I'm a huge fan of the Pure Jerry CD's and releases coming from Rhino. (Rhino also just purchased the Grateful Dead intellectual capital). The Jerry estate is doing a great job in releasing fantastic recordings. I have one of the new Pure Jerry releases on it's way to me now. I own them all except one. The release for Sept 26th is a Rhino Best of Jerry Garcia . Not sure if I'll get it. I already have the box set that remastered all his studio albums with bonus material. Of course, the bonus material in this release when purchased from the web site, may tempt me yet again. Jerry's solo material is so much fun as he interprets old classics and adds his incredible playing and jamming.
Rock on!

Did you know you can listen online full cd's for free? Just create an account, search for the cd artist and play the whole cd. I was just listening to Bob Dylan's new release. On my Sirius radio, Jam On station, Warren Haynes recommended an artist, Ray Lamontagne. He says he sounds like Van Morrison. I'm setting that one up next. I noticed iTunes had Ray's cd listed in the top 100. Seems there are others listening to Sirius. Love my Sirius radio, too!

A lot is being talked about Alex Rodrigues and the slump he's in. Of course, it's blown way up because of his salary and being an NY Yankee. I actually feel bad for him as I remember that when I played I also thought to much about hitting instead of just "See the ball, hit the ball". Once you get it in your head that your in a slump, it's hard to get out no matter what they pay you. I often thought it would be better in sports to be sort of "non-technical". The more you try to analyize the problem, the worse it gets. Of course, I analyzed everything. It seems ARod is doing the same thing. He just needs to trust his ability, forget about everyone else and work his way out. Especially, as we get closer to post season. Not swinging at a few less bad pitches wouldn't hurt.

Normally, I'm not an obnoxious Yankee fan but... A couple of weeks ago I was in Red Sox nation country and couldn't help to notice how confident the Red Sox fan has become since winning the World Series two years ago. I've noticed more bumper stickers and such in my area too. They seem to have come out of the woodwork. With good reason because they are a great team. Except, it seems the management of the team has really blown it this year. Johnny Damon really got his revenge this past weekend. The announcer commented that the deal the Yankees offered was not more money per year but only one extra year than the Red Sox were willing to offer. Plus, Johnny did not feel the love from the Red Sox management as they looked for his replacement before they even tried to sign Damon.
At the trade deadline, the Yanks picked up three quality players that are making great contributions since the All Star break. I loved Bobby Abreu from this first hustle to first base. The close to .400 average is great too! Corey Lidle is getting it done on the mound and Craig Wilson's looking good. The Red Sox blew every trade they were trying to make with the excuse of not forfeiting their future.
The Yanks got great play from sub players this year during long injuries from Matsui, Cano and Sheffield. The Red Sox are tanking without Nixon and Varitek.
I'll just continue to stay high from the weekend Massacre as I dream of post-season.

Its been twenty years since we graduated college but in some ways it seems like yesterday. So glad my friend Pete hosted a get together at his house a couple of weeks ago. He was able to get guys together that we'd not seen in twenty years. It was great to see everyone and have a few laughs remembering our college years. Some of the old pictures tell the story better than my memory can manage. These guys are like my brothers I never had. So glad to see life has been good to these guys. Hope to do it again soon.

Finally, the new Mule release is out. I pre-ordered the download a couple of months ago. Seems the wait was worth it. I quickly created the cd and insert with my new iMac. I've been listening in the car and it sounds great in my new Subaru Legacy.
The release is complete with Warren Haynes hard riffs, smooth groove and cool lyrics. It does take me a couple listens to get the full vibe of the tunes. So far, there is a variety of different tunes from slow, to reggae to hard driving rock. Loving it !!!