Moozik

Why is July 31 so special? I'll tell ya. Because it's Insider's one year anniversary for the little 'ol podcastin. Yup. That's right. Can you believe its already been one year of musical experiment. What did you like? What didn't you? Should I keep it going another year? Blog and let me know.

SWING—the 71st CSA Get-Together is later this week. Are you going? It's in Cedar Rapids, August 3-5.

WONDERING—"Shake, open and pour"....does anybody know what became of Dean's Ready-Shake? Man those were good. Then they just disappeared off the grocery store shelves.

But If I Had A Reason....

Long Day In The Universe, by The Darling Buds. Another fun one to listen to here in the private Insider music lounge. I don't even have to remind you to keep your feet off of the tables and chairs in cyberworld. So go right ahead, put them up, get comfortable, that's it.

Put on your forward-seeing retro-rama glasses....huh?

Two questions are swirling around quite a bit these days. One: are blogs passe? (I don't think so, yet.) Two: is the internet gotten old? The argument is that YouTube has gotten so popular it's made the rest of the web stale. Might be true, might not, but something else will come around the corner. Always does. Podcasts are real good, so is iTunes. Speaking of YouTube, check out The Ventures live doing Wipe Out. Just how cool is this? It's up around 10 for me. The drummer is "sick"!

When she passes, each one she passes goes, "ahhhhhhhh"

Another, more familiar Stan Getz tune. As long as we're talking about his music, I thought I'd play it for Shelly. Stan is my favorite sax player all time.

When given lemonade, make lemons

POPPER—what one state are all these towns found in? Battle Creek, Independence, Lansing, Oakland, Pacific Junction, Rockford, Salem, Washington and Riverside. (Answer somewhere below.)



FRIENDLY SPEAKAGE—recent chittings and chattings

Paul: summer is good for long vacations. Always take long vacations.
(Insider—that is soooooo right.)

JP: I saw your name in some movie credits, do you have another life as a Hollywood producer?
Insider—Sorry but I refer all of those sorts of questions to my agent.

Kathy: the valley is so hot now. I'm glad I live where the coast stays cool.
Insider—you're always cool, Kathy.

Redbird: how are things going?
Insider—fair and breezy. Getting ready for the Get-Together in Cedar Rapids.

LM: you should start another blog, a double-secret blog for us.
Insider: who says I haven't already! (Evil laugh track running.) And what if I don't tell anyone about it. Then it's a triple-secret blog isn't it. Ahahahahahaha! But wait just a moment, if only I know about it, then wouldn't that be called "talking to myself". Hmmm, I'll have to check this out with my shrink. (Yes you should.) Well I will. (Good.) Good.



WHOSE TUBE—Is it just me or is YouTube everywhere? I watched a political debate a couple nights ago and YouTube was featured prominently as people could send YouTube video of their questions right to the debate floor. Now I hear Verizon has inked a deal with YouTube so people can video from their phone and put it right on YouTube. Shhhhhhh....anyone remember that a couple years ago I shot a one-minute video called "Flying through the Czech museum" and put it on YouTube. I DARE anyone to go try and find it. Blog and tell us if you do.



Answer—I bet you didn't guess Iowa. But it is. I swear. I looked them up on the State of Iowa's website.



I shot these images a few months ago for background usage in Journal layouts but since I convert them to black-and-white images and ghost them back to about 8 percent, you really can't see them very well. Here's what they look like in color. "Ain't they summery, lookey how summery they are!"

Funky effect to a homemade candy/goody treasure chest.



Does that lemon look 3-D and freaky or what?

Squeeze

TABLE THIS—Well it's certainly a bright Tuesday. The feature President's Roundtable which has appeared several times in the Journal is drawing more interest from lodge president's who want to be part of future roundtables. Email me at tburke@csafraternallife.org if you'd like to take part in the next one or if you have a topic you'd like CSA lodge presidents to discuss.

IOWA BY AUTO—how to get to Cedar Rapids (site of the Get-Together) from Chi-Town: "just take a right at Iowa City."

CZECH FUN PHRASES—Mám dietu. Dobrou chut!

GAMERS—try freearcadegames.com and get some retro and multiplayer experiences. Can you protect your cities from oblivion in missle defense? Can you waka-waka with the best of them in pac man?

Do you like online quizzes? Check out funtrivia.com or quizarama.com. Funtrivia has something called the monster quiz. Insider did not try it so if someone does, blog and tell us about it.


Our friends the Ides of March rock band will be playing a benefit concert for Parkinson's Disease on August 17 at Mill Creek in Geneva, Illinois. Go to paulrubyfoundation.org or click on the Ides link at right for more details.


Frogstar.com has all sorts of retro stuff to delve into from old tv shows to cartoons to memorabilia. Get your retro groove on at: frogstar.com


Lastly, here's a photo to make you smile. Have a "grape" day everyone!

So Dance It Cool

I thought you might need a little "cooling out" today. What better than Stan The Man and Joao Gilberto doing their cool school thing on So Danco Samba. If they sound familiar, they also did Girl From Ipanema (Astrud Gilberto singing) which, right in the middle of the pop explosion in the early 60s, blew everyone out of the water with a number one chart topper. Bossa Nova at numbero uno during the middle of the surf music/british invasion! Go figure. Only Stan could have pulled this off.

Stay Revved

Hey you summertime suntan-lotion-slathered Insiderati, r u having a good July? Right on! Don't forget there are less than three weeks until the CSA Get-Together in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Are you going to be there?...Insider is. Make sure to show and I'll snap your photo for the Journal.

Surfing across the internet we find lists of top/best/most popular/etc.etc....In the all-time movie actor category numero uno is, who else, John Wayne "you better believe it, mister". And who else but the Three Stooges would reign supreme in the all-time funny department. Natch. Musically, I don't think it's a shocker to suggest The Beatles hold the crown for all-time rock n roll. So I'm running a little ditty of theirs below. Click ON and rock OUT. Got a favorite to share? Blog it right here.

Hitting any summer blockbuster movies? Blog and fill us all in. Also, share what your lodge is up to this summer. Is it a picnic? Was it a parade? All you have to do is blog all about it. See ya....and as the truckers say, "do whatcha feel and keep both hands on the wheel.'

Close your eyes

Some months ago at least three or four of you requested Tthe Beatles during Insider's all-request segment. I now can make amends for slighting you with this selection from the Fab Four.

Happy Boom Day

"BOOM!" Fireworks day is upon us. I've already heard a few 'crackles' and 'bangs' at night. Have a happy and safe Fourth of July everyone. The CSA Home office is closed July 4. THE CZECH FUN PHRASE is pivo. Gee this is a short little blog!....Can you say summertime is lazy time?....Oh yeah.