Took a trip with my wife, and a few long time friends to Montreal for the Marillion Weekend Canada. Every so often, the band Marillion will host ‘weekends’ where they play multiple nights. This was a 3 night show with different set lists each night Fans travel from all over the globe to attend and enjoy some great music by one of the best underrated bands. Marillion were founded in 1979 in England, and had a few hits in the United States (‘Kayleigh’ being there biggest hit). They are still going strong and putting out new albums. The Weekends are kind of a celebration for the fans, and it did not disappoint. This was the 1st weekend I have attended and looking forward to attending another one in the future.
Besides 3 nights of music, and a Q&A Session with the band, we got to explore the city of Montreal. I really enjoyed walking around and seeing the culture of the city. We saw the old port where you can get a ferry, McGill University, and the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal. We enjoyed great company (met up with a long time friend who happen to live in the area for great company, food and drinks before the shows)
L’OlympiaSetlist (Day 2)Q&A with the BandRoss / AndySetlist (Day 3)Andy / Eric / RossTime Out Market, MontréalEnjoying the dayMontréalWaiting for MarillionHad to try PoutineOld Montréal
Have some big weekends coming up. Have a graduation party on Saturday, and then will be attending the Philly Non-Sports Show on Sunday. Then its time to for the Survivor 44 Finale on Wednesday, (Have never missed a finale, going back to when Bryant Gumbel was the host.). After that, we go into the 3 Day Memorial Day Weekend and the official start of Summer
Will find the time write more and cover everything
PEACE
AverageAndy
PS – Nice back to back wins for the Mets against the Rays. Maybe this is the jumpstart they need to start playing better ball going forward.
Very sad to hear of the passing of my cousin Alex after a battle with cancer. He was a great guy and a great father to his 2 kids. He fought hard after a stroke and then the cancer diagnosis. But it was just too much and he passed last week with his family at his side.
After hanging out with all my cousins when we were young, we all eventually went our separate ways, and Alex ended up living in Hilton Head SC, and working at the Walt Disney Hilton Head Resort. Years later as fate would have it, my family ended up taking vacations to Hilton Head Island, as my In-Laws had a time share there. We were able to catch up with Alex each time we went, and enjoyed spending time with him and his 2 sons. We were also luck to meet up with him a few times at my Aunts house down on the NJ shore. Were great times and always left with great memories.
He is survived by my Aunt Sandy, and his 2 brothers (my cousins) Bobby and Marc
Just want to acknowledge the passing of the great singer / songwriter Gordon Lightfoot at the age of 84. I’m sure everybody has heard some of his songs over the years. Here is a video for “Sundown” Take some time to give him a listen and just enjoy the music he created. He will be missed.
The New York Mets are off to a slow start — They have been up and down and the weather has played havoc on there schedule making it tough to get into a groove. I know their starting pitching has been very poor — From both the big time acquisitions Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander to the usually reliable middle of the order (Kodai Senga, Tylor Megill, and others who are not hurt), the have found themselves down early in almost every game and needing to claw their way back. But it is a long season, and they do have a talented lineup that should click in and be able to score runs. I do hope they do not panic to much and make some instinctive moves. Will check back in after 50 games to see where they stand.
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Here is the latest on the TV Shows I have been watching:
Star Trek Picard: – Finished and though the season was great. Rabbit Hole: – As I keep saying, you go wrong with Keifer Sutherland CSI: Vegas: – Doing a great job of continuing the franchise The Blacklist: – Getting closer to the end. The Mandalorian: – Moving up (still on list to start soon) The Accused: – Highly Recommended – Some real interesting stories Not Dead Yet: – Solid start and continues to makes me laugh – Need really need some more comedies
The Last Thing He Told Me (Apple TV) — Was a big Alias fan and glad to see Jennifer Garner backin an action role — And loved the Victor Garber cameo
Fatal Attraction — Big fan of both Joshua Jackson and Lizzy Caplan
Bubkis – Pete Davidson is funny (as well as this show)
9:11 / 9:11 Lone Star: – Catching up on both of these
A Million Little Things – Going to do a marathon and finish the final season
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And of course Survivor
Its been an interesting and for the most part entertaining season so far. I do things kinds of tailed off after the frantic start where the production team were throwing out idols and advantages as fast as they could in hopes of some big pay-offs. Unfortunately for the viewing audience, things have not panned out as expected. The idols and advantages have not become a big part of the game. Add to that that players now seem to know what twists and challenges are coming (event to the point of 3D printing the puzzles at home before the show and practicing so that they can eastly be completed). This tends to make the game a bit underwhelming. Also, as I have stated before, some of the players seem to be playing more like its a vacation, then if it were a game for 1 Million Dollars. Still really enjoying the dynamics of how people interact and strategize. Just wish there was a way to push them a bit. Maybe bring back some of those challenges where you are forced to pick other players to be eliminated from the challenge. These always forced peoples hands to show there true allegiances. And also, I know its a thing these days (at least for the younger Survivor fans), but we get that Matt and Frannie like each other. But we saw more shots of Matt on the Jury last week then some of the players still in the game.
Despite all this, I’m still a huge fan of watching and still dream of playing to see what its really like. Will be submitting my application for the next round of casting and continue to hope #NeverToOldForSurvivor #GiveMeAChance
And finally, will be heading to Montreal next weekend for the Marillion Weekend 2023 – Canada. This will be my first Marillion Weekend and really looking forward to it. Will be 3 great nights of music hanging out with family and friends. Will post a full recap once I’m back home in the USA
Here are a few Marillion Videos to kick things off
Keith now joins the list of other Survivor players who have unfortunately passed away. They all brought something unique to the show and will all be missed.
Every time I sit down to write something here, I am amazed at the amount of time that has passed since my last post. I look and say to my self “How could it be almost a month since I wrote anything”. Feels like it was yesterday
I want to wish my dad a healthy recovery from bypass surgery last week. Even thought he was feeling fine, the doctors noticed something during a routine check-up, with led to a stress test, which led to bypass surgery. Everything went well and my dad is back home recovering. Its going to be while, but hopefully he comes out better after time. It is really amazing what doctors and nurses can do these days. They are all dedicated to helping people and making sure things go smoothly. I big Thank You to all who worked on and helped my dad
Had an interesting discussion the other day at a vendor lunch. We talked about how teachers have something ingrained in them that motivates them to want to help other people. Its a feeling of purpose that drives them. Ask most teaches and they will say they always wanted to be a teacher, that is was their calling. This can be both a gift and a curse. Over the years management has determined that they can take advantage of the teachers drive and passion and offer less money than in other professions. Teaches very rarely will walk away if things get bad. They just want to teach. The opposite is true for the white collar worker. Most did not dream of getting into Accounting, or Finance or Information Technology. They kind of found there way there as a means to provide a comfortable living. Ask them and most will say they had other dreams and ambitions. This is bad for management, as a lot of workers have no problem jumping from job to job for whatever gives them a better opportunity. This makes companies have to pay more and offer more to get people to stay.
This leads to the overall theory that you can get away paying less to people who are highly motivated (at a determent to production and moral, as teachers will likely stay at a job, but probably not do their best due to burn out and frustration) but you need to pay more for people who have less passions and really could care less, since if you don’t, they will leave and you will end up in a constant cycle of hiring people and eventually end up with the bottom of the barrel. It was an interesting discussion and one I had not really thought about before.
Survivor has been interesting this season. Started off crazy with all the twists and turns, and immunity idols that were in play. But so far there has been no big pay-off. Was looking forward to some epic tribal councils with people playing Idols and other advantages. But nobody seems to want to break away and make a bold move. Hope we are not left with the last few tribal councils where basically everybody plays an idol, and ends up simply getting rid of people who don’t have an idol or advantage to save them selves. This kind of defeats the purpose of outwitting people and makes it simply outplaying them by finding idols. Maybe a rule that idols are only good for 1 or 2 tribal councils before they expire, or a rule that only 1 or 2 idols / advantages can be played per tribal council would help.
The Mets are off to a 5 – 5 start. Not the best, but not that bad as there are really no NL Teams that are starting off strong. The have 3 home games against the Padres before heading out for a 10 game west coast trip (including games against the dreadful Oakland As). Then home for 3 against the equally dreadful Washington Nationals. If they can go 10 – 6 during this stretch they will be fine
Update on TV shows
Star Trek Picard: – Really Enjoying this season (almost caught up) Rabbit Hole: – Can’t go wrong with Keifer Sutherland CSI: Vegas: – Great to see Greg back. Now we need Nick Stokes The Blacklist: – Sad that the show will be ending. Still very enjoyable The Mandalorian: – On the list to start soon The Accused: – Really good with some interesting and thought provoking topics 9:11 / 9:11 Lone Star: – Catching up on both of these Not Dead Yet: – Makes me laugh – Need some more comedies
Finished reading “The House at the End of the World” by Dean Koontz. Always enjoy his books and this was a good one. Now reading “What’s Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies” by Tim Urban. Check out https://waitbutwhy.com/homepage for info on the book.
Sad to see that actor Lance Reddick passed away. Remember him most for playing Phillip Broyles in Fringe. Was nice to see all the tributes posted on social media about how nice a guy he was. Rest in Peace
Only one week until the MLB season gets underway. The NY Mets took a hit with Edwin Diaz getting hurt celebrating a Puerto Rico win in the World Baseball Classic. But they should still be OK as they have a solid lineup and some veteran relievers who should be able to keep the team afloat.
Had one Fantasy Draft and have another coming up. Have to admit, its getting harder and harder to keep up with all the new players. A lot of times during the draft, I was thinking who is this? or I can’t believe that this guy had these stats. But once the season gets started, and I watch some games (Hoping the I get the MLB Network Free Preview for the 1st week like in the past), I should be able to make some moves to keep my teams at least respectable.
Just saw this video posted on Twitter. I actually remember watching this at a friends house back in 1980. Once of the few SNL performance that has been in my memory for over 40 years
Really enjoying Survivor so far this season. Like some of the new twists they have come up with (Actually like the bird cage idea). Not sure who I’m rooting for (nobody is a real stand out).
I do think that Survivor has missing that stand out player(s) who is memorable after the season ends. I can remember the winners of the early seasons, or players who got voted off early. Not so much in the later years. Not sure what this is (Same thing for American Idol). Not to say the seasons haven’t been great, just nobody has really stuck out to me in a while (Although I will give Gabler from Season 43 credit — He said he was going to give away his winnings to Veterans, and he has done it)
Saw this GIF and made me remember how good a season Boston Rob played
"But it really doesn't even matter what it says because I already have the idol, so…might as well just throw it away… in the volcano! Bye-bye!" @BostonRob#Survivorpic.twitter.com/mGph8uodr4
In September 2016, SiriusXM Launched VOLUME: The First-Ever 24/7 Music Talk Radio Channel – Where Music Is the Conversation. Over the past 7 Volume Chanel 106 has been my go to place for everything music, from discussions on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees / inductees, to reviews of the biggest music shows and concerts, from a space to reflect when high profile artists passed, to top 10 lists of everything music, from great interviews and in-studio performances, to great discussions, and contests. All that started to change a few months back, when shows were moved to a new channel, to a new time, and some of the talent was let go. And on Monday when the rest of the talent was let go and the Volume Experiment came to an end.
It feels like a big part of my routine was pulled out from under my feet. I understand that it was a business decision, but its still a tough pill to swallow. One of SiriusXMs selling points was the variety it offered. Now it seems if its not Howard / Sports / Politics / and music, then its not for SiriusXM Even with that I still like the service, and as a sports fan It does give me things to listen to. And even though the music can be a bit generic and repetitive there are still some good stations
Just seems to be that their is a large audience for what Volume106 offered and it should be able to survive. Going to miss listening to #NikCarter, #LoriMajewski, #MarkGoodman, and #AlanLight along with the countless number of guest DJS that kept me up to date on everything music for the older generation. Maybe that was the problem. The station did skew older (I would guess 40 and up) but these would be the people who are willing to pay for the service. The younger generation can stream music and listen to podcasts multiple ways, an most likely are not taking long periods of time to listen.
The reality is that time marches on, and things change. But that should not mean that we need to complete give up on the way things were. As I mentioned in my last post, everything seems to have become individualized and tightly focused. Gone are the days of everyone listening to, or watching a common program. I remember going to the beach in the summer and hearing all the radios tuned to the same statins (102.7 WNEW, 100.3 Z00, 92.3 KROC playing the top songs of the day. Now everybody has there ear-pods on, and are all in their own little world, listening to there own things.
Maybe someone will give the Volume Radio Experiment another chance at some point (Maybe Audicy or I-Hart Radio). There is an audience out there waiting. Can only wish
Survivor returned on Wednesday for Season 44 with a 2 hour premier. I was looking forward to the return, and it did not disappoint. Being a fan since the beginning (over 22 years), Survivor still keeps my attention and I still find it fascinating to watch and analyze. I also read Dalton Ross’s recap on EW and love how it gives me another perspective on things.
Right off the bat, things were crazy. I cringed when Bruce dove head first under the first obstacle narrowly missing his head. And then before I could even regain my thought, he dove head first under the second obstacle, only this time he wasn’t as lucky, and bashed his head. It hurt me to watch, and I wasn’t surprised when he eventually had to be medically removed. Its interesting to me how the rest of the contestants acted like Bruce was there best friend in the world and how sad they were that he was out of the game. This is one of the things that has always fascinated me and made me want to be on the show to see how I would react. Not to be mean, but would I be sad if somebody had to leave the game early due to injury, or would I be thinking there is now one less person to worry about on my way to the end.
Here are two things stood out to me during the premier (actually three things)
1. It does seem again (similar to the last few seasons), that the contestants are treating this more of a fun adventure than a survival contest for One Million Dollars. They just don’t seem to get that mad or upset when things don’t go there way and it could cost them the game. “I know we lost the challenge, but hey it was fun and we all did really well”. This is really a parallel of society in general. Again, I would love the opportunity to see how an older player like myself would feel and react.
2. I liked the new twists (the locked bird cage and the new prisoners dilemma set up). Really liked how there were different rewards instead of them all being the same. Really makes things interesting. And I liked how the contestants sitting out of the challenge talked to each other to get information (Maybe this happens all the time, but I don’t remember them showing this in the past). As long as the twits do not effect the game in a completely random and unfair way, I’m all for mixing things up (Never liked the Fire Making challenge for the final four introduced in Season 35, or the Do or Die twist in Season 41. They are just to random and basically reward single players for losing a challenge)
3. I am amazed how many haters there are on social media who dislike the introduction of new twists with a passion, and want things to be like the early seasons with now idols / advantages / twists. Or the people who read into everything and act like Survivor is ruining there lives. I shouldn’t be surprised as again this parallels society in general. I do realize by “society in general”, I really mean the small percentage of twitter / Instagram / facebook users who seem to have taken over everything)
I’m looking forward to getting back into the routine of watching Survivor on Wednesday and Daltons recap on Thursday. I also plan on listening to Jeff Probs Survivor Podcast when I get a chance (Hopefully while getting out and going for a walk over the weekend)
Decided to head back to Stable Arena on the Lehigh campus last night for the Lehigh / Lafayette Patriot League Quarter Final game. Did not turn out as I wanted, as the Mountain Hawks took the 1st half off and found themselves in a hole that was to big to climb out of. The did come out and give a great effort in the 2nd half but simply ran out of time to make a full comeback. The season is now over and we will have to wait another year to see if Lehigh can find its way back into the NCAA Tournament for the 1s time since 2012 . It was a fun season (I found out I somehow get ESPN+ and was able to watch a bunch of games this season). Thanks to the Engineers / Brown and White / Mountain Hawks in 2022 – 2023 and looking forward to 2023-2024
TV Shows I’m watching / and ones I need to find time to watch
Star Trek Pickard Season 3 The Mandalorian Season 3 A Million Little Things Final Season CSI: Las Vegas The Accused Shrinking Not Dead Yet The Black List The Last of Us
Spring Training Baseball is in full swing, and the World Baseball Classic starts on Monday, March 6th The MLB season officially opens on Thursday, March 30th. I have two Fantasy Drafts to prepare for and looking forward to having baseball back
And finally, I miss the days of people being in the office on a daily basis. Use to look forward to chatting with people about Sports / Movies / TV and the world in general to help break up the day. Now with most people remote, there is really no commodity between team and co-workers. Chatting on Messenger and Zoom calls is just not the same. Gone are the days of coming into the office and everybody laughing about last nights Seinfeld or other comedy shows, or discussing / complaining in person about the local sports teams (Great game by the Mets last night, Boy were the Giants terrible yesterday). Its just not the same and I find it one of the major downsides of working from home. Throw in social media and you are now getting observations and opinions from strangers (most who just like to bitch and complain about anything). There were always a few of these folks at work, but you learned how to get along and have a civil conversation.
More to come
Average Andy
If you have a Facebook account, give this video by Debbie Gibson a watch. Love here take on the issue of what’s considered right or wrong based on other peoples behavior (if even known)
Was sad to see that Tom Batiuk ended his comic strip Funky Winkerbean after 50 years. I have enjoyed reading Funky Winkerbean for as long as I can remember, a staple of the weekday and weekend comics in the Newark Star Ledger. Loved following the adventures of Funky and his friends, especially Les Moore, who is one of the best comic characters ever created. Thanks for the memories
Funky Winkerbean and Friends
All good things must come to an end
With the Super Bowl ending, its now time to stat thinking about baseball. Pitchers and Catchers report to Spring Training this week, and there will finally be something new to talk about on the sports radio stations.
The past two weeks of Super Bowl talk and hype have been painful to listen to. I actually tuned most of it out and used the time to listen and enjoy some music. It was actually very refreshing. As far as the coverage, I never have cared for the 2 weeks of Super Bowl week coverage leading up to the game (Especially on TV where I never have had any interest). On the radio side, looked like things opened up again after the past years due to the corvid pandemic, and radio stations sent multiple personal to the game. Radio stations should have saved their money — What ended up on the radio was 2 weeks of self promotion and worthless interviews. It was topped off with FOXs over the top coverage (seemed like they had a meeting and said “We need to fill 8 hours of TV with worthless sketched and interviews and puff pieces – Anybody have any ideas?). By the time the game started I had had enough.
I actually enjoyed the game, although it was a bit of a let down having the referee call a tick / tack penalty that basically decided the game. Was it a penalty?, probably. Can the referees call that same thing on most pass plays?, yes. Should they have called that penalty at the end? No. But it is what happened and how Super Bowl 57 will go into the record books.
Did like hearing some classic “Men Without Hats” and “Culture Club” in the Super Bowl Commercials
Tough week for Lehigh Basketball. Couple of tough losses as the season winds down. Hopefully they can beat Navy this week and hold on to the top 4 of the Patriot League and get a home play-off game.
And Seton Hall needs to pick up a few more wins going into the Big East Tournament. Hopefully they have a late season run in them.
Netflix needs to get some better writers. Both “You People” and “Your Place or Mine” wasted some good actors, characters, and ideas, and instead went for the cheap laughs had some of the dumbist dialog I have heard in a long time. And its not just Netflix. The Julia Roberts, George Clooney movie “Ticket to Paradise” was also horrible. No chemistry between characters and idiotic dialog made this a tough watch. I like a good slapstick comedy with over the top stupidity, if that’s what you going for. But it seems the movies I listed don’t really know if they want to be funny or serious, and what audience they are targeting. You expect certain things from certain actors in certain roles, and if your not aware of this, it ends up confusing everybody and falling flat.
Finished the latest Isaac Bell novel “The Sea Wolves”. Thought it was really well done and written and I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to the next one. Switching things up a bit, and reading “The Inner Game of Tennis” by W. Timothy Gallwey. Its a nice change of pace, and hopefully will learn some mindful techniques on tennis and life in general.
Two weeks until Survivor returns for another season. So far I have been good at tuning out anything that would be considered spoilers, and hopefully will be going into this season with no preconceived notions.
I have had a hard time recently getting motivated to update my blog. There were a bunch of stories I wanted to post about, but every time I thought about writing, I would tell my-self, not now, tonight, or not tonight, tomorrow
Finally decided to dive in, so here are a bunch of little things that got my attention over the past few weeks
RIP David Crosby (1941-2023) – While not the biggest Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young fan, I really enjoyed all there music over the years. Great songs with harmonies made them a easy listen. You know they’re good when your 22 year old daughter has some of there songs on her play-lists.
Somehow I came across the video from one of my original crushes, the great Debbie Gibson. Have to admit, I actually cut a hole in my jeans, and drew a smiley face on my knee way back when. Great memories of the 1980s and listing to “Out of the Blue” and “Electric Youth”
Here are some of the Television Shows I have been watching the past few weeks
Jack Ryan (Season 3) (Amazon) – Really liked this season
CSI: Las Vegas (Season 2) (CBS) – Glad they brought the show back and hoping is back for another season
Shrinking (Season 1) (Apple TV) – Always been a fan of Jason Segal, and when you through in the great Harrison Ford it makes for a good show.
The Expanse (Season 1) (Amazon) – I know I’m late to the party, but have heard its a really good show, so going to give it a try
Accused (Season 1) (FOX) – One of my favorite new shows. The 1st three episodes have been some great television. Hope they can keep it up. Highly recomended
The Last of Us (Season 1) (HBO) – Really enjoying it so far. Never saw / played the video game, so going in blind, but like the style and how things interconnect. Also interesting to see Pedro Pascal out of his Mandalorian costume.
In other news, Survivor returns on Wednesday, March 1st, (Season 44) and they have released the list of new contestants. I have not looked at the list, and am doing my best to not read / see / hear anything about the cast. Call me old school, but I like to find things out by watching the episodes as they are released. Not interested on any kind of info or spoilers.
It is a bit sad, how Survivor and other reality shows has become such a media driven operation. When Survivor aired its 1st season in 2000, it didn’t feel like the any of the contestants were doing the show for any other reason then it sounded like a cool thing to do. As the seasons progressed, and Survivor became more popular, there were some contestants who felt like they were trying to use the platform to promote there career as a reality TV personality. Then as other types of reality shows started to air, there were places for want-to-be celebrities’ to go, and Survivor settled into a nice little niche of a sophisticated and serious show and players again started playing the game for the experience and not as a launching pad. This lasted a good 15 years. But now things have started to swing back to the dark times although not so much as the contestants, but by the production and outsiders who seem to think that the way to get more viewers is to make sure the show and contestants are pushed to social media, and heavily promoted. If your a Tic-Toc or YouTube star, come on in.
The funny thing is that this has been tried before and never seemed to generate the results expected. Form adding hashtags to the players kyrons, to having Jeff Probst read users Tweets during the reunion shows, it seemed to me to have more of a negative effect. The true fans just want to watch the show and be entertained regardless of who the contestants are or want to be
Also, it is getting a bit annoying seeing past contestants of the CBS Big Three (Survivor, Amazing Race / Big Brother) out there campaigning and promoting themselves to return to the show they were on, or one of the others. While I did enjoy seeing some of the contestants come back for multiple seasons of Survivor, or go on The Amazing Race, those contestants had the charisma and likeability that made them fan favorites. Most of the contestants are just average, and somewhat forgettable. There is nothing wrong with that, and in fact its a good thing that allows the show to move forward and evolve instead of hanging on to the past.
I will continue to apply to both Survivor (as my self) and the Amazing Race (Along with both my sister and my daughter who would bot make excellent team mates) until I hear back. As the top of my blog states ” Because the world (and certain Reality Shows) need an average guy”
Thanks for reading and listening to me rant a bit. Will be back soon with a more positive view of things
AverageAndy 