Well, you’d never know it, but Red Embers is still together. Life, jobs and whatever else often gets in the way. Don’t know when we’ll play again. We’re still working on new material, and I’m working on getting our stuff on iTunes.
Meanwhile, on the 8th day, God created solo careers 
There’s an alumni open mic at University of Hartford’s homecoming weekend. Stay tuned!
Back in high school, I took a lot of crap for being a Bob Dylan fan. Back then everybody was into Milli Vanilli and C&C Music Factory while I was listening to The Beatles, The Black Crowes and plenty of Dylan. Classmates made fun of his voice (you know the characature people always use). Unintelligible lyrics, the wheezy voice. Back in the late 80’s / early 90’s, even I couldn’t have seen the remarkable comeback Bob would make.
After 1990’s Under the Red Sky which was…not Dylan’s best work, Bob launched his Never Ending Tour (which continues to this day). After years of gradually improving his live performances, Bob went into the studio again to record a new record. Before it came out, we nearly lost Bob. In 1997, Bob was hospitalized with a heart infection. The news outlets went nuts and started writing his obit there and then. A few months later, Time Out of Mind was released, debuting at #10 on Billboard (his highest debut at the time) to unanimous critical praise. The album went on to win 3 Grammys, including the coveted Album of the Year. Take that Babyface!
But Bob wasn’t done. In 2001, Bob won an academy award for best song from a film (for you homegamers, the song was “Things Have Changed” from the crap film “Wonder Boys”).
But Bob still wasn’t done. On September 11, 2001 he released an even better album “Love and Theft”. The album was as good as the timing was bad. Love and Theft debuted at #5 on Billboard , his highest debut at the time. More unanimous critical praise. Another Grammy award for the trophy case.
But Bob STILL wasn’t done. This August 29, he released his third masterpiece in a row: “Modern Times”. By this time, it was clear that Bob was BACK, and just as popular as he was in the `60’s making great music, selling out arenas, winning Grammys and enjoying tremendous critical praise. With an iTunes commercial to promote the album and a free single download cupon given out at concerts, everyone was primed for Bob’s new album. Modern Times debuted at #1 on Billboad. Bob Dylan has the number one album in the country. Not #1 on the “blues” or “modern rock” or “catalog” or “folk” or any other qualifiers. This is the top 200, baby. THE #1 album in America. I swear I never thought I see the day. It almost sounds like a foreign thought. Like when the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl. Takes awhile to sink in.
You know what they say about the one who laughs last. Allow me to just say BWAA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!
Wonder if my classmates are still listening to C&C Music Factory and Milli Vanilli? Almost makes we want to go to a high school reunion to find out…..almost
Hey everybody!!
Yes. I’m still here. Haven’t had much time to post. Partly because I started a new job a few weeks ago. Partly because I’m despondant because no one reads this thing. 
So I’m sure everyone is wondering, how did the marathong go? Well, I finished, but that’s about it. Elapsed time was 2:41:38. Not too bad. Certainly not great for my age, though. But heck. I wasn’t running to win, I was running to finish; and I did.
The only thing that sucks is that my brother beat me by about 5 1/2 minutes, even though he registered after I did and trained less. Oh well, he was always the athletic one.
Here’s a picture of me crossing the finish line doing a little Chuck Berry duck walk (hey, it IS the Rock N Roll Half marathon after all!). Yes. I know. I look silly. I looked better in my mind than I did in reality, especially after running 13.1 miles!
Cue the Rocky theme…
