Together they started Savory Adventures, which offers people tours of Italy while Debbie is writing cook books, sharing recipes and appearing on local TV shows (all can be found on her site), Barry produces his own web series of videos that are satires of cooking shows. They off set each other perfectly for a match made in heaven.

Going to their home, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I found 2 people that introduced me to their family and friends. After learning how to play spades by fire under the watchful eye of them all, we hit it off and I was told more than once that I was now part of the family and welcome to come over for food, drinks and hijinks whenever I wanted.

At this point in life, being at the crossroads that I am at, it is great to have people like them in my corner. Next time I visit, I would like to hear Barry’s daughter’s (Steph) boyfriend and his band play some songs at one of their gigs and I would also like to play cards again, which I am sure I will forget how to play Spades by then.

Debbie made two great dishes for us, the best was the TIRAMISU FRENCH TOAST she made for breakfast today. What an unusual yet off the charts dish. It was like having dessert for breakfast but better. I am happy to say that she offers the recipe for it on her site: here. I suggest you try it next weekend for someone you love.

Not to be out done, Barry has done a video of his own unique recipe for french toast that you should watch and see how hungry you get from it:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7d8i0tWvt0

Again, I wish to say thankful to my close friends for welcoming me into their home, lives and families. Much love.

Stay Black.

When I started doing “The Experience” podcast, I had one rule and that was to tell people where I was at in life in hopes of them understanding my way of thinking and such. I found that in building relationships with people as friends, fans, family, etc. it was best to have an open dialog built on trust and honesty. With that said, I feel as though I owe (collective) you an update of what the hell is going on.

On July 12th, I went to visit two really great people, Annie and Lennie, out in Grand Junction, CO for a few days. The trip, was paid in full by them, airfare, food, lodging, beer, jerky, etc as part of a prize for a contest that I won on ronfezV3.com. It was a great trip, really. I had never been out there and was taken back by the beauty of the mountains. What I wasn’t prepared for was what happened when I returned home.

Regina and I have been having problems for a while now. Lots of fighting, hostility and hurt feelings. This came from my being out of work for a while. She knows that I am looking for work as hard as I can but there just isn’t much construction work going on and I, like 25% of the country, just can’t catch a break. To back up a bit, the two of us had starting to grow apart since my Grammy passed away June of ’09. I just started to see things differently after that. At the last age of 35 I realized my life’s dream and I want to pursue it and take my chances to see if I can succeed or not. Failing at it will not break my heart but I want to at least try, more on that in another blog. Regina on the other hand wants what most women her age want, steady money coming in, a kid, a nice house maybe, etc. I no longer have that desire. To me that life is dead. So, on the 19th of July she told me that she was leaving. We stayed up late that night and talked, I tried to talk her out of it but in the morning, her mind was still made up.

Over the next two days she packed up what ever she could and I took her and Vegas to her mom’s place. This left me in a bind.

With no job, unemployment and lots of bills, I knew I couldn’t afford the apartment in Bay Ridge and after talking to some friends and family, I came up with a short list of options that all pretty much sucked for one reason or another. My friend Hottub, offered up his basement for as long as I needed. So with that, I packed up my stuff and moved to Bergenfield, NJ for a bit. So now, I spend more time looking for jobs in different areas than before while I get back up on my feet.

I hold no grudges against Regina. Our time together was great. We are on different paths. We simply grew apart and speaking for myself, I fell out of love with her over the last 13 months. Its sad, but it happens, it is all apart of life.

You know it is, it really is

www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3MXiTeH_Pg

Watching last night’s game, you can see the frustration in A-Rod’s face as he stood at the plate each time but the worst for me was in the 8th inning. The Yanks are up 8-5, he is at the plate with no body on and he grounds out to 3rd.

As the opposing pitcher, in that inning, would you give him something to knock out? Not a meatball pitch but maybe a fastball that just didn’t have enough gas in it so that he can send it out? I think that I would. The game wasn’t on the line, yeah 3 runs isn’t a big lead but the top of the 9th was coming up and even if the Jays did rally and came within 1 run, they would have to face Mariano Rivera and he would put the rally to sleep. So, no harm would have come from giving A-Rod the green light.

Other reasons to give him a sweet one is to get it over with: The media is only going to keep talking about him NOT being able to do it more and more, why not let guy have it and so that the story can go away? Also, as the pitcher that he hits it off of, you would be in the mix of the interviews, your name goes in the record books.

All in all, it will happen and in 3 years from now, we will be talking about A-Rod hitting number 700 and 2 years later it will be him passing Bonds for the all time home run record. Say what you want about the guy being a primadonna and over paid or a jerk but he is going into the hall of fame one day and it will be in Yankee pinstripes.

You know he will, he really will.

I wrote back “I would be happy to” not knowing what I was getting myself into. Frank and I would email each other once or twice a week. On one of his stays here in the States, he came on to the show and we interviewed him. Frank would appear on the show 3 times altogether and at our “Night of the Living Bands 2″ event.

Over the few years that we emailed, I only got to meet Chris (the man beneath the head) twice. The first was at the Mercury Lounge for one his gigs. We spoke and drank beer. That was during a hiatus from the show for me. I had been working a lot at the time, I had been working a lot and felt burnt out creatively. Chris told me to just go back to doing it. Take what works, use it, find what didn’t work and lose it. More importantly “if its in your head, do it. Just sit down and do what ever you comes in to your head. You are a good bloke.” I went on to ask him why he contacted me in 2007. He continued “you got passion. A passion for life and passion to entertain. I like people like that.” A few weeks later, we were back doing the Experience, months later, Frank Sidebottom would set the stage on fire (for me anyway) at The Ace of Clubs before a packed house that didn’t know what to make of him, for NIGHT OF THE LIVING BANDS 2. The next night, Frank came on to the show in our apartment and was great. He was laughing, singing, smoking and drinking.

For those of you that never heard of Frank Sidebottom, you missed out. Thankfully, there is youtube and frank’s videos are all over. His “fantastic” cover songs of punk rock are catchy as hell. They will haunt you.

Thank you Chris for being my friend. Thank you for pushing me when I more than needed it. I am sorry you will not be here for our next project, I am sure you would have loved it. Thank you for introducing me to the world of “Radio timperley” and “Sunday’s with Sadie”. Thank you for Frank Sidebottom, you have and will continue to make me laugh. I miss you.

You know I do, I really do.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pZy8VLAz-E

Within the 1st week, I went from applying for 20 jobs a day and by the end of week 2, over 100 a day. Since I am out of work, I am not above applying for jobs that I really do not want but am willing to do. Ideally, I would like to get away from construction management once and for all but I know I will be going back. All I can do is hope for the best.

All of those emails paid off with ONE interview. It is with a construction company. I am not sure what the position is, since when the lady called me to set up the interview, I was too embarrassed to ask and she didn’t offer that information. One tip to people doing that job, say something like “you applied for the vacant DOG HANDLER position with us” just to give the person on the other end some idea of what they are coming into interview for. Do not assume that your job is the only one that the poor bastard on the other end of the line applied for.

So, tomorrow, I will jog, walk the dog and get myself ready. My good suit is cleaned and pressed, my good shirt and my burberry tie hung and my shoes shined. Tomorrow, I will walk into that office like Marion Rivera coming out of the bullpen in the 9th inning of a game 7 of the World Series.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vOr82QepH0

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sxCzS3wju4

What’s it all about? What is it? Where was it? Why did I shove a hot dog in my mouth?

Wait for it……..

Going back to doing my blog on a daily basis. Be ready for it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVyNZzyw9zw

www.youtube.com/watch?v=18eJAtf0Goo