SAXOMAN RUNS A MARATHON……IN SPAIN - WHAT?

Yes, you read right. SAXOMAN ran a marathon! Now when SAXOMAN was on his recent vacation in Spain he also ran a marathon in the city of San Sebastian. Yep, I kid you not. SAXO is becoming quite the athlete lately. Now technically they don't do a full marathon in this race so it was a half marathon which is 13.1 miles (only). Now it was a cold, windy day with a chance of showers. With about 28,000 runners this was one big race. As SAXOMAN took off the showers started coming down. Instead of the people groaning and complaining they raised their arms and cheered. Now luckily the rain didn't last too long and it was a little sporadic after that. This race also had many hills as well so that made it a little harder but SAXO persevered. Now at one point I asked the person next to us if the ambulance behind me wanted to pass, no they always do that for the runners in last he said. What? I'm in last? I decide to start picking up the pace and slowly passed the many runners that started out too fast. HAHA! Eat my dust chumps! Now one thing about this race was that the whole town comes out to cheer you on, bad weather and all. With your name on your bib with your number the crowd cheered your name as you ran by. "Come on SAXOMAN, you can do it! Keep going, you're doing great!" were some of the many cheers I heard as I ran by and tipped my lucky Dodger hat to the appreciative crowd. Their enthusiasm really help to keep me going. Several people set up vans along the route and blasted music. Hmmm….there's a guy dressed like a pirate and waving a big pirate flag. Ok…. Now as I neared the finish (or so I thought at the time) the theme of Rocky was blasting. Now being a huge fan of all the Rocky movies this really pumped me up and drove me harder as I neared the finish line. I crossed the finish line to a cheering crowd with a respectable time for a first time marathon runner. What's up next for SAXOMAN? Many more adventures to come so stay tuned!

SAXOMAN - THE TRAVELING MAN (PART 2)

Yes my many readers, as promised SAXOMAN once again took off for another well deserved vacation (What? Again?) Yep this time SAXOMAN and the wife took off for a brief 10 day trip to Spain. Now I must say that I sampled as many as the different foods and wines as I could and had a great time doing it. Soaking in all of the local sites SAXOMAN was thoroughly impressed with the overall experience of Spain. Now this impressive photo that I took is of the well known Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Designed by Frank Gehry you can see the distinct style as well as the similarities to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown Los Angeles which was also designed by Mr. Gehry. A great trip with many adventures and photos to come. Now just so you know this is only Part 2 of the Traveling Man because SAXOMAN is off on another adventure in late December! What? Is SAXOMAN rich or something? Does he have a full time job? What's going on? No, SAXO is not rich and holds down a full time job like the majority of the world. Stay tuned for more exotic adventures in the life of SAXOMAN…..

GLASSES - IS IT TIME?

Now maybe I have been putting this off for a while. Who knows? All i know is that small type is no longer as easy to read as it once was in my younger days. I find liner notes on cd's to be really tough on the eyes unless it is bathed in light. Now maybe I'm just vain or what but I think for the most part my eyes are still in pretty decent shape. Maybe I can hold out a little longer? Maybe…. Now what if I get glasses? Will people call me Einstein or Braniac or even worse four eyes? Will people assume I know the square root of an isosceles triangle because I'm wearing glasses? Hmmm…..will my boss think I'm now more intelligent? HAHA! Who knows. All i can say is stay tuned to see what happens in the life of SAXOMAN.

DONE BEING THE DJ

Yes you heard right SAXOMAN is done being the DJ. That's it, no more! I am done! Now there's nothing that happened recently that made me come to this decision but is just something I've been thinking about for a while. Now I must admit that I used to take great joy in creating the music mix for one of my many parties. I would painstakingly pick out music for my "pre-party mix", meaning something lively as people are coming in and saying hello to everyone. This would go on for a few hours and then I would kick it into high gear with my "party mix" which would last for several hours and get people up and dancing. You had to balance it out - for example you couldn't put two merengue songs side by side as people would be exhausted so you had to mix it up a bit. I would then slow it down as people are leaving and have my post-party mix when people could unwind from the party and just relax and talk. So what's the problem? Well no matter what I would play someone would always come up and ask me to play something else. Can you play something a little faster? a little more danceable? A little slower? a little louder? etc…etc…. Huh? Now I would never think of asking someone to change the music at one of their parties but I guess some people have no problem doing this. So these requests completely disrupt the flow of what I had put together music wise and is really irritating. So no more……I'm done. If you're over my house I'll just play whatever I want and no requests (sorry) and don't ask me to provide music for your party because I will politely decline (sorry). You are on your own so good luck with your limited music collections. OUT...

WINO PARK - HUH?

Well since I recently blogged about Jim the Wino it also got me to thinking about the park known as Wino Park. Located in Pasadena, CA the official name of this park is Central Park but to me and my friends, it will always be known as Wino Park to us. Now I'm not sure how it originally got it's name but that's just what everyone called this park. I didn't even know until many years later that this park had an official name. You mean it's not called Wino Park I wondered? I remember many late nights as my friends and I would cruise by this park late at night on our way somewhere you could always see guys lying under the trees passed out. Now I guess as a kid I didn't realize that maybe the people there were homeless. My assumption was that they were all winos and were just passed out from too much Thunderbird, Red Mountain or Mad Dog wine. I dunno….Now one thing I notice as I sometimes cruise past this park for an early Saturday run is that there are still people sleeping under the trees. Oh well, Wino Park lives on!

LUBRICATING JELLY - UH OH……..

Now the other day I had a doctors appointment. As I was patiently waiting in the room I noticed a tube of lubricating jelly. Oh oh…..I thought. Being the clever guy that I am I immediately took a photo of this tube. I mean how could I not right? Now I knew (hoped?) that this tube of jelly wasn't for me cuz that could only mean big trouble. No, I am happy to say that this tube was probably for the person before me. Oh well……better him than me. HAHA!

REGGAE CD PICK OF THE WEEK - DENNIS BROWN

This weeks long overdue Reggae CD Pick of the Week is my man Dennis Brown with the cd titled Visions. Recorded way back in 1976 this shows a young Dennis as he start to come into his own as one of the premiere reggae singers. Known as the Crown Prince of Reggae, Dennis is one of my favorite reggae singers and I have not gone wrong with any of the Dennis cd's that I have purchased. This was a recent addition to the SAXOMAN library and has gotten plenty of play in my car during my daily commute. Not hip to Dennis? Here's a song from this cd titled Stay at Home. Check it out and hip up!

DVD PICK OF THE WEEK - YOUNG DETECTIVE DEE

It's been a pretty slow period for some decent Asian cinema lately. I've seen some really dopey movies such as Andy Lau as a secret agent and a Japanese dog movie that didn't have English sub-titles. Oh well…..Anyway, with that being said my coveted DVD Pick of the Week is Young Detective Dee - Rise of the Sea Dragon. Now this is by no means a great movie and it was a little ridiculous in some parts. This was still a movie that I was thoroughly entertained by. This movie was even in 3D (hmmm….that's why it was a little blurry) and featured extensive CG effects. Hey, I even made the wife watch this with me. HAHA! Here's the trailer for this fine piece of cinema. Check it out!

TRICK OR TREAT - CLUNK!

Sometimes as I'm sitting in traffic my mind will start to wander and think about all kinds of things. Now as Halloween approaches I remembered what it was like to go Trick or Treating as a kid. We would knock on the door anxiously awaiting candy and yell out Trick or Treat! One thing I remember was as we stood there with our pillowcases open waiting for our candy you would then hear CLUNK! What the? What the hell was that? What type of candy goes CLUNK? As we peered into our pillowcases there it was. A big apple! What? Yep, I kid you not. An apple? Now I'm not sure why anyone would give you an apple but I guess they were just trying to give us a healthy alternative. I dunno…..all I know is we just wanted some candy. An apple? Jeez…..gimme a break!

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO…..US3?

So whatever happened to US3? Now I remember about 20 years ago they hit the scene by sampling some good old Bluenote jazz while blending hip-hop and rap. I personally thought it was a good combination that really worked but their first album was really the only album the stuck to this format. For some reason they tried to change their identity after the success of their debut album. Anyway, not hip to US3? Here's one of their first hits titled Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia). Check it out!