of "Help!" boasts a digitally restored version of the film plus a new 5.1 audio soundtrack, with songs like "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away," "Ticket To Ride," "The Night Before," "Another Girl" and "You're Going To Lose That Girl." Disc two offers a 30-minute documentary about the making of the movie, a missing scene, a featurette on the restoration process, interviews with cast and crew, three theatrical trailers and vintage radio advertisements.

See the Beatles perform "You're Gonna Lose That Girl" from the film here.

My New Favorite Group

The Monkees' A Capella Spanish Christmas Song

Brian Setzer Orchestra live - "Sleigh Ride'

Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas"

The original charity song in all of its poofy and goofy 80s hair glory....

John Mellencamp Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Hall & Oates' "Jingle Bell Rock"

Crosby and Sinatra Duet on "White Christmas"