If You're Gonna Screw Up, Well....

there's no sense in going halfway. Another Gazette story:http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2006072027/

The shortie:"Charleston Mayor Danny Jones publicly apologized Thursday afternoon for an incident earlier in the day in which city police mistakenly stopped and handcuffed a 69-year-old retired police officer."

It gets worse, dudes:Jones apologized to J.L. Johnson, a 33-year veteran of the Charleston Police Department who retired in 1995, during a news conference.

The mayor demonstrated how he understood Johnson was ordered from his car, muscled to his knees and handcuffed with his hands behind his back by two officers.

A real orginal quote:“I just want to nip this in the bud,” the mayor said.

Exercise Can Be Dangerous

I was wrong. I said Kanawha City was a dangerous place to exercise and that Kanawha Boulevard was the place to relax and get into the zone. Ok, maybe it's not so good.

Read this story from the Gazette: http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2006071940

Some highlights for we walkers/joggers:

William Williamson Jr. walked away from the truck, which came to rest with its front end submerged in the river, while one of two pedestrians walking on the Boulevard was slightly injured diving to avoid the truck.

Police said the truck almost hit a woman walking along the Boulevard. She suffered scraped knees and was visibly shaken.

Get Thee out there and Sweat, radio guy

get thee out there and work it, fat boy

Since November, I have been dieting. Since April, I have begun an exercise program.

Big deal? Who cares? Hey, you're partly right, but read on sisters and brothers.Why should you care? I am only here to inspire, not to brag. If you want/need to lose weight, read on. Otherwise, find another blog baby.

Well, readers of this occasional blog, I tell you that this old, fat-but-slimming guy is finally getting his rewards. It's taken some months, but dividend checks are arriving.

YOU can do it. I am just an old, out-of-shape guy doing his best. If I can motivate my lazy ass off the DVD couch brigade, then so can you.

November-that's where it began. Something in November changed me. I think seeing my uncle in the last stages of his life gave a hard reminder of life's fragility and unromantic end. I literally watched him die. T.S. Eliot said something about when the dead go, we go with them. So much of that is true.As I am now 48, I see that life has entered a new stage. "It's a new game" I tell myself.

I have never been one to embrace exercise with any amount of enthusiasm for any consistent period of time. I have never really been one to embrace exercise at all truth be told. Ditto the discipline for a diet. But something new has entered here. A new energy and motivation.

First, I had to control what foods and how much. Sounds perfectly obvious, yes? No, not with Mr. Sugar Addict himself. Cookies were like heroin to me. I couldn't eat one. Nope, half the package would be gone as would "peck" around the kitchen looking for a snack. You know, get three cookies, watch some tube. Check the laundry; stop by the kitchen for more cookies, etc. etc. Soon the damn thing is empty.

Next doctor's visit, with cholesterol setting new records literally, same lies to Doc:"Been dieting?"
"Yes, but it's hard."
"We'll get you one of those charts that show the caloric blah-blah-blah..."

In one ear and out the other. I knew better, I just wasn't motivated.

When I was around 230, I was always hungry; always looking for the next snack or the next meal. I could eat and meal and then snack. Dangerous indeed.When you have a lot of weight, your stomach wants more, it's expanded. When you finally get some weight off and some control to your diet, it's so much easier to resist.

Then the exercise thing: go slow. I mean, twenty-somethings whiz by this old man, but he pays no mind. Slow and steady he goes like a turtle. Go slow and build. Everything will build.My exercise regimen began with a single walk. I now include jogging and a bit of free weights. Not much weight, but enough weight to get some blood flowing.

At first, jogging even two minutes was like carrying a granite slab on my legs. My breathing was heavy. I was hurting, man, hurting.Last week, experienced "the zone". I was jogging along Kanawha Boulevard-the best place in the valley, and suddenly I got this surge of power and energy. I had this odd sense that something was “watching over me”, giving me confidence.

I run/walk Cap to Cap:the Capitol Grounds to Capitol Street and then back. To you healthy types, that’s probably not anything, but to me it has been a source of inspiration.

Something else has come with this attempt to lose weight-a spiritual discipline. When I get first there and start stretching, I call it the Holy Hour. It is my hour of peace when my troubles are put aside and my mind is learning to let go and become clear. I love it now.

So, get out there and sweat. You’ll be amazed.

P.S. Joseph Campbell often talked about the "heavenly moment". The moment of bliss, if you will.

Last night, after a good workout, I sat alone, sipping from a cold water bottle with the sweat just pouring off of me. I realized, in that quietude, that this was indeed the heavenly moment.

Neil, Jack and Somebody

Which Crim do YOU like?

All musicheads know the band King Crimson, but in case you are in the dark go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Crimson

Like any artist, the brothers Crim have gone through many personnel changes with one exception: Robert Fripp, the band's founder and unofficial leader. He is still a sour puss who would rather drive nails into his foot than sign autographs, but we'll get to that.

Watching the DVD Neil and Jack and Me has made me begin to think about all things Crimson. What is this Crim thing all about?

On the whole, Crimson fans are incredibly loyal, vocal, sincere and some even have an unhealthy, obsessive admiration for Fripp. I believe they see (or use) Fripp as a symbol of their own uniqueness. Crimson as the thinking person's music, blah, blah. Yes, it sounds like teenage hero worship, but there it is.

Crimsonites can also be so loyal to one period and one period only. The Crim periods can be divided into three: 1969-74, 1981-84, and 1994 to present.

The '69-74 period shows a band at times groping for a direction, but when they really all come together, the results are amazing. They were creating a new rock language- a language which influences bands today (Tool would be a good example). Here the convergence of jazz, blues-rock and even concepts stolen from 20th century "classical" music make up the Crim compost of influences. As any VHS Behind the Music ominous voiceover will tell you, there came a time when "things began to turn horribly wrong." and the Crim disbanded. Some older folks can't get past this period and love to snuggle their gatefold remasters of "In the Court of the Crimson King." Nothing wrong with this period, some of my favorite Crim is from this era, but these constant reissues are so irrelevant to me.

The 80's Crim is my favorite incarnation. This DVD shows the Belew-Levin-Bruford-Fripp lineup in fine form. Bruford looks like he's having the time of his life, running around playing both acoustic and electronic drums. Belew makes it all look so easy as he releases those monsterously strange sounds from his guitar. Sour puss Fripp looks like an accountant or a classical musician who's wandered onto the wrong stage. But, the guy who puts it all together is Tony Levin who is simply one of the finest musicians of our time. Watching his hands playing the stick is worth the price of admission.

The music played on these concerts hasn't aged and all the band members have their moments of brilliance.

The 1994 to present group, I have to admit I have limited appreciation for. While there are some good tracks that I have heard from this time period, I feel like the band sounds like they are so desperate to do something new and consequently, it comes off as dry and academic. It's the Arnold Schoenberg period of the band. People who find chaotic dissonance played to impossible time signatures good listening have my blessing, but having gone through that in music school, I'll pass.

Give me a good groove any day.