8.15.04

I have been in raleigh for almost four years and doesnt seem like it, does it? Going about my daily life with work and living. In the four years I have been to Moscow, Prague, Kiev, I bought a truck, bought a home, went to the baseball hall of fame induction ceremony, 3 Hollering Contests, 1 Shad Toss, 1 Fossil Festival, over one hundred shows, and my parents moved 5 miles away from me. So I guess I'm not doing bad. :)

Still trying to decide where to go for my vacation this year. Maybe back to Kiev, or to Minsk, or Lithuania. I am still deciding. Trying to finish up whats left of Coolidge Records. If you notice on the catalog page, we have a lot of titles that are sold out. this is because 90% of the bands are done and have been done for quite some time, so there is no reason to make more, if I only sell 1 per month. It's all up on eMusic, so Gladys, etc. can be on the bathroom walls of the internet with their music for people in Kenya to download forever.

The Presidental election is coming up and it's basically a lose-lose situation for America. You know it and I know it. Lesser of the two evils is stupid and we as a country need to change that. OK, off my soapbox on that one.

12.27.03

Back again giving everyone an update of my life. I worked, I ate, I travelled (photos below), and I'm hanging. I started painting the rooms in my house. Which took about a year to get going on that. The TV room I painted 'asparagus green,' the bedroom downstairs I painted purple. Because you need a purple room in your house. Every house should have a purple room. And the dining room I just painted red. 'Rapture Red,' to be exact. So a couple of rooms left. I am not sure about my bedroom, so if anyone has any ideas, feel free to give a suggestion.

Work has been going well. I have an excellent staff working with me to make sure we get Production done. One day, I will get a picture of everyone and put it on here.

Anyway, I went to Kiev, Ukraine from Thanksgiving until the week after. And it was a great time. I love going to Eastern Europe. I guess for a couple of reasons: the food, the beer, the sights, and the women :)

I enjoy going around and looking at the buildings and memorial sites before, during and after communism. It's just interesting to me how Eastern Europeans live. It reminds me of how Americans take a lot of things for granted. It makes me lucky and proud to live in America sometimes. (cue patriotic music here).

Anyway, the photos:

- this is Kiev. From my hotel room. About 3.5 million people live in Kiev and its a nice city. When I was there, there was a lot of construction going on. But I heard that only happens during the winter months, because during the spring and summer, it looks really nice. So another time I will have to then and see how it looks.

- me at Independence Square. This is the spot / area where the Ukraine declared Independence from Russia in 1991. The Ukraine was under Russian rule for over 400 years. The last 70 under the Communists and before that, under the Czars. So they are feeling independence for the first time in 400 years, so they are pretty happy about it. Behind the momument in glass is an underground mall. And the building behind that is a hotel.

- This is a statue in the same square. Legend has it that Kiev was founded by 3 brothers and a sister while on a boat going up the Dneper (sp) River. The city was named for the oldest brother, Kiev, who is the one in front with the shield.

- This is St. Andrews Church. Located on St. Andrews Road. Up the street are the Ukrainian government buildings and housing where the President lives. Old church from the 1300's. Still functioning as an Orthodox Christian Church. O.C. religion is the main religion in Ukraine. It became huge after the Communists left in 1991. But the Communists kept the Church around because of its historical value. They did tear down a lot of Churches in the Ukraine and other countries they held power over, and slowly, the countries are rebuilding it with the help of the mafia. True.

- Another statue of the 3 brothers and sister who found Kiev. This is along the river and was put up in 1992.On the base of the statue someone painted "KORN" on it. From the band. Which made me laugh. Like when I saw "Slayer" written on the roof of a church in Prague.

- This statue is really awesome. One of the reasons why I went to the Ukraine was for this. this statue was built in early 1980's under the Russian rule of Breznev (sp). This is a statue of the Woman of Russia. It is the 3rd tallest statue in the world. The Buddha in Japan is first, another Woman of Russia in Volgograd is 2nd (I have a picture of that also), and this is 3rd. The Statue Of Liberty is 4th on the list. So you know thats huge. On her shield is "USSR". It overlooks one side of the city of Kiev and the people of Kiev HATE it. They were going to tear it down at one point, but other countries said it should stay to remind everyone about the past. So it stays. In the base is the Museum of War in the Ukraine. It was closed when we went there. You can go up to the shield during the spring and summer, but those who know me know I won't be doing that anytime soon.

- This is the soccer stadium for the Kiev Dynamo. Their soccer team. A ocuple days after I left they were playing Inter Milan there. I was going to stay for the game, but work and the USA called me back :) I didn't get to go inside the stadium, because they were getting ready for the match. But I heard it's a beautiful stadium. Maybe another time.

- Me with a friend Joe from Nashville. We were part of the same tour group. He's a Professor at the University of Tennessee.

- Me with friends from the tour group 'entertaining' some of the local ladies. This was at a Mexcian restaurant. Underneath there was a Sushi bar. The food was ok. Not as good as Torero's in Raleigh. Behind us on the TV screen they were playing "Dirty Dancing". The girl with me is Masha, she's really great.

There are a couple more photos, but not to bore you with them all. These are the highlights. The currency exchange was 1 US dollar equals 5 Ukrainian dollar. So a pint of beer cost about 7 UK, so a little over a dollar. And food wasn't expensive. They had TGI Fridays, MacDonalds, etc. there.

And they had Coke "light" which is the same as Diet Coke here, but Ukrainians won't drink Diet Coke because it reminds them of the USA, and apparently, Ukrainian women think all American women are fat. So if they won't drink Diet Coke, because it makes them think they are American women and therefore they are fat. So Coke changed it to "Coke Light." Marketing gurus at Coke.

Oh I did lose some weight, not as much as I did in Russia. But I did A LOT of walking around and eating less than usual. But I think I gained it back since then. :)

All computer and music discs are bootlegged and sold on street corners and markets. They only have the top 10 in music there. So finding that Rodan Demo or Darkest Hour Live Bootleg CD was not happening.

I do want to go back in the spring. But depending on work, it just depends upon how busy it gets. Which I am sure that it will :)

Not sure where I will go to next. Riga, Latvia? Minsk, Belarus? Budapest, Hungary? Villinus, Lithuania? Or maybe Warsaw, Poland. It just depends how I feel. Any suggestions please feel free to say.

10.5.03

Well a lot has happened during the summer, work-wise. We released A LOT of records at Sanctuary Records. And this has made me very tired :) It really didn't give me anytime to do anything during the summer. Plus owning a house, you have to work on it every weekend. But I did find some time to do some things: check it out:

- in the beginning of the summer, I went with Dave to the Shad Festival in Grifton, NC. A shad is a fish, in case you didn't know. It was more like a fair and on the side they had you throw a fish for distance. Laughter ensued.

- hell yeah jack throwing a shad! I didn't do so well, but its not about winning, it's about having fun.

- me with the Shad Queen. I met royalty!

The last weekend in July I went to the Baseball Hall Of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. I stayed in Otego, NY with my friend Charlie and his wife, Melissa. I haven't been to the Hall in over 20 years, so things looked a little different. Plus this time, I got to some things that I didn't last time. This year it was Bob Uecker, Gary Carter and Ediie Murray who was inducted into the Hall.

- that is my truck in front of the Doubleday Field.

- me meeting Rollie Fingers. He was pretty nice, In Cooperstown, these sports stores are all open and they have schedules to meet certain players, and you pay money to have a 8x10 autographed or a bat, ball, jersey. Prices depend upon what you want signed. For example, to have Rollie Fingers autograph on a ball, I think it was $50.00, but to get Willie Mays, it was $100.00. But you get your picture taken with them for $1.00. So I chose the $1.00 photos most of the time :)

- me with Warren Spahn. He was in a wheelchair and smoking like it was going out of style. He barely said a word. The kid before us was getting something signed and asked Warren if he could add something. He looked at the kid and said "no", how cool is that? :)

I guess they roll him out during this time of the year from Florida, make his $, and then roll him back into the Florida home until another year. Nice life I guess...

- Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford. We got there at 10-10:30AM and Whitey was already drinking Budweiser. I tried to get my picture taken with both and Whitey said "I hate that guy next to me, no way am I getting in a picture with him." I think he was joking, but you never know with these guys.

- Me on Doubleday Field. It was a beautiful field, I didn't go any farther than that.

- the three inductees, Uecker, Carter and Murray

- Charlie and I also went to the Soccer Hall Of Fame. It is not too far from Cooperstown. It is located in Oneonta, NY. I expected more from it. But it was more interactive for families than a place to have old items there. You can head a ball or kick one into a goal. It was a good stop on the way back to Charlie's and Melissa's house.

- This was on the way to one of the days to the Baseball Hall Of Fame. Nothing better than a pickup truck with two ladies in the back. The driver wins the Lifetime Award.

Overall, it was a great time. If you get a chance to go to the Baseball Hall Of Fame, you should. Its about 3 hours north of NYC. Its a good weekend trip. If your a fan of baseball. or soccer. After that I went to NYC for work and did work things. I saw Iron Maiden play, I dont have any photos of that, but I will soon.

Acouple of weeks ago, Kiss played in Raleigh, and there is a photo somewhere of that. When I get one, I'll put it up.

4.19.03

I know it has been a while. Well work has been busy and life has been good. The house has been good times. I haven't had a chance to really 'decorate' it yet. It's mostly still in boxes and in piles and I'm still trying to decide what colors to paint the rooms, what room should be what, etc. I'm very indecisive when it comes to these things. But I still love it. When I start getting it together, I will put up photos. So please have a heart. i wll be putting up more stuff tomorrow - I need to go.

other things that have happened...

I went to London for work. I've never been there. It was really fun for 3 days, being in the office and meeting all co-workers that I speak to a lot and seeing what they look like and getting to know more about the Sanctuary UK way of doing things.

I did take a 3-hour tour of London. You get on the double-decker and travel around London. The best way to go. I also went with my friend Heather, she met me there. Also another great way to go. Always travel with a buddy :) Even if it's three-four days.

- BIG BEN / PARLIAMENT - Americans know that from National Lampoons European vacation. People from England dont get it - so when I kept saying "big ben / parliament" only americans understood.

- Yes, I went to Abbey Road. If your a fan of the beatles, You have to right?

9.7.02

Well, after spending over 2 years in Raleigh, I thought it might be good buy a house. Why keep paying rent. So here it is, its located in Kittrell, North Carolina, about 1/2 hour north of Raleigh. It's a house built in 1880, and i really like it. Obviously the furnishings will be different when i move in. Check it out, any comments, please let me know.

- front of the house

9.1.02

I went to Prague, Czech Republic. Back again and enjoying what Prague has. I decided to go there a second time because last time I was there, it was November and cold and snowing - not a good idea for a vacation. So I went in the summertime just to see how it's different. More people, hotter, and a little more expensive. The plane, hotel and certain areas were more expensive. And definitely a lot more people than in November. I don't like having a bunch of people around during vacations, and next time I go on vacation it will be during off-season. The prices were good also - it was 1 US Dollar = 28 Czech Krowns. A pint of beer is 35 Kc. So it was good times.

Here are the photos of Prague. Hope you like looking at them. I would suggest people to go there and see it - it's not over-run by america yet. But it probably will in the next five years.

This is the Main Square of Old Prague. The tall building is the Tryn Church, I think spelled that incorrectly. I need to find my map :)

This is the astronomical clock in the Old Center of Prague. It ois considered one of the oldest 'theaters' in Europe. If you can see the top two windows, you see the saints go past. Their windows are opened by the skeleton on the middle right next to the clock. This happens every hour.

I went to the Museum of Communism in Prague. This was very interesting, it showed how the Czech Republic dealt with Communism and controlled by the Russians. www.muzeumkomunismu.cz

7.14.02

So my life since the last - busy. Work has been busy. Socially, it has not been as busy. But that's because I choose it that way. I work, come home, eat, sleep. See bands once in a while, movies even less than that. Go out drinking every couple of weeks, hang with friends in raleigh. And life is good.

I am starting to look for a house in the raleigh area. I want to live near the NC State campus, but the houses there are expensive for my salary. And the houses that I like are outside of Raleigh by half hour - and the commute is not as fun. So I am not sure what to do.

I go to Prague this week for a vacation. First vacation I have had since going to Russia, and I deserve it. I should have gone on vacation much sooner, but work keeps me busy and there is no 'down-time' as much as I want. But going back to Prague will be great.

In June - me, Dave and Rachel went to the Hollerin' Contest in Spivey's Corner, NC. Again, it was a good time. Rachel is a new person who works with me in Production. She handles a lot of the Production for the Independent releases. Which is good, because now I can take the vacation that i need.

Went and saw Rush on 4th of July in Raleigh - it was a great show. I have to thank Candi for getting me the seats. Afterwards they had fireworks and they were fireworks, nothing too special. Rush played the songs that I wanted to hear. "The Spirit of the Radio," was the best song of the night in my opinion. All the songs were great, but that one was tops.

After Prague, I plan on figuring out what to do next with myself. Keep working obviously, and hanging out and going to shows, seeing friends and family. I am going to Jason Stuart's wedding in Pittsburgh the first weekend in August, so that should be fun.

I will put up pictures of Prague when I get back. And maybe Jason's wedding if I am able to.

I will try and keep this more updated on a month-by-month basis, but I just forget to do it, so remind me to do it, if you want more.

12.9.01

Yes, it has been a while. A lot has been going on in my life - since June. Olga came here from Russia to visit me for three months. The visit was very nice. I enjoyed her being here and I was sad to see her go. I showed her a lot within those three months - NYC (before 9.11), Richmond,VA, Charlotte,NC, Wyckoff,NJ, The Atlantic Ocean, Blue Oyster Cult, Yard Sales, Flea Markets, Thrift Stores, the Rusty Nails, The White Octave, etc. So much I guess. When she left she had an extra bag with 50 pounds of clothes that she bought here. Whew!

Sept. 11 - Yeah, we all know and we all know how we feel - so let's move on...

Raleigh is a lot better after one year of being here (over a year now) and I enjoy living here much more than a year ago. It's how a person makes the area to enjoy the area. I do enjoy it - if I didn't - i would be gone.

In September I also went Nadia and Chris' wedding. It was great. I'll try and get a photo and put it up. I am really happy for them and hope the best for them.

Otherwise, i've been working and living. It has been busy, but I do enjoy it.

6.24.01

UPDATE - Well, first off let me say this...

That stupid Fast Food commercial with the checkout girl speaking "Atlantic," a promotional tool for the movie Atlantis... has to be one of the DUMBEST things ever. In the words of the Comic Book Store guy... Worst Commercial Ever! Who do these Ad Execs think we are, what a bunch of crap. That is one of the reasons why I don't eat the stuff. Anyway, enough of the rants - onto the fun in Raleigh...

That's right - me and Dave went to the Hollering Contest in Spivey's Corner, NC on June 16th. About 1 hour South from Raleigh. It was great that it was so close to us. It was only $3.00 to get in and it ruled! Just hanging out and listening to hollering. It started to rain during the men's competition, so it moved to the local firehouse. But they had sections of competition: Child's (under 12), Women's, and Men's. Here are the photos...

Me and Dave stopped on the outside of town

It's on the 3rd saturday every June. See you there! :)

6.3.01

Then me and Dave went to....

YES! I went to Aurora, NC for the 8th annual Fossil Festival. It was great times, digging for fossils, seeing the Fossil Museum

-

Me with Miss North Carolina and her two goons watching over her - its the Fossil Festival - like anyone is going to do anything.

The old man I met while getting gas before leaving. He has this late 60's Impala. He was a nice guy and the car reminded me of my old Impala. So I had to get a photo of him.

1.14.01

JACK IN RUSSIA! That's right. I went to Russia during the holiday break into the New Years.

1. Yes, It was cold there. It snowed almost everyday. But it never went below 20 degrees farenheit. Which was great. But still, snow everyday.

2. Yes, it is very different there. And no, I don't speak the language. But that was OK, during the day, I pointed to a lot of stuff.

3. exchange rate: 1 dollar = about 30 rubles. A 12oz coke cost 10 rubles. A bottle of voka - around 60 rubles.

4. I didn't eat much. Bread, Pasta, some meat and chicken. I drank A LOT of tea (not sweet tea, regular hot tea), and walked around to a lot of places.

5. If you get a chance, visit there. But only during the spring or summer. The reason is because while Russian winter is nice, there's not much to do. A lot of people there just work, eat and sleep during the winter. Russian's don't like to go out during the winter (I don't blame them).

Any other questions, please ask away...

And now the photos....

Red Square. To the right is the kremlin.

12.3.00

So I've been mostly working at Sanctuary Records. I go out when there are cool shows going on. Usually cool show = band from NYC or I MIGHT have heard the name. I've been to NYC a couple of times. Once to help friends move and the other for Thanksgiving. Let me say though that being out of NYC I have realized that people in NYC are all depressed. Mostly for paying for things that are way too much money for no reason. Apartments are a perfect example of that. And things are just above prices for no reason. I can understand why people don't live there now. I enjoy living in Raleigh, yeah, I miss a bunch of stuff in NYC, but overall, I think this was a good decision for me.

Reason #3 why I miss NYC: Pizza and Italian Food in General. In raleigh so far, it has been crap for Italian. The pizza here is all "Dominoes" and the stuff like that. No real Italian Pizza. same with the food. I miss it a lot. A good Chicken Parmesean sandwich, something I ate all the time in NYC. Here, nowhere. Noone knows how to make it in Raleigh.

It has snowed here a couple of times. Which is very wierd for this area. I guess the next ice age is closer than we think.

10.14.00

OK, so I haven't been keeping things up to date with this part of the site. You should be glad that I'm not. Imagine if I was doing this everyday. You would feel bad for me, huh? Knowing that I'm not doing things and just being on the web and doing this site. That would be pretty bad. But I have been busy doing things. And that's good.

Reason #1 why I miss NYC: My friends. I know, I know, I'll make more. And I have. And it's great. But my NYC friends are great and I used to be able to call them, get on a train, and meet them at a bar, movie, apartment, megastore. Whatever. Now it's tougher b/c they are 10 hours away by car. And phone doesn't do justice anymore.

Work has been going great. I really do enjoy it. Things are starting to pick up for me in Production and I'm being given more responsibilities. Which is also great. This 'easing' into it isn't bad, but I'm so used to being thrown into the mix, that easing into it is difficult. But it's cool. I've worked on a sticker, bin cards, and now a couple of CD's, so hopefully by the end of the year, I'm doing vhs tapes and dvd's.

My apartment is doing well. I just received my couch that I bought back in September. I love my couch. It's big, but not huge. And comfortable, and pulls out into a bed. So now when I lay on the couch I have some extra room, I'm not falling off of it. The band Waifle, stayed over last night and they used it. I guess it was comfortable for them. The spare room i need to figure out. I am going to put a bed in there very soon. But I'm deciding on whether to put my computer in there and maybe getting stereo components for there. but I do like to have the TV near the computer so I can hear the TV while doing computer stuff. Who knows, I'll figure it out.

Reason #2 why I miss NYC: Subway system. Self explanatory. I hate driving, and a subway system is needed in all cities. It's the year 2000, can't the US get this public transportation together and use it so humans are not using cars forever.

Food wise I have been making dinners for myself almost every night. It is different for me. I'm so used to ordering out food, and paying a lot of money for it. Now I am cooking. The usual beef/chicken/pork thing with rice and a vegetable. It's good for me because I am saving a bunch of money. Plus the delivery here is pretty crappy. Chinese so far has not been good. And I don't even want to talk about Italian food here. It's just not good at all.

My social life has been OK. Nothing special. A date here and there, but nothing worth mentioning. I'm not worried though, it'll happen when it does.

I went to Raleigh State Fair today with Erika. It was tons of fun. I took pictures that I'm going to get developed in the next couple of days and I'll put them up.

Any questions let me know. Thanks for reading.

##########

Sept. 10, 2000 - So here i am after my first full week in Raleigh, North Carolina. within the past 2 weeks I have gotten myself: an apartment, a pickup truck, TV, cable, phone, power for the apartment, and many things of crap to fill up the apartment. So I guess to start, I can talk about the apartment. I will have photos of it soon, as soon as I finish taking the roll.

The aparment is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom with Kitchen, living room, 24 hour access to the pool, weight room, and laundry room. It's about 1,000 square feet: maybe a little less than that. It is very nice. I pay about $650 per month for this. when I tell people in the NYC what I'm paying, I hear "oh my god, that's awesome." But yeah, this is in Raleigh, not NYC. Imagine the price of this place in NYC - forget about it!

I don't have enough stuff to put in it. The one bedroom has my box of cassettes and a picture. I do have some kitchen stuff: a new microwave, the George Foreman Grill, and a trash can. Oh, ah. I have the computer setup on the kitchen table that is my great-grandmothers. I know that I should get a desk for the computer, but I will soon. The TV is on the floor, I need to get a table for it, but i will soon. I bought a couch (called a "sofa" here), that is coming here in about 7 weeks. It's on back order because I want one with a pull-out bed because in case i have a friend come and visit. I will get a bed for the other bedroom, but I will soon.

I just bought a truck on saturday, a 2000 Toyota Tacoma Pre-Runner. It's Black with an extended cab, CD player, Cassette deck, and some other stuff that I forget. It's really nice, and the cup holder is SWEET.

I haven't been hanging out in the Raleigh "Scene." as much as I should, I think it's because I just bought the truck and I'm just tired from work. Even though I just started there, the first week was good. I can talk about that tomorrow, so you the reader, can get a better understanding of what I do.