Just Like Home

Until I moved to Fort Wayne, I'd never heard of Bob Evans. When my sister and I were moving me in last year, we saw a few of their plain buildings and signs and assumed it was an insurance company.

As it turns out, it's a chain of 579 restaurants scattered around the eastern half of the United States (they also own Mimis Cafe).

Based on their commercials, I've had the impression that it's one of those "family restaurant for old people" kind of places, like Cracker Barrel. As a result, I've never had any interest in going.

Well, the other night driving home from Indianapolis, I figured, "Why not give it a try?" All my presuppositions were right. The menu was exactly what I expected that the over-55 crowd wants - mashed potatoes and gravy, just like you get at home.

But what I didn't expect was for the home-like atmosphere to permeate into the rest rooms. Apparently, at Bob Evans they expect you to clean the bathroom, just like you do at home. They even leave the supplies in there for you...


No one says "clean it yourself" like Bob Evans.

Let The Stoning Begin...

Alrighty folks... My tongue is planted firmly in my cheek, and I am ready to withstand any and all assaults from humorless boneheads. As promised (in a recently deleted blog entry), "Christmas For A Dragon" is now available for your listening... um... pleasure?


It really amazes me how many dragons in Santa hats can be found on the internet

The song is on my MySpace music page, or download the MP3 here.

I engineered, mixed, mastered, produced, sang, and played drums. My buddy Arend wrote the music and lyrics, played piano and guitar, and did a bit of singing as well. And our friend Nate played bass. No, this isn't what I'm doing for music now - it's just a Christmas song contest entry.

And on an equally irreverential Christmas note, here are 167 photos of children being scared to death by department store Santas. There are some really creepy ones in there...

Unearthing The Princess

No, I still haven't posted "Christmas For A Dragon"...

...but I was thinking that there are quite a few songs floating around the studio here that may never be finished for a variety of reasons. Songs on paper, some in the PDA, many recorded in scratch tracks, and lots in various stages of production.

Songwriters labor over these small creations, only to leave most of them forgotten. Like long-abandoned monuments, some represent a past perspective, others point to a future which will never be. Others don't seem genuine and simply vanish. For most of us, a lot of what we write is quite frankly a few good ideas sandwiched in between really bad parts.

Anyway, I uncovered one searching the hard drives the other day, and figured that it's probably about as far along as I'll ever take it, at least for a good long time. It's presentable enough as a rough demo, and since I get prodded for new music somewhat regularly, I figured this would appease for the time being.

"Princess" is posted on both of my MySpace profiles. Feel free to check it out.

(Oh, and by coincidence, it does mention a dragon. The dragon of time.)