Very Nice Easter Ramblings

Happy Easter, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA!
Originally uploaded by V'ron

You know, you can get all pissy about the weather, or you can take the ball and run with it, and that's exactly what my neighbors down the block did. Look at this thing! It looks like the Trojan Rabbit from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." If you're going to have snow on Easter, this is the way to go.

So here are some Easter ramblings, in no particular order:

• Didn't go out on Friday. Or anytime this weekend. Friday I had the afternoon off work, and it's just as well that i got home before the snow really kicked in. Pretty much any band that had a gig Friday night ended up cancelling, and if they didn't, they probably played in front of two people (namely the bartenders) so it's just as well. There's no music in Good Friday services, and there shant be any music on Good Friday, period.
  
• There was plenty of good stuff to see on Saturday, but we opted to stay in and just chill, and catch the annual Watching of the Charlton. Somehow I find something new in "The Ten Commandments" every time I see it. This time, it's the scene where Nefertari (we all know it's misspelled) and Sephora are icy cold to each other (this happens when the ex meets up with the current girl), until Sephora pretty much admits to Nefertari, "Look, he pretty much has been ignoring me ever since that whole burning bush incident. You're not missing much, girlfriend. Trust me."


• Duke @ The Tournament. OK, raise your hands if you had Duke at least making it to next weekend. OK? Now raise your hands if, even if this pulverized your bracket, you were pulling for Belmont to put Coach K in his smug little place, and kind of said, "Well everybody else's bracket is effed if Duke loses, so it's OK." Belmont? Who the hell is Belmont? They almost took out Duke, that's who the hell Belmont is! And let me tell you about WVU, who DID take out Duke -- very cool campus tucked into the mountains of Morgantown, almost near the panhandle. I spent two glorious months of my life there, and I'm happy for them. And my bracket isn't all that messed up. I'm actually leading my league. Whoa. Thanks, WVU.


• Marquette @ The Tournament. Brian and I had them losing to Stanford anyway, but I'm watching that game and I don't want to win a bracket like this. Ugh. Would those sportscaster guys ever SHUT UP over those Lopez twins? OK, a pair of 7 ft twins with a last name you don't normally hear in hoops, OK, it's a story. A lucratively heartwarming story. Does this mean every time any of the Golden Eagles so much as looked at them they needed to get called a foul, but Brook (who the hell names their son Brook?) and Robin could plow right over them and it's OK. MU could have played a bit better in the clutch, but by the third quarter I just wanted to smack Brook and Robin and the announcers (who clearly favored Stanford, being they're from California, a much more lucartive TV market than Milwaukee) and pretty much everybody who ever went to Stanford. Sheesh.


• The Badgers @ The Tournament We've got them in the Final Four. That's our big gamble, we know, but we think they can do it. And Michigan State! Will this be the year the Big Ten doesn't stink up the joint?


• Finally, Davidson @ The Tournament, crowned this year's Cindarella. And who doesn't love her? First they beat Gonzaga, whose cindarellac crown has been getting rusty anyway, and then, they step on Georgetown, a program I've historically hated almost as much as I hate Duke. (I'd root for G'Town in a bout against Duke, but that's about it.) So everybody in the country except Badger fans are going to be silently cheering them on, the way I silently cheered Belmont on.


• I did it. Despite the snow this weekend, I still got out the bike and went for my annual Easter Sunday shakedown cruise. As long as I stayed on streets, its was a great ride. It wasn't all that cold, and it was sunny, and I had a great ol time. Came home and napped, watched some tournament, giggled with the kids as they got all sugar high off their Easter Bunny booty, made a delicious pork roast for dinner, and watched the Simpsons and Family Guy. That's the kind of family we are.


• Personal band news: First, Brian's band, F/i has a gig at the Circle A this Saturday night, March 29. They don't play out all that often, and this is a lineup you won't want to miss: Brian on guitar, Grant Richter on electronics, Rick Franecki on Guitar, and then Couch Flambeau's Jay Tiller and Rusty Olson doing a bit of role reveral in the rhythm section -- Jay will be on drums and Rusty will take on the bass. I've heard them rehearse and trust me, you will want to get to the Circle A early to get a seat. "I will only bring one gong into the Circle A," says Tiller, mainly because that's about all you're going to be able to fit in there. Ear protection suggested. I have these wonderful high-end filters I normally use at Formula 1 races that work nicely.


• Oh, and MY BAND, Loblolly, will be playing a show on April 12 at Zad's Roadhouse with a band that Sixthstation regulars know is one of my favorites -- Floor Model. Get ready for a night of psychotronic, tight-ass, snotty and well-crafted punk, garage, and psychedelia. How snotty will we be? Antihistamines suggested. I have a prescription for extra-strength Claritin that works nicely.