You Say It's Your Birthday - It's My Birthday Too--Yeah

Ah... the strains of the Beatle's "Birthday" are running through my mind today. Today marks my 48th birthday. It's nice when people remember... my sister, my good friend Michelle, my friend Amy texted me a H.B.D. last night.

I've been working on an advertising proposal this morning. Heading to Aberdeen to have a late dinner with my Mother tonight. Then client meetings most of the day tomorrow.

I asked my mom last night what she was doing exactly 48 years ago and she said she was at home and didn't go to the hospital until mid-morning the day I was born when she started feeling pains. She said I came in at 10 pounds 3 oz and have been a pain ever since. I was born at 1:32pm on Tuesday August 26, 1960.

I notice something funny on my birthday and maybe you've experienced this too... when you go to write the date, say on a check or document... you almost invariably write your actual BIRTHdate instead of the day's date - you know, with your birth year instead of the current year.

Am I the only one to experience this? Prolly not.

Rainy Days And Sundays...

Harper and I went to the Little River Band show last night at the Napavine Amphitheater. We had the best of intentions of watching the concert from the front row and going back stage to see the band prior to the show. Our instructions in our little VIP envelope told us to be at Will Call by 4pm to pick up our credentials. We were there at 3:58pm, picked up our wristbands and back stage laminates. We then proceeded to our seats -- OH!! Did I mention this whole time it was pouring down rain? So, rewind to earlier in the day yesterday when Harper called me to say he'd take me out to dinner prior to the concert as a thank you for taking him to the show. We meet at the restaurant and get seated... the manager of the restaurant, Nathan asks me if I have any tickets for him. It was at this point that I realized that I left the VIP envelope at home in my laptop case. I order the BIG spinach salad (shaken, not stirred) and high-tail it for my house to get the envelope. We have dinner and get on our way to the concert venue. I did mention this whole time it was raining heavily, didn't I?

We get to the concert venue at a couple minutes to 4pm and go to our seats to wait for the back stage cattle call. LRB is on stage sound checking until around 5:30pm... the show was supposed to start at 5pm. Anyway, Harper and I go wait in line for the back stage thing in the pouring rain and I asked the bouncer who was tending to the line when we were supposed to be let in for the meet and greet and the photo ops etc. He told me 5:30pm. So we wait and wait and wait in the torrential downpour and finally at 6 o'clock Harper turns to me and says "this is bullshit", let's leave. I said "let's go".

Adding insult to injury I failed to take my nice big golf umbrella because I didn't want to be rude to people sitting behind me... MISTAKE! Everyone there except me and Harper were packing an umbrella. I'm an idiot!! Also on the way there we stopped by the ACE Hardware in Napavine and I got one of those rain ponchos... piece of crap! Turns out it was made out of the same crap the dry-cleaning plastic is made of... you know that plastic that they drape over your shirts and trousers when you get them back from the dry cleaners? So, no LRB and no autographed CD for my client and good friend Jack. The whole shindig turned out to be a fiasco. I'll tell you this much - if I ever go to a concert in Napavine again I'm not even going to leave my house until the time the show's scheduled to start.

Do I sound bitter about pissing away my whole day? So I got home and put my jacket in the dryer and put in a load of laundry and vegged out to watch my 42" Plasma - a little DVR action was definitely in order.

Sunday FUNday

Last night after the Grand Re-Opening festivities at one of my clients, I came home and decompressed a little bit before heading out to check out the studio at the new Radio station that I'm going to work for with Steve Harper, the host of the Saturday night show "The Musical Depreciation Society" http://www.musicaldepreciationsociety.com/. Believe me, it's a fun show with songs you wouldn't expect to hear on the radio.

I start at the station on September 2, so I thought I'd get a head start on learning the ropes. After what seemed like months of negotiating to come on board there we finally came to an agreement a couple of weeks ago and I'll be coming on board as Program Director and Afternoon Show Host. Looking forward to it. It's the most powerful AM station between Seattle and Portland at 10KW and plays the Good Time Oldies.

The station owners are great people. I've known DJ Dale since I was a Junior at Raymond High School when he worked for the local station there called KAPA. More on KAPA later.

Prior to going to the station though I met with my new friends, Tom and Amy for a soft drink and appetizer at The Webb Lounge in Shelton. It's part of Vern's Restaurant and it's the new bar Tracy built in the back of the restaurant... very cool. If you get the opportunity to dine at Vern's you should give it a try. Absolutely the best salad bar I've had. Went to the station after that until about midnight, and yada yada yada... needless to say I was a little tired this morning

It may turn out to be a typical NW day today... rain. I am hoping for the best as my long time friend and co-worker, the afformentioned Steve Harper and I are heading out to a concert this afternoon at the Napavine Amphitheater (15 minutes from Centralia) http://www.thenapavineamphitheater.com/ to see Little River Band perform. I was fortunate enough to get front row seats and backstage to meet LBR prior to the show. Looking forward to it although I've never really been a huge LRB fan, they've had numerous Top 10 hits so it should be good. Now I have to find a CD of LRB's Greatest Hits so I can get an autograph for one of my clients.

I've known Harper btw since we were in 3rd grade together at Riverview Elementary in Raymond, WA... our home town. We both worked during our senior year at KAPA Radio which the local station. KAPA - the Sporty 1340 on the dial. I recently came across this bumper sticker on a car in the parking lot of my local Wal Mart and couldn't resist...


The funny thing is that the original KAPA is now off air and has been for almost 20 years I guess. This KAPA station is in Hawaii. It was just funny to see it and I happened to have my camera at the ready.

My mother and Nick were originally going to come visit today but we're getting together next Tuesday (my birthday) instead. I suspect she has a birthday surprise or two in store for me. She's very generous and thoughtful.

Day Three Of Three

Today marked the final day for the Grand Re-opening at my client, Kilmer's Flooring America. We did the whole free hot dog and pop thing. This was the third day in a row we had radio remotes there. Thursday was 97.7 The Eagle Classic Hits out of Olympia, yesterday featured Matt Shannon of Live 95 in Centralia and today was KMNT Country 104.3 FM out of Centralia featuring Jonny Day. It was really a lot of fun.

Above, Jack Kilmer is pictured on Friday afternoon being interviewed by Matt Shannon of Live 95 Radio.