Kim and I just got back from visiting my Dad and sisters in outback Alabama. Yep! Another 1261 mile round trip to my hometown of Lanett to make sure my sister’s are treating my Dad right and not driving him crazy. LOL! We used to drive the whole 11 hours each way but now, that we’re old and decrepit, we spend the night in Franklin, Tn. (a Nashville suburb) coming and going. Oh! Did I mention that the hotel that we stay in is right down the street from the Cool Springs Galleria Mall. Kim and I get in a little window shopping on the way down to Dad’s and, we pick up a few items on the way back home at the Mall. Sweet!! Anyway, it was a very nice trip and my 88 year old Dad always looks forward to Kim visiting. He won’t let me come without her. I think he likes her better than me. Just because she makes him biscuits, apple turnovers and always cooks a big catfish and shrimp dinner for him. That’s no reason to snub his oldest son! Is it!?! LOL! Go figure. Anyway, we got back late yesterday and I’m just tired and taking a nap right after this post! Maybe two! We were blessed to make the trip safely and my family is all doing well! See! God is Good! See ya!!
Well, I’m happy to announce that I finally got my latest Trance, House and Big Beats electronic music CD published and up for sale on iTunes, Amazon, CDbaby and Rhapsody. I perform as Indie electronic musician, BADELF. You can listen to most tracks from my new CD “Advance of the Angry Horde” on Soundcloud and Jango! I’m still waiting to see if I get enough sales to be on SiriusXM and Pandora. Keep your fingers crossed!
Good morning everyone. My new digital CD is out this week. “In a Bad Situation” (electronica) by “BADELF” (me). This is my third CD and, my last 2 CDs did ok, but, I’m not rich or famous yet. LOL! “Kate’s Gone” & “Cyborg Whale” were sold as far away as Germany, Russia, Australia and Japan and hopefully my latest will see the same travel. Again, it’ll be available on iTunes, CDbaby, Amazon and Napster for starters. A few more outlets later, I hope. If anyone would like to check out my electronic music, you can hear most of the complete tracks at:
http://soundcloud.com/badelf-1/sets/in-a-bad-situation/
And, I must apologize for my singing beforehand, on the track “Smack it”. LOL!
Well guys and dolls, I turned the big 60 last month. 60!! Hey! I don’t feel a day older than 59!! LOL! Actually, I guess I feel pretty good for 60. Now, if I can just lose these 20 pounds I’ve been trying to shed for the last 5 years, I’ll be a happy old man. Maybe this Spring is the magic date. Like last Spring, or the Spring before that. I guess I love the wife’s cooking too much to do anything but maintain my current weight.
Anyway, last year I expressed some excitement about the World Class Driving Tour. They bring exotic cars from Lamborghinni, Ferrari, Audi, Bentley, Porsche, etc. and you get to spend the day driving them. The tickets are kinda pricey as you can imagine. Most of these cars can cost 3 and 4 times the cost of an average house so, they are not letting you drive them for nothing. It was just one of my many pipe dreams. Well, guess what?! My loving wife bought us two tickets for the drive tour in Nashville for this Spring. (Their closest event to St. Louis this year!) Wow! I was blown away! My wife is an accountant and watches every penny! This is way out of her box! But she said that she wanted to do something special for my sixtieth birthday and, since I’m always lusting after exotic cars that we can never afford this seemed appropriate. So, we get to drive 6 exotics for a day. At least, I drive and she rides shotgun and looks cute, making me good and the car look better. (Well, my mug isn’t helping the car look any better!) So, I’m excited although I have to wait a few months for the event. We’ll get more information about the cars and itinerary at a later date. I’m geeked and giddy as a school boy getting his first kiss. Did I tell you that, I really, really, really love my beautiful wife! “Kim!! Take me, I’m yours!!” LOL!!
Ed
http://worldclassdriving.com/
World Class Driving Exotic Cars
My new digital CD is now available for sale on iTunes, Amazon, CDbaby and Napster. “Cyborg Whale” by BADELF! (My performing handle!) This is my second electronica Cd and I’m really hoping that it does as well as the first one. Anyway, check it out if you have a few Xmas dollars to spare. Happy Holidays!
Well, I was pushing my cart down the aisle of my favorite hangout since my retirement, “Walmart”! Suddenly, I ran into my old friend Rick! We used to work together in college back in the 70′s and I hadn’t seen him in a while. I saw him about 12 years ago at Sam Walton’s other adventure store, Sam’s Club! Anyway, we did the customary, hand shake, slaps on the back and the usual lies. He said that I looked the same but, I’m 30 pounds heavier, bald, and missing a few teeth. And how could he miss the 18 inch afro that I used to sport. Or, did he not notice that I’m now sporting a 38 inch waist, instead of the 30 inches I used to feed. In other words, I look all of my 59 years, but, I’m not falling apart by any means, yet! LOL! Now, he actually did look the same. He was the same size he was in college. Still had all of his teeth! Still had all of his blond hair, albeit, it’s salt and pepper colored lately. And, he just looked like an older version of himself but, still the same. You know! I think I hate him! Whether it’s heredity or, he (and his wife) have just taken good care of him, I still hate him! Not really! LOL! Anyway, he always had a great since of humor and was quite the jokester at work. Also, for an average looking pug, he always dated very attractive women. At work he did his work and would help you out when he could. He was a great buddy to hang with back in the day. Later, we exchanged email addresses and will try and keep in touch. I told him about being retired and he told me he would love to retire but, with his oldest daughter being in college and his younger daughter going in a couple of years he wouldn’t be retiring anytime soon. If I remember correctly I’m about 5 years older than him anyway so, he’s too young to retire anyway. (He would probably argue that point!) So, it was a blast from the past and after about 10 minutes we both went our separates ways with our noisy and wobbly wheeled Walmart carts to continue our tasks at hand. Back at home, I put his email address on my desktop and my iphone. I’ll just wait a couple of weeks then, send him an short email. Hopefully he still wants to stay in touch. The wife and I can always use another place to go and eat and drink people out of their house and home. Ha, Ha, Ha!!
Sly, one of my closest friends called last week to ask me questions about a 5.1 Dolby Digital system. Seems he had purchased a surround sound system for his new Flat Screen and DVD player and wanted my help in setting it up. Sly, is quite the gentleman! Retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant! College graduate! Married to a beautiful wife! Always dressed for success! Always has money and is successful in his work and business ventures. He’s humorous and just a great guy! Although we’re the same age, (59) I kinda look up to him as one of my heros. But, Sly doesn’t know much about modern electronics. And I guess that is why I’m his go to guy since I’m the old folk, old school electronics guru I guess. I get calls from him (and other friends) on occasion when they’re buying a flat screen or some other electronic do-dad for advice. Even though I’m retired now, I worked with electronics at the local university for over 33 years. It used to take years for electronic technology to change or for some new bell or whistle to come out. Not now! New technology pops up today like popcorn kernels popping on the stove. Just when you think you’ve got one down, something new comes along. Take all of the Flat Screen TV choices now. They are overwhelming! The numerous picture sizes, plus plasma, LCD, LED and the new 3D screens can confuse ever the people trying to sell you the TV. 8 years ago I bought a 25” color TV. It took me 3 minutes in Best Buy. I looked at the picture and the 6 available features and said, “I’ll take that one!” It’s still playing in our kitchen today, but, not for long. We’ve decided to remodel our kitchen and the only place for a TV is mounted on the wall because of the kitchen island relocation. That mean a Flat Screen since our old bulky 89 pound TV just won’t do. And, last year I bought a 60” Samsung Flat Screen. It took me weeks of quandary and research to find the right one for our family room. I guess it’s a young people’s electronics world now. Most people my age just don’t get how youth oriented electronics are today. Kids with their smartphones, ipods, ipads, laptops and bluetooths rule the world today and we baby boomers are falling way, way, behind. Heck! I still have a turntable and 600 vinyl albums in the basement. But, I also have 400 CD’s and 4+ gigs of mp3’s music and the technology to convert my vinyl LP albums to mp3s in a pinch. I’m holding my own now but I can see where soon I won’t be current. I’ll be left by the steady stream of consumer electronics progress. Especially, since I’m retired now and not privy to new technology coming down the pipe at work. Thank God for the internet. LOL! Or, I’d probably be like Sly.
And speaking of Sly and his Dolby system. I went over his house last week to get him all set up. When I got there we shot the bull for a while then I said, “So, let’s see this killer system you bought!” We went to the basement where he proceeded to drag speakers out of the closet. Let’s see!! The subwoofer, center speaker, 2 front and 2 rear speakers. Check! Where’s your, surround sound receiver, I asked. “They didn’t come with one when I got the speakers on sale!”
“Can’t we run them off of my stereo receiver”, he said!! I looked at his 30 year old receiver, and said, “Hell no!” “They won’t work with that!” He then shrugged his shoulders and started putting the speakers back in the closet while I tried to explain to him the difference of analog stereo technology vs. modern 5.1 Dolby Digital. Anyway, to make a long story short, I’m going back over today with one of my home theatre receivers that I’m loaning him (giving him) to get his system working. The Sony receiver is only a couple of years old. I had to replace in last year when we got the Samsung Flat Screen. The Samsung’s best picture and sound quality utilizes the HDMI jacks which the older Sony didn’t have. So, I bought a new Pioneer Home Theatre receiver for our family room and the Sony was collecting dust in the basement. Anyway, Sly is using the RGB modes for his DVD and Flat Screen. My receiver should be a good fit for his current system and new speakers. Going over later today!! After all, what are friend for if they can’t help you get your Home Theatre going. LOL!! Wish me luck!!
ELF
Well, the other night while the wife was out running around I watched the animated movie, “Planet Hulk!” It’s just one of the latest Marvel animated movies showcasing one of its best known characters, “The Hulk”! I thought the movie was well done and I enjoyed it greatly, being an old “Marvel Maniac” from the 60’s. I’ve actually been an animation fan since childhood. From Disney’s “Fantasia” as a young kid all the way to the slick animations of the current day, I’ve been a big fan. I guess that about one third of our DVD collection are animated movies, like Galaxy Express 999”, “Aikira”, Ninja Scroll”, “Vampire Hunter D”, “Robotech”, ” Wizards” (Ralph Bakshi), “Starchaser: The Legend of Orin”, “The Incredibles”, “Titan AE”, “Princess Mononoke”, “The Justice League Series”, etc. When I was a kid, my parents let us watch cartoons but as we got older my Dad thought it was just kids stuff and a waste of time. If he caught you watching them, you had better have all your homework done and chores completed or else it was curtains for the TV. (Now remember kiddies! The VCR wasn’t invented until the 80’s so, if you missed your program, there was no way to see it!)
Anyway, during my early teen years, Hanna Babara cartoons like, Space Ghost, the Herculoids, Birdman and “Jonny Quest”, started hitting the scene. Also, Japanese cartoons like “Speed Racer”, “The 8 Man” and “Astroboy” started airing in the US which further peaked my interests. These new cartoons were different than the “Roadrunner”, “Tom and Jerry”, “Popeye” and “Heckle and Jeckle” toons of the day. They had defined characters and adventure, instead of just being out for laughs. I was mesmerized then, as I am now by the genre.
It’s just amazing the animation that’s coming out these days. Some movies are even a combination of CGI and animation. Today’s animation is widely accepted as a wonderful and lucrative art form. It’s no longer considered kids stuff. Although there are plenty of cartoons dedicated to kids, you wouldn’t want your kids to see the animated horror story, “Dead Space: Downfall”! Not for the kiddies, trust me! So, even thou I’m old and decrepit now and need bifocals to see the animated screen, I’m an even bigger fan of animation, CGI and anime today than when I was a kid. And, the good thing about being old and decrepit is, I’m living in my own house. When animation works do come on, my Dad doesn’t come into the room changing the channel screaming, “I’m sure that Dizzy Dean and the Yankees are on! I’m watching the game!” Or, your Mom coming in to say, “My soap is on!” Get out! LOL!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! The joys of only one TV for the whole family during my childhood. (2 adults, 5 kids, the dog!) Ha!! None of that today! It’s just me and the wife now and we have 4 TVs in the house. Now I get to watch all the cartoons that I want on the 61 inch Flat screen since, most of the time the wife is cuddled up with a good book. (And I bought her her own Flat screen! For when she doesn’t want to watch what I’m watching!) Oh wait! I can’t watch animation now. The baseball game is on! Darn, I’ve turned into my Dad. Not a totally bad thing! LOL!! Go Cardinals!!
ELF
Space Ghost
Jonny Quest
Robotech
Wizards
Princess Mononoke
Akira
Ninja Scroll
Titan AE
Justice League Series
The Incredibles
Well, Tiger Woods is back! After taking time off to deal with his personal problems, he’s playing at the Master Golf Tournament this week. I’m sure that everybody has their own opinions about his personal life. We working stiffs can be very critical of famous people, even though our own lives and personal situations are suspect. I guess that some of us feel that famous people have it made and should show exemplary behavior since we basically pay their salaries. Everything that they endorse and we spend our money on makes us feel that we have the right to bitch when they do something that we don’t approve of. 20 million people at a time on your case might be a little much for even Tiger Woods. But, although Tiger’s cat-daddy behavior with numerous ladies will not be endorsed by the PTA, or, any women’s organization, it is what it is! A personal problem between he and his wife. We and the media should have just stayed out of it. Granted, it’s been a media storm since the story first broke, but, don’t we have way more problems in the world and more important news than what Tiger is doing behind closed doors? I guess not! The media today in a lot of cases has become a monger of sensationalism, fluff and gossip. I really miss Walter Cronkite sometimes!
Like any sports hero, a lot of kids and adults look up to Tiger! He’s one of many sports legends and, the current “Golf Phenom”. His personal behavior hasn’t been the best, and, it probably takes a woman to understand what his wife is going through. (We men are clueless sometimes to matters of the heart!) But, he didn’t embezzle any money! He didn’t kill anybody! He didn’t have his homey’s bodyguards rough up the paparazzi! (Lord knows they need roughing up sometimes!) He didn’t run in a bank with his 9 mil and say “give me the money”! Heck! He’s got more money than God anyway. His crime is, he cheated on his wife. So, in my humble opinion, everybody just needs to back off and let the man play golf and work things out with his family and friends! My dad, in his 80’s is a big golf and Tiger fan. He says he justs want Tiger to come back and play because he’s good for the sport. And, for all you hater’s out there, remember the words of Jesus when asked if an adulteress should be stoned for her crime. “So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” John 8:7 Enough said!!
Well! I’ve been fooling around in my cheap basement music studio for the last few weeks. I’m an ex-music major but, I haven’t been a musician for over 30 years. I’m a retired state civil servant. Anyway, embracing some of the free time that I’ve inherited as “retired guy”, I’ve started playing and writing music again. I was a brass major and my major instrument is the trumpet. I also still play a little piano, electronic keyboards and harmonica. (Bongos and ukulele. Can’t find them! Buried at parents house somewhere.) Now you know why I’m a retired state civil servant. It was hard to make a living with a trumpet when Disco, then Glam Rock hit the scene. LOL!
Anyway, after piddling around with my keyboards and synthesizers I’ve managed
to write, perform and record about 15 songs. Of these 15 songs I think that 4 or 5 are good enough to apply for a copyright and maybe try and sell them online. Now, being old and decrepit, this is a whole new world for me. Used to be if you wanted to get your music published, you made a cassette tape and went around to all of the record companies to try and get them to listen to it. There are tons of popular artists that were turned down by a number of recording companies before they became famous. But, you don’t have to go through all that today. There are many free online websites that you can post your music and people can give it a listen then, buy it. Even if they’ve never heard of you and you don’t actually play in a band. If they like your music, they can buy it for around 99 cents. So, I’ve listened to some of the original music posted by professional artists on a couple of the sights. Some of it is phenomenal, while others are just downright awful! (In my humble opinion!) I think my stuff is somewhere in the middle. Not fantastic but, it doesn’t make the dogs howl either. Anyway, my wife saids it sounds good to her (she’s lovely but, slightly biased, I think!) So, I’m going to run my home grown sounds by a few of my musician friends and college professors of music buddies to see what they think of it. Whatever they say, I guess I’ll still have the best 5 songs copyrighted. At least I can say I’m a copyrighted artist then. Even though nobody will know who the heck I am or, be clamoring to buy my songs from emusic or itunes. Or, will they??!!
