Winter Driveways

 After a fresh snow fall my wife and I enjoy driving around admiring how beautiful everything looks with a fresh blanket of snow on it.  At the same time I am judging my neighbors and everyone else that hasn't taken the time to properly clean their driveways.

  

I take great pride in how my driveway looks clearing out both ends, making sure the banks are pushed back to leave room for the next storm, making sure the edges are just right.  My driveway is like a crescent moon that goes downhill from the top looping around to the bottom, if it's icy it can be dangerous or difficult to get in and out of.  We are fortunate that we get a lot of sun on the driveway, and as it's paved I ensure it's clear of ice so the sun can dry it.

I just don't understand how people drive over the snow, not clear out the ends, or simply not care.  I get it, if you have a dirt driveway you can't scrape it all the way down, but if it's paved you have no excuse.

So I judge.  

The Blair Witch Project - Second Sight Release

In the Summer of 1999 the internet existed, but it wasn't what we have today, not by a long shot.  Most people still were using dial up access, there was no YouTube or Social Media, Ebay was in it's infancy and Amazon was mostly selling books.

I remember seeing ads on TV for something called The Blair Witch Project coming to theaters in July.  I even read about it in magazines like Entertainment Weekly and Fangoria.  Sci-Fi Channel even had a special about the upcoming documentary.  

The movie was billed as being real, it was about 3 college students making a documentary about an urban legend Blair Witch in Maryland in 1994 and they disappeared.  The footage they shot was discovered in the foundations of a structure where it shouldn't have been and what was being released was a compilation of the footage edited together.  The production company even created a website to support their narrative.

There was so much buzz about this movie and so many people believed that it was legit.  To be honest I wasn't sure if it was real or not.  Part of me knew it had to be a work of fiction, but another part of me really wanted to believe that it was real.  Either way I wasn't missing this movie and fully intended to go opening night. 

My wife at the time was not a fan of horror movies, but she even wanted to see this.  We headed to Hoyts Cinema and the line was huge as the turn out was way more than the theater anticipated.  We bought our tickets and the screening very quickly sold out, however the theater decided to show it on a second screen.  

We went to the first theater, where our tickets were for and couldn't find two seats together other than the front row, so we went to the other theater and acquired a couple good seats.  The start of the movie was delayed, which was unusual, and we didn't have to normal trailers before the film either. 

It was delayed so long that the theatre employees brough in concessions to sell at a discounted rate, I have never experienced that before or since at a standard theatre.  The discussion the whole time by my fellow audience members was the validity of the movie, and the vast majority fully believed that it was real.  They were thoroughly convinced.

Finally the movie started everyone was so into the movie.  About 25 minutes into the flick it night time and the they are hearing strange noises  and we get hit with a jump scare and simultaneously the screen jumps and the picture melts away.

The audience started to scream, like legit fear started to scream.  More than one person cried out something about the Blair Witch was coming for us, I think some of them actually meant it too.  People were panicked!  Eventually the house lights came on, we were informed that the projector broke in Theater 1 and once they respooled the film they would restart the movie.  Everyone in theatre 1 was sent home with a voucher.  

This was back when 35mm film was the standard for showing movies, they only had one print of the film so they fed through the projector in Theatre 2 and ran it across the room to the projector in Theatre 1, so when the that projector broke what we saw was a single frame that was stuck in front of the projection bulb too long and melted.  

We eventually finished the movie, it was awesome and the overall experience really enhanced we feelings towards it.  As we were leaving people were still debating if it was real or not.  It was so remarkable because they captured something special when they released this movie and they really were able to work the audience on the validity of the film in a way that simply couldn't be done today.  

The movie also innovated the found footage feature film genre.  It wasn't the first movie to use this style of filming, others like Cannibal Holocaust and 84C MoPic were successful with the format, however The Blair Witch is what really jumpstarted it.   

I've seen the other films, Book of Shadows was just okay, however 2016 Blair Witch I thought was excellent.  In 2024 UK based Second Sight announced a new blu ray release of the film. For the first time the film would be seen as the film makers intended it to be seen.  

When it was originally filmed it was done so on 16mm film and Hi8 Videotapes.  For theatrical release they had to upscale the print which distorted the picture a bit.  When Lionsgate released it on home video they took the 35mm print and scaled it down for the home video release further degrading to film.

The only catch is Second Sight is only releasing it in Region B, where as North America is Region A, so unless you have a region free player or Region B player you can't watch this.  I have a Region free player, so I ordered it.  I must say this new cut of film does have a different feel to it, and looks great.  Much of the clearer shots makes the film spookier at times.

It's also LOADED with special features, deleted scenes, alternate takes, the documentary special that aired before the movies release and more.  If you have  chance to check it out, it's worth it. 

To be fair, it's not the greatest movie in the world, but I have a lot of fond memories from it's release. 

Until Next Time!

My Twilight Zone Watch Through

The Twilight Zone is one of my all time favorite shows, one I've enjoyed since I was a kid. Watching the New Years Eve / Day Marathon became a tradition that I looked forward to.

Christmas 2023 my mom got me the blu ray release of The Twilight Zone 1959 - 1964 series and the DVD release of the 2019 - 2020 series.  I used Christmas money to pick up the 1985 - 1989 and the 2002 - 2003 series, Twilight Zone the Movie and Rod Serling's Lost Classics.  Lost classic's came out in 1994 as a TV movie of the week, it featured two unproduced scripts written by Rod Serling that were discovered by his wife Caroline in a trunk in the garage.

Christmas Day 2023 I started watching Season 1 from the original series and on January 5, 2025 I watched the final episode of Season 2 from the Jordan Peele 2019 series.

The original series ran for 5 seasons from 1959 to 1964.  I enjoyed season 1, 2, 3, & 5 immensely.  While I didn't love every episode, it was very few that I didn't.  The episodes hold up so well and except for the few filmed on video tape, because they were filmed on film they still look great!  

These seasons were half hour episodes, where as Season 4 were hour long episodes.  They didn't have a sponsor at the what would have been the start of the 4th season, so it ended up being a midseason replacement and needed to fill and hour of TV time.  The episodes were just not as good, didn't flow well, and was a struggle to get through.  I don't think I've ever seen a season 4 episode until this watch through. If I were to watch the series again, I would skip season 4 and not feel guilty.  

Chronologically next up was Twilight Zone: The Movie released on my 4th birthday, June 24, 1983.  A tremendous cast and crew that featured a prologue and 4 segments of which 3 segments that were remakes of episodes Kick The Can", "It's a Good Life", and "Nightmare at 20,000 feet".  

The movie is infamous for the helicopter accident that claimed the life of actor Vic Morrow and children Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen.

Next up was the 1985 revival series, which ran for 3 seasons, the first two on CBS and the 3rd in syndication.  Much like the original run the cast of these episodes was made up of young up and coming actors and seasoned veterans.  The First episode was directed by Wes Craven and the first segment starred Bruce Willis.  The first two seasons were hour long episodes consisting of 1 to 3 different stories per episode.  Some of these were good and other really dragged.  I had a rough go getting through these seasons, much like Season 4 of the original run. 

Season 3, was tremendously better!  This was the season in syndication and featured 30 half hour episodes that were concise like the original series.  The best episode of this entire revival is "The Cold Equations" based on the Tom Godwin short story that came out in 1954.  The ending is so dark, and I would have loved to see Serling do this in the original series. 

The downside to all of the seasons is the cheesy 1980's special effects.  I would re-watch the 3rd season, but would most likely pass on the first two.  This revival features the remake of 4 original series episodes "Night of the Meek", "Shadow Play", "The After Hours", and "A Game of Pool".

In 1994 CBS released Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classic, a made for television film featuring two stories Rod Serling had written that his wife found in a trunk in the garage.  James Earl Jones appeared on screen as the narrator and did the voice over for the segments.

The television network UPN hosted the next version of the Twilight Zone in 2002 with 43 half hour episodes featuring Forest Whitaker as the narrator and on screen host.  Once again the cast of this series was comprised of young up and coming actors and veterans.  They remade original episodes "Eye of the Beholder" and "The Monsters Are on Maple Street".

We were treated with a sequel of original episode "It's A Good Life" entitled "It's Still A Good Life" with Bill Mumy reprising his role of Anthony and Cloris Leachman returning has his mother.  I enjoyed this single season thoroughly and watched it rather quickly. 

It would be a decade and a half before we the Twilight Zone returned for the most recent revival to date in 2019 for two, 10 episode seasons.  The series was developed by Jordan Peele who also served in the Serling role of The Narrator both on scene and in voiceovers.

This series aired on the CBS All Access steaming network, later rebranded as Paramount+.  This series was more adult orientated, episodes were rated TV-MA, with swearing, sexual content, and adult themes.  The episode "Nightmare at 30,000 Feet" was an update of the original series "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet".  These episodes varied from 36 to 53 minutes in length, and unlike previous versions that went beyond the half hour format these episodes did not drag and I watch through them rather quickly.

If I were to rank the series as a whole here it goes:

1959 Series Seasons 1, 2, 3, & 5

2002 Series

2019 Series

1985 Series Season 3

Twilight Zone The Movie

Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics

1959 Series Season 4 & 1985 Season 1 & 2

Through the year I picked up a couple more series that I want to watch, The Night Gallery, Tales From The Darkside, & Friday The 13th The Series.  I'm not sure what I want to watch next, but I am drawn to The Night Gallery to watch more Rod Serling. Thanks for reading.

In the summer of 2025 we went to Binghamton, New York and we saw Rod Serling's home town and everything there that celebrates him.

Rod Serling's Binghamton

Until Next Time!

Update

Time of Day Greeting!

Back in January 2025 I stopped posting here and started a blog at bearblog and began posting Random Thoughts & Pondering over there.

I'm shutting that blog down and I'm going to repost some of the posts from that site over here. 

Enjoy

Concert: The Heavy Heavy September 28, 2024

For the second time this year and and the 3rd time in 14 months Katie and I saw The Heavy Heavy live in concert. You can read about the other two times here:

The Heavy Heavy: July 27, 2023 Albany, New York

Boston Calling Day 3: May 26, 2024

For the first time we are seeing them in Maine, and the show was at the Portland House of Music.  This is the smallest venue that we have seen them at, however it was packed shoulder to shoulder with people.  

We got there when doors opened at 7pm, and just hung around until Fonteyn went on at 8:15pm.  At one point Kate commented that she sounded like Olivia Newton John and from that point on that was all I heard.  Near the end of her set she did a cover of Todd Rundgren's "I Saw The Light" stating he was an inspiration, and it was clear that he was.  We both really enjoyed them. 

It didn't take long for them to remove Fonteyn's equipment to get ready for The Heavy Heavy.  The hit the stage at 9:30pm and by then the crowd had really packed in.  After a few songs we moved towards the back because the quarters were a bit too tight for my liking.  The venue is small enough that you have a great view from anywhere and they just sound so awesome.

I love this new album, every song on it with "Feel" and "Wild Emotions" being my favorite 2 songs on the album.  They announced the new album a few months ago, I immediately pre-ordered a signed vinyl from their website and bought it digitally from Amazon music.  That day or the next day they announced the tour and I was pumped to see a Portland, Maine show and immediately bought tickets on the presale.

In the months leading to the show they released a few songs I loved each one.  The week before the albums September 6 release they did listen parties on Bandcamp and YouTube and I listened to both excited to hear all the songs and asked questions in the live chat.

Sometimes you go to a concert and you get disappointed that the band doesn't play your favorite song.  This was not the case.  "Feel" was every bit amazing live as I thought it would be.  I just love the guitar riff and told Will and Georgie that at the merch table.  Will told me they recorded that in one take, which is wild!  He may have meant just the guitar part, but I took it as the song.

Frank, who plays guitar, was breaking down the stage so I went and chatted with him.  Also saying how much I love that song and the guitar riff.  He thanked me and said they have only played it live a couple times and he's still getting the timing down on it and wasn't vey happy with it tonight.  I told him I know nothing about playing guitars, but I thought it sounded amazing and I loved it. 

I had brought my Life and Life Only first printing album to get signed, which they graciously did.  I also bought the tour poster and bought one of the cool felt pennants they had made up.

What I love about this band, aside from the amazing music, is every interaction I've had in person or online has been positive.  They seem to really appreciate their fans and even more so the music they are sharing with us.  

On my office wall at work I have a cool display going on.  I have all three albums signed as well as their Spring and Fall 2024 tour posters.  I REALLY love the Fall 2024 poster.  I do have the poster from the July 2023 show we went to in Albany, NY but it is not signed.

The first two albums are the 6 and 11 track versions of Life and Life Only, the subtle difference is the color of the words "Life and Life Only".  The 6 track was released in June 2022 and the 11 track expanded edition in May 2023.  I bought the expanded edition from them in Albany and had it signed there. 

 

Set List

Parakeets

Lemonade

Man of the Hills

Miracle Sun

Feel

Go Down River

Cherry

All My Dreams - Extended Instrumental

Dirt

Unknown Song

Lovestruck

Wild Emotion - with Fonteyn

Happiness

Because You're Mine - Extended Instrumental

Miles and Miles - Extended Intro

Encore:

Real Love Baby - Father John Misty cover

One of a Kind

Fonteyn

Set List - incomplete

These Days

Darlin (How Do I Let You Know?)

I Saw The Light - Todd Rundgren cover

I cannot wait to see them again.  Hopefully next time it will be at an all ages show so we can bring our son, currently 9, who would love to see them.  

While doing research for this blog I found on DISCOGS this cover art 

With the notes: Original 2020 release of the EP. This version was released independently before the band got signed to ATO Records and has different cover artwork.

Now I need to find this version because I can be a completionist and want all the versions.  So if anyone has a line on this, please let me know. 

Until Next Time!

Concert: Kathleen Edwards

Katie has been a fan of Kathleen Edwards for many years however has never been to one of her concerts.  I became a fan of her music because of Kate.  By her own admission Kathleen quit music for a long time opening a coffee shop in hometown of Ottawa, Ontario.  When she did perform it was typically in Canada, and I monitored her shows to see if we could make it happen.

Earlier this year she announced a tour with a stop at the Waldo Theatre in Waldoboro, Maine.  I had never heard of the venue before, but I quickly messaged them and they set aside two front row tickets for us.  A few people we spoke to before and after the show had never heard of the venue before either.  The original date of the show was June 23, 2024 but a delay in paperwork with customs lead to tour being postponed and the show finally happened on July 26th.

It actually worked out well because Limitless has scheduled a show on June 23rd that I didn't have to miss now, and we just got back from a week in Ocean City on June 22nd. 

We stopped at Moody's diner before the show for dinner and some treats to go.  We parked on the street just up from the venue, I'm pretty sure it was sold out.  The Waldo Theatre opened in 1936 as a movie theatre and they even still have their original 35mm projectors they used until it stopped being a movie theatre in 1957.

  

With a capacity near 400 they still screen movies, live theater, live music and other stage performances.  Our front row seats were fun because to expand the front row they add old comfy chairs instead of the standard theater seating.

I wore my Tom Petty 40th Anniversary Tour shirt, it generated many compliments and no less that a half dozen staff members told me about the Tom Petty cover band that was booked for the venue. 

 

The opening act was Matt Sucich who performed solo with his guitar.  He played a 30 minute set that was decent. I'm not familiar with his music, but we enjoyed it.  He performed with Kathleen and her band as well so he had a long night.

 

Kathleen has an amazing voice, plan and simple, just a wonderful singer /songwriter.  She played a few songs in a row before talking to the audience a bit.  She talked about stopping music for a while, opening her coffee shop, and getting back into it feeling like she's starting over.  A couple times during the show she messed up her own song and started over, it was funny and she laughed it off.    

She talked about going to Nashville after this tour to record her new album and played a couple of her new songs that she intends to record for it.  I really love these going to these concerts in such intimate settings. Kate had tagged Kathleen on Instagram at the beginning of  the show stating she had waited 13 years for this, and Kathleen mentioned it at the end of then someone else in the audience had to steal her thunder yelling out they have been waiting 19 years.

After the show she did a meet and greet, it took her about 20 minutes to come out, however only a few people stuck around.  I bought Kate a t-shirt.  We got our pictures taken with her, Kate wanted to be alone so I didn't ruin it, a nice woman offered to take a photo of all us, but I told her what Kate said and we all had a good laugh which actually made their pictures come out better.  She mentioned she would be coming back to Maine in the Spring on her tour supporting her new album. 

Setlists

Kathleen Edwards

Asking For Flowers

One More Song the Radio Won't Like

Glenfern

Goodnight, California

Hockey Skates

Empty Threat

Change the Sheets

Algorithm

Flying the Coup (I think, not 100% on this on)

Who Rescued Who

Six O'Clock News

Hard on Everyone

Mercury

In State

Encore

Back To Me

Crawling Back to You - Tom Petty cover

I don't have Matt Sucich's

Until Next Time!

Concert: Foo Fighters

On July 21st, our busy 2024 concert tour rolled into Fenway Park for the Foo Fighters!  The best part is, I won these tickets.  Back in January I completed a listener survey for 98.9 WCLZ and was shocked on January 22, 2024 when I received an email that I had won a pair of tickets for this long sold out show!

Kate didn't care about going so I took Addison.  I chose Addison over Canaan because Canaan and I had the Hockey trip in March and we have two nights of Metallica coming up in August.  

Paul, Amanda, and Sammy also had tickets and rode down with us.  Traffic was wicked thick from Freeport south to Fenway and it took 4.5 hours to go the normal 2.5 hour trip.  We got to our parking spot when Amyl and the Sniffers were taking the stage and only caught the last two songs of their set.

The Hives were outstanding!  I knew more of their songs than I thought and they really knew how to put on a show and engage with the crowd. 

The Foo Fighters went on promptly at 730pm and put on a near 3 hours set!  I can't say I would make it a point to go to another Foo Fighters concert, I'm happy to have gone, but I don't NEED to go again. 

Set Lists

Foo Fighters - Everything or Nothing At All Tour

All My Life

No Son of Mine - with Metallica's "Enter Sandman" and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" snippets

Rescued

The Pretender

Walk

Times Like These

Generator

La Dee Da

Breakout

Band Introductions with snippets: Eruption / Thunderstruck / Sabotage / Keyboard Solo / Blitzkrieg Bop / March of the Pigs

My Hero

The Sky Is a Neighborhood

Learn to Fly

Arlandria

These Days

Skin and Bones - acoustic; Dave on guitar; Rami on accordion

Under You

Nothing at All

Shame Shame

This Is a Call

Monkey Wrench

Aurora

Best of You

Encore:

The Teacher

Everlong

The Hives

Bogus Operandi

Main Offender

Rigor Mortis Radio

Walk Idiot Walk

Good Samaritan

Stick Up

Try It Again

Hate to Say I Told You So

Trapdoor Solution

Bigger Hole to Fill

Countdown to Shutdown

Come On!

Tick Tick Boom

Amyl and The Sniffers

Balaclava Lover Boogie

Guided by Angels

Security

U Should Not Be Doing That

Got You

Hertz

Some Mutts (Can't Be Muzzled)

Until Next Time!