What is On Jeffs' Mind

My friend Rick has started a new podcast. The podcast is called Take Him With You, and it is spiritual podcast, but not religious. The first few podcasts, Rick has talked about himself, and some of his experiences growing up. Rick approaches the spirituality in an interesting fashion, and not as traditional as others would. He mixes it in with other topics and show you can be spiritual and still enjoy other things. Rick has also covered on his podcasts the past few weeks, some cool subjects such as The new Battlestar Galactica, LOST and 80′s Heavy Metal. All things I really enjoy.

I am really enjoying Ricks delivery, he has a great perspective on things. It has made me start to think about some of my past, and how it related to God. When I was in Grade 7 and 8, I went to a Catholic Boarding school, that was run by a group called the Salesians. The Salesians were founded my a person named Saint John Bosco, and their mandate in a sense is to look after children and young people. The Fathers and Brothers that ran the school I went to were from California originally, and I thought a lot of them were really cool. Even though it was hard at that age to be away from my family and friends, I did have a lot of good memories as well. The Brothers were young men in their early to mid twenties, so they related very well to us students. For a Catholic Boarding school, they seemed very easy going, as that was where I was fist introduced to Heavy Metal. In the evening after supper and before Study Hall, we would sit in the gym and we would listen to each others tapes of music on our Ghetto Blasters (That’s what we called Portable Stereos back in the early 80′s). We would play things like AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Def Leppard, and it was a lot of fun. Sometimes if we were lucky, we would convince the Brothers to strum some AC/DC on their guitars, and they were cool about that, well sometimes . Also we would do other cool things, like on Friday nights we would have movie nights, and we would watch on a big projection screen that was donated to the school. That was the first time I saw Star Wars outside of the movie theatre. I remember we were all so excited the days leading up, as the Priests were able to rent a copy of Star Wars on some player that predated laser disc. We watched in the cafeteria, and it was full with everyone in the school there. I also recall seeing some other cools movies, like the first Star Trek movie and Clash of the Titans as well. Probably my favorite day besides Christmas was Saint John Bosco day, as we would get out of class early, and there would be lots of good food and fun things to do. We also did cool things like built things in a big work shop, that a bunch of cool tools such as a drill press and a lathe.

When I was at the school, I also started going to mass regularly, as we would have it each day at lunch. It was optional, but I wanted to go, and I got so interested that I became an Alter Boy as well. I found I was really interested in God and religion mostly because the Fathers and Brothers were so great about it. A few years later when I left the Boarding school, I went to a christian school for a year. I am not sure what their faith was, but to me it felt very strict. I sort of tuned out at that time, as all the things I had experienced in boarding school, was the exact opposite at this school. Things like Heavy Metal was outlawed, and we were taught if you did not live you life by a strict set of guidelines, you were essentially a sinner. To me what ever message they were trying to deliver about god was lost of me, due to the fashion and the environment they setup. I was only at the school for one year, and I was very happy to leave after that. To me, whatever message those people were delivering, was not getting across, as a lot of the students, such as myself just tuned them out, and would end up doing the opposite of what they taught. The daily religion classes were just one disruption to the next by us students. Many times the principal would lecture the whole school on taking it serious, but we just never did.

So basically to sum it up. Rick has done a great podcast, he delivers his message in a very current, fun and non judgemental fashion. Even if you are not overly spiritual, you still would get some great things out of his podcast as he has some good thoughts on just living a great life.

Here is a cool YouTube Video from Ricks last Podcast, he plays his guitar, and some cool Heavy Metal riffs from back in the day. It certainly sparked my interest to dust off some of the old stuff and give it a listen again.

For Christmas I received some CD’s Saint of Los Angeles by Motley Crue, Black Ice by AC/DC and Chinese Democracy by Guns n Roses . I finally got around to listening to them over the weekend. I had burned them to my iPod, so I will give some quick reviews, as I have only really listened to them a few times each.  I thought it would interesting to review them based off of my first impressions.

The first one I will review is Saints of Los Angeles by Motley Crue. This is my favorite out of the 3 I got for Christmas. It had been out for awhile, and I was always interested to get it, as I have listened to Motley Crue for a long long time. It is one of my Guilty pleasure I have to admit when listening to music. I found this CD interesting in that it is sort of a concept album. Most of it is about Los Angeles, and a lot dealing with Motley Crues’ start in the music business. The songs seem to have a lot of energy to them, but I did find a lot of foul words in the lyrics. That might be an odd thing to say, but I have found historically, Motley Crue never had a lot of swear words in their music, but this CD has a lot, which I thought was strange. Some songs were pretty good and found myself humming along, and there was not really many slow ones. I thought it was pretty good, but I would probably only rate it above the one which did not have Vince Neil in the band. What this CD needs is more Cow Bell, like Too Fast for Love

The next CD I will review is the new one from AC/DC called Black Ice. I have heard a few songs on the Radio, like Rock n Roll Train and Big Jack. The songs are pretty short, and a there is a lot of them.  It sounds a lot like AC/DC, and they never really stray to far from their format. I found that this CD did not rock enough for me, sure the songs were fairly fast paced, but I did not find it to be very hard. The guitars sounded more rock and roll sounding, or blues, more so then hard rock. I sort of wished they would have cranked them up a bit more, as they did not sound powerful enough for me. This is probably a great Rock and Roll album, but not as much Hard Rock. Makes me want to listen to Fly on the Wall, my favorite AC/DC album.

The Gun N Roses CD I liked the least, and by a lot. To be honest, for over 10 years in the making, it sucks. There were a few songs like Chinese Democracy or Better that I felt were ok, but the rest were weak. This CD at times to me felt like a very below average 70′s band, as it had a real bland vibe to me, and the 70′s was the only era I could really picture this in. Guns N Roses from the Appetite for Destruction days is long gone, even he Use your Illusion CD’s. When I first started listening to it, I said to myself, would be nice if Axl Rose sang a bit about his personal struggles, as it might be interesting, boy was I wrong, it seemed after the first few songs, the rest felt like songs about relationships or personal issues. This CD just felt very self absorbed on Axl Roses part, and just plain got tired of listening to song after song about pretty much the same things. The songs were just to slow for me, and I felt that it would be over produced, and it certainly was, just to much in them. It comes off as an Album of attempts of redoing November Rain, and never gets any higher then that to me. This is CD is sinking on the charts, and I think because it is so weak, besides name Guns N Roses is truly finished.

The past few weeks have started to get cold here in Northern Alberta, the weather has been hovering around the 0 mark. Last week there was a bit of wind, which is never really fun. We have had a bit of snow, but really a dusting and it has not stayed around very long. I prepared a few weeks ago by getting snow tires for our Mazda 3,  but haven’t gotten to test them out yet. I guess I should be enjoying this rather nice fall, as I am pretty sure once the snow comes, it will be staying around for good, and by the time Mid January, I will be wishing for the temperatures we are having right now.

Tao tao and I travelled to Calgary over the weekend. On Friday night, there was a Surprise birthday party for my Uncle. He is turning 70 in December, but they wanted to have it early as to surprise him. From the look of it, he was very surprised. There was a lot of people at the reception, probably around 200, and plenty of food to eat as well. I suspect if I get to 70, they would have a tough time finding 20 people who want to come to mine, so it is a realy testament to how many people my Uncle has encountered in his life, and the positive impact he has had on them.

On Saturday, Tao tao and I went for Dim Sum with Jason at the Silver Dragon Dim Sum restaurant in Calgary. It was pretty good, and always nice to try different Dim Sum restaurants, as they always have something a little different. We had a few different variations on siu mai, which is alright as that is always a favorite of mine. We had a good visit, and caught up on things, and talked a bit about our next podcast for champodcast. Jason and I are both down about IndyCar, and the whole merge from earlier in the year, we both have the same mindset, that maybe we don’t care about the series anymore, as it seems stagnant.

After Dim Sum, we walked around Calgary’s China town for a little bit, as Tao tao wanted to buy some things from the Chinese Bakery, Unfortunately, it looked like the bakery she wanted to go to had shut down. Jason left to head to work for a few hours, and Tao tao and I headed over the the Pacific Place mall, so she could get some DVD’s. It is Chinese Mall, and Tao tao always likes to go when she is in Calgary. I find it tough mall to get to, as it is always very busy around there, and always takes time to get out of the parking lot after. After she was finished shopping, we headed back home to St. Albert. Tao tao wanted to practice driving on the Highway, so once we go to Red Deer, she took over. The drive home was a lot nicer then going, as less traffic. When we went down on Friday night, it was bumper to bumper the whole way down. It was not much fun, as either you are trying not to run into people driving under the speed limit, or you are trying to keep out of the was of people going over it by a lot.

Earlier in the week, I got a new Christmas CD from my Friend Rick. He had recorded a Star Trek Themed Christmas CD, and did a great job of it. He has a great talent and a creative mind, and penned some awesone lyrics. Probably what impresses me the most, is the Star Trek detail he put into the CD, Rick knows Star Trek very well, and the lyrics he has written show it. This is a really fun CD to listen to, and I am looking forward to making fun Christmas mix on my iPod, with my other favorite Christmas CD’s such as Christmas in the Stars and the Twisted Sister Christmas CD. To check out Ricks Christmas cd, go here.

Two more weeks until my December Holiday, I am looking forward a lot to it, as I really need a break to sort of recharge, and find the fun in life gain.

Last Friday Paul and I went to see Iron Maiden, and I was blown away. It had been many years since the last time I had saw them, but I think this was the best I had ever seen them. Rexall place was jammed with fans of all ages, and you could feel a real buzz in the air.  When we first got to Rexall Place, I wanted to get a tour shirt, we had to wait about 40 minutes, as it was lined up for tour merchandise. Steve Harris daughter opened the show, her music was alright, and she had a lot of energy, but everyone was there to see Maiden. I was so pumped when Maiden hit the stage finally, they started off with Aces High and then Into 2 Minutes to midnight. I really like Powerslave, so happy to hear those songs again. They played classic after classic, and they had a lot. Like some concerts where people duck out for beer or a smoke or bathroom when a slow number comes up, or something new, no chances here. The guy beside me left for a bit, but at the wrong time, as the highlight of the night for me was Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. It is a long song, and it was the first time I ever heard it live. The production values for this concert were top rate, with a beautifully designed stage, and some great banners in the back. Near the end of the Show Eddie made his appearance, first a large one from behind the stage during the song Iron Maiden, then later wandering onto the stage during the encore for The Clairvoyant. This was strictly classics this time around, so none of the new stuff, I would have liked to hear Paschendale, but that is so very minor really as every song they played was solid and a classic. This was one of the best concerts if not best concert I have ever gone to. Up the Irons.

Not much happening lately for me. On Wednesday, Paul and I went to see rush at Rexall Place. It was a pretty good concert, really long, and there were a lot of songs that I did not really recognize, such as some of their newer songs. I was happy that they played Subdivisions, as that is my favorite Rush song.

Today I had the exciting day of cleaning my house, as it had gotten quite dirty. A few weeks back I had bought a new vacuum cleaner, and I could really tell a difference over the old one. I filled up the canister a few times with a lots of dirt I got off the floor. Wow, I must be getting old, or boring if my blog has come to me talking about a Vacuum cleaner.

Will try and post every few days some shorter Blogs like this, but still write some longer ones as well

On Sunday night, my brother Paul and I went to see Van Halen. This was my first concert in well over 10 years, the last band I had seen, was Van Halen, with Sammy Hagar. I was excited to go as I had never seen Van Halen with David Lee Roth. I must say that this concert was awesome, and all the songs were real Vintage Van Halen, nothing past the 1984 album. For the most part, I knew all the songs, though a few that I could not pick up on. I had listened to them a lot growing up, though a few I had not heard in probably over 15 years as I only had the records on Tape. To hear a song like Somebody get me a doctor or Mean Streets really brings back some memories. Van Halen seemed to be really on it, they played well together, and had a lot of energy for such an old band. Eddies son Wolfgang did a great job as well. I am happy that I went to the concert, had a great time, and really got into singing along to all the classic songs they had, and they played a lot.