Moving right along

"Bear left."

"right frog."

There is something to be said about chemistry. The chemistry that existed between Frank Oz and the late Jim Henson when they were manipulating and performing as Fozzy Bear and Kermit the Frog is something that comes along every once in awhile. The scenes from The Muppet Movie in the car when it's just them is some of the funniest ever put up on a movie screen.

I'm big on inspiration. Maybe even bigger on "psyching up". I like the way a movie or a piece of music can just change your mood instantly. It doesn't matter where you are or who's around....if a piece of music comes on you get that jolt through your body like you just got hit by lightning.

A few pieces of music do that for me:

August 7th, 2004. I'm getting in the car to drive over to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. It's my last time that I'll have by myself before I am overtaken by the madness that is a groom's wedding day. I fire up PR2K (ProfRocket 2000) and slip in Exit...Stage Left, the first Rush CD I ever bought. For the 4:50 second trip over to the hotel I rocked out to "The Spirit of Radio". I'm telling you, I felt immortal for those sublime minutes.

Another song that does it for me is Led Zeppelin's "Achilles' Last Stand". It's on their lesser known Presence album but believe me, nothing kicks ass like that song. At 10:50 seconds the song is just long enough to get me from my old house on Prospect St. in Nanuet to Sport-O-Rama in Monsey. 10:50 to get psyched up for each and every home game for St. Joseph Regional High School (the Montreal Canadiens of high school hockey). Two nights ago I put in on just to see if it still did it. Sure enough, the time machine was activated as soon as the first note hit my ears. I even lost it in the car when John Bonham hit that sick drum/cymbal combo in the middle of the second verse. Like clockwork and a drink from the Fountain of Youth I was 17 again, driving to the rink, feeling unbeatable.

I dunno what the point of this is. It could be that I got a 40 GB iPod as a present to myself for landing this great job. Every CD I own is now stored on a device the size of a deck of cards....the only thing I can muster when I try to fathom that is a dorky, teenage, "oooooooooooooo!" Like those toys that live in the crane game in Toy Story.

Later people, stay warm and don't forget what I said.


-Good Day