I miss you Bea.

Cookie day at the carey house. Merry christmas y'all!!!

I want some of this coffee

RIP Dimebag.

Former Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, killed by a deranged fan on December 8th, was a Kiss-worshipping, beer-chugging virtuoso whose percussive riffing and bluesy, adventurous solos carried the flag for classic metal into the Nineties. "He was next in line after Eddie Van Halen," says Anthrax guitarist Scott fan. Adds Korn frontman Jonathan Davis, "He was one of the last great traditional metal guitarists."
Born in Dallas on August 20th, 1966, Abbott spent his teens playing Iron Maiden and Van Halen covers with his drummer brother, Vinnie Paul. The two formed Pantera as a glam-metal act in 1983, after their father, country songwriter Jerry Abbott, pushed them to make original music. But it wasn't until growly singer Phil Anselmo arrived that Pantera's definitive sound emerged: an uncompromising thrashier-than-thrash-metal assault.
The band reached its commercial peak on 1994's Far Beyond Driven, which debuted at Number One on the Billboard charts. The group released two more studio albums, scoring four Grammy nominations along the way. But with new-metal acts such as Limp Bizkit on the rise and Anselmo feuding with the Abbotts, Pantera split in 2003. That year, Dimebag and Vinnie rebounded with a new band, Damageplan, which modernized the Pantera sound.
Darrell Abbott had a personality as colorful as his dyed goatee — he communicated in a "dude" and "bro"-heavy patois that he called Dimebonics, even when writing his instructional column for Guitar World. "Dime would always make fun of everything," recalls friend and Black Label Society frontman Zakk Wylde. But Abbott was downright evangelical about the music he loved. "It's our fucking religion," he said in 2000. "It's what drives me from the moment I wake up to the moment I sleep."
Additional Reporting by Lauren Gitlin
[From Issue 964-65 — December 30, 2004-January 13, 2005]

Happy thanksgiving!!!!!

Cafe Haiku

The rising of dough.
A fresh alternative shows.
Flying Crane Cafe.

Cooler with no electric = awesome.

Click on the title to follow to article. This is killa cool! I want a couple of these bad mamma jammas. 

WWII in HD

I don't really know how many of you are watching this. All I can say is it is worth the time. As a history wonk and vet, I can say this 5 part series puts the human element in like few other shows have. I have  seen all kinds of WWII footage in my life. Probably a little to much, but that is how I roll. War is a bitch, but what happens to these men and women after the war is every bit as important as the lives they put on the line. I like the fact they chose a great diversity of footage. From the European theater to the Pacific and all points in between. They give you perspective from a female nurse hauling ass across France in a mobile hospital to a Japanese American fighting on the lines in Europe, or the ordeal of a Tuskegee airman shot down in Yugoslavia. Plus the color footage is freakin raw, in color, and sharp. Of course it has been enhanced and all that, but damn it looks good. Catch it if you can. This is not the typical WWII stuff.

Opening The Flying Crane Cafe is hard.

I ain't just whistling dixie here either. Yeah sure it could be worse, so I'm not gonna complain. We are going after a dream here and it seems to be working. SO I guess you all want to know where's and what's.

We have ordered our bad ass pizza oven and it will ship on the 19th. This means the week of black friday, we will be cooking phat pizza for ourselves. In fact all of our heavy equipment has been ordered. I found a great 20 qt mixer that is so shiny and new I don't want to use it. Then I look at it and can't wait to use it. This thing looks like it could rip your arm off if you disrespect it. So all of our stuff is coming. Actually the only things we are waiting for are the pizza oven and the panini press. Everything else is ready to be picked up.

That part of this process is the easy stuff. Its getting the art work and menus worked out that is killing us. But we got some time to throw at that baby tomorrow. So will let you know what it looks like after that.

More as it happens.

Got the $$$$...Its GO TIME!!!!

Alright kids. It is freakin on. As some of you know, my wife and I have been working on a cafe opening. Well the big hurdle of $$$$ has been answered and now The Flying Crane Cafe is really off and running. Now this blog is my baby, but posting my be sparse for a bit until I get the feel for how to juggle my job and get this cafe opened. But the story will be broadcast. I have just reserved The Flying Crane Cafe on facebook, so you can see updates there once I get the page where I want it. So freakin on. Now I have to go and drop $10,000 on some killa cooking equipment. This shit is gonna be so freakin fun.

America's oldest artifact.

They found a tool upwards of 14,000 years old. 

It was out in a cave in Oregon, which doesn't surprise me because it seems the west would have been populated first. I think the Chinese were here in the Americas long before anyone realizes. Take Peru for instance. The word Peru has no meaning in Spanish. Or any other native language in South America. But it means white mist in Chinese. Go figure. 

World Series Haiku

Cliff Lee throwin darts
Chase Utley swinging hot bats
Philly wins game one

Swamp Thing, revisited.

So I was chillin the other night and found that on the Reelz channel they were running the 1982 Wes Craven thriller, Swamp Thing. Now I remember this movie in the same vein as Tron, which is undergoing a makeover and will be out soon as Tron Legacy, but that is another story all together. Swamp Thing was one of the first movies my parents let me go see on my own. That was a good thing cause my pops could not sit still for a flick and mom only ever saw ET at the boxoffice. Plus being a kid that lived out in the freakin sticks, I had to twist arms to get to a good movie. So there I was all these years later watching this film again and I could not get over the campy feel of the whole thing. I generally liked it, but damn we are a far cry from 1982. This movie could use an overhaul. Why not? It could be remade with a really good costume for Swampy other than that rubber suit he was stuck with. Kind of reminds me of the creature from the black lagoon. Or those 50's flicks like The Day The Earth Stood Still. Now that we are all on edge about saving the environment, why not bring back a superhero like Swamp Thing that was the original earth saving super hero? And lets get a better monster to fight at the end of the flick. That furry pig thing was pretty lame on one hand, but then again it added to that campy feel that oozed off the screen on me. Come on Hollywood , git er done.

Muppet Metal. Need I say more?

Big effing sharks downunder.

This is why Dogfish Head kicks so much ass.

Being a bit of a historian myself, I love it when you can touch the past, let alone drink it. I have always enjoyed the Dogfish Head brand. My wife and I are particularly fond of the 60 minute I.P.A. What can I say. Plus its a backyard brewer since we live right here. I have heard of Dr. Pat's adventures trying to recreate the ancient brews. This article is a great catch up on where he has been and what his research and friendship with the guys at Dogfish Head have wrought. Big ups and thanks. You guys make guys like me cry.

Fall Haiku

dank grey rainy clouds.
pseudo nor'easter comes in.
oh the days of sun!